Race

The United States is a country of freedom where we
have many races, religions, traditions, and languag es.
As Americans we are raised to believe in the values of
justice an liberty. We believe thatwe are entitled to certain
rights, opportunities, and protections as citizens. America
makes the differences because we agree to have the right
to liberty, life and pursuit of happiness. But difference can
also turn an issue, where our rights can been violated by our
system.
Some people may marginalize a group of people based on
characteristics such as race, social class, physical appearance,
religion, and ethnic origin. It is clear based on the article how
after September, 11 classes such as American Blacks and
individuals from the Middle East have been affected.
According to the article police officers decided to search a
passenger, because he bought a first class ticket with cash,
and is apparently o Arab ancestry. In another incident,
officers from Los Angeles Police Department ere most likely
to ask black an latino drivers to step out of their cars after
stopping them.
Also another case is about police having received a call about
young Hispanics with guns. The police invaded the home of a
decent black man and made him get against the wall, put
handuffs on his knees and was told to be quiet when he tried
to ask questions.
Many people immediate equate racial profiling with discrimi-
nation against African American and Latinos. But racial profi-
ling takes many forms and affects many different groups.
After the terrorist attacks on September, 11, the focus of racial
profiling shifted to Arab American and people who looked like
they could be from the Middle East .
According to a recently released report from Human Rights
Watch, the federal government received reports of 481 anti-
muslim hate crimes in 2001, 17 times the number it received
the year before. it noted that more than 2000 cases of
harrassment were reported to Arab and Muslim Organizations.
Moreover some groups have privileges, including jobs, promotions,
tenure, the ability to speed in a school zone and get off with a
warning. Wheter one considers these things rights or luxuries,
they are the aspects of citizenship that make one feel accepted in
and loyal to one's community and culture.
The problem with defining racial profiling is, the extent of the
discrimination which may be relatively small when race is the only
factor among many, but even a little racial discrimination should
require lots of justification.