As promised, I will discuss the dangers of racial profiling.
It can and has been abused.
Racism: The most typical form of abuse is
harassment. The police officer may be a legit racist or just looking to
get be rid of some boredom. So harassing the individual with the excuse
of following the law is tempting for such individuals as they feel they can be
protected by the law themselves.
Mishandled: If the data is misinterpreted (a
failing of all forms of statistical data) or old (in which it no longer
applies) it ends up hurting a community rather than helping them.
Basically, it could cause police to stop and frisk individuals who have
nothing to do with criminality more often which hurts the trust between the
police and the community at large. As such, all the data must be kept up
to date at all times.
Targeting: Some leaders in a police
organization may use the racial profiling and other techniques to harass a
particular group or an individual. Very similar to how the racist cop
targets individuals under the guise of the law, but in this case a particular
individual or group is targeted at the expense of the others caught in this
crossfire. So an officer who does not like the Muslims in his community
(who are predominately black) may be targeted at the expense of the rest of the
black community in the area. An individual of a particular race would
also be targeted in the same fashion. It is very sad when officers of the
law sink this low, especially as they will usually have to be complicit in the
act.
(Note: I simply chose the most convenient
and easily recognized example)
Government tyranny: The final most basic is when government
targets a specific group for political attack. This can be immigrants,
people of a specific ethnic community or just a general group. The
profiling will be used in a disinformation campaign to paint the group of individuals
as criminals, violent and worse so as to isolate them from the larger populace.
This allows the government to essentially do what they please with these
individuals without fear of the populace speaking out. The best examples
of this are in America when the government removed Native Americans from their
land, and in Nazi Germany when the Nazi's launched a disinformation campaign
against the Jews to make them into the "enemy within".
Conclusion: This is a basic list and
description on how racial profiling can be abused. Obviously the
government and individuals must be watched so as to protect the people from
government and bad officers going out of control and carrying out such
horrendous acts. So this issue will serve as a template on what to look
for when individuals in power seek to harm others of a different race, color or
creed.
No comments:
Post a Comment