Thread: Is Racial Profiling Racist?

Older article but is relevant to current national discussions.
Just what do liberals picture if you say "terror cell", "crack dealer" "computer hacker" or "Wall Street criminal"? Don't tell me thy don't profile.


Is Racial Profiling Racist? It Depends on Whether It Is Based On Known Facts or Statistical Generalizations

©2001 by Chuck Braman

If a rapist was described by his victims as a white man, no one would consider it racist if the police limited their search for suspects to white men, a racial group.

If the arsonist of a ski resort was known to be a member of Earth First!, no one would consider it un-American if the police limited their search for suspects to members of Earth First!, an ideological group.

If the murderer of a nightclub owner was known to be a member of the Mafia, no one would consider it unfair if the police limited their search for suspects to members of the Mafia, a criminal group.

But if thousands of Americans are mass murdered in an act of war by a group of Muslim terrorists from the Middle East, police and security personnel are accused of being racist, un-American, and unfair if they limit their search for suspects to Muslims from the Middle East.

Why?

Incredibly, because of a semantic error. The public is confusing the above method of criminal profiling, which is uncontroversial because it relies on known facts about specific criminals, with a different method of criminal profiling, which is very controversial because it relies on statistical generalities concerning criminal activity as a whole.

The statistical approach to criminal profiling is usually referred to as “racial profiling.â€

No respectful, God-loving individual would ever want to be racist. We are all children of God and we all have the ability to respect and get along with each other.

What does one do, however, when a person or persons of a particular race or culture openly violates our laws (e.g. Illegals from Mexico); or else attacks our country (e.g. 9/11), or openly demeans the United States and its citizens (e.g. Radical Muslims, La Raza - which is racist in itself, etc.)?

First, we have to remember that people who do wrong are not representative of an entire race or culture.

We also have to remember that our National Security is at issue here. Radical Muslims openly demean and threaten the United States and its citizens. If an American observes a member of the Muslim community or perhaps a member of the primarily Muslim Middle Eastern Communities committing a crime, or about to commit a crime, are they supposed to turn their backs by saying "Oh, we can't report this because it would be racist!"? If we witness a person of the Mexican community openly committing a crime or if we know they are here illegally and that they are involved with illicit or even life-threatening activities, are we supposed to overlook the crime because it would be racist to report it? Well, that happens in California all the time and look at the state of the State of California right now. But I digress.

If a person or persons of a particular race or culture are going to openly commit a crime, engage in violence against American citizens, or threaten the well-being and security of American citizens; then that person or those persons are placing their own race or culture under scrutiny and judgment. In other words, the criminal elements of a person or persons of a particular race or culture make it bad for their own. It's unfortunate that this happens in the first place, but we have to realize that there is much more at stake these days than bickering about who is being racist or who is not.

Moved to general because there is no link