Its Because Hes Black

Criminal Justice 1010

Final Term Paper
Angela Chavez

Angela Chavez
Criminal Justice 1010
Professor Illario
3 December 2014
Its Because Hes Black
Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. These are two names that have become very infamous
within that last two years. Every person in America knows these names. Why? Because they
were two young boys killed by police officers. Actually, let me rephrase: they were two young
black boys killed by white police officers. At least, that is the way most Americans view these
terrible tragedies. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting
someone of having committed an offense [1]. It has always been a great issue to discuss within
the United States. But with these recent events, more and more people are crying racism and
discrimination. They are protesting in the streets demanding justice for their fallen brothers and
sisters. But were the officers acting out of discrimination or their duty to protect the community?
Could it all have been a coincidence? Racial profiling does exist, but to what extent?
The United States Supreme Court has held that racial profiling violates the constitutional
requirement that all persons be accorded equal protection of the law [2]. Research has proven
that people of color are more often stopped for traffic violations than white people [3]. But
whether this is up to discrimination or different factors is left up to interpretation. Many of the
people suspected of crimes are profiled by their activities, as in a person living in poverty
frequently seen in a more affluent neighborhood. This surely does not sound fair, but law

enforcement defend their positions by saying it is necessary to identify possible criminal activity
before it occurs and causes injury to others [4].
While law enforcement may have their reasons for profiling possible suspects, the most
heated issue with this is profiling based on ethnicity or race. On average, African Americans are
more likely to be stopped, arrested, and/or incarcerated than white Americans. The most
common form of racial profiling occurs when police stop, question, and search minorities. With
the recent shootings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, African Americans have rallied to
demand that police officers be held accountable for their actions. This has sparked, once more,
the national debate on whether officers should practice profiling. Law enforcement claims that
they profile potential criminals to keep communities safe and prevent crime. But if most of these
possible suspect are mainly people of color, instead of law enforcement practicing profiling, it
seems more like they are practicing racism.
It seems to be a common belief that minorities tend to commit more crimes than the
average white American. For this paper, I asked a friend in politics, whom wished to remain
anonymous, what he thought about racial profiling. He is a 25 year old student, studying to
become an attorney. And he is of Hispanic descent. There was one statement that he said in
particular that caught my attention. When I asked him why officers tend to believe minorities are
more likely to commit a crime than an average white person, if not due to racism, this was his
response:
It is common knowledge that most minorities live in poverty or are borderline. They
have family or friends that are criminals. Stealing, lying, cheating is the norm to some
they do not comprehend the immorality of certain actions. All they can think about is

surviving. They want to survive so they will steal when needed, lie when needed, even kill
when needed. That is why officers choose to stop them, to stop them not from surviving,
but putting others in harms way.
I was speechless to say the least. I could understand what he was trying to get at, but
there were some inconstancies with his statements. Contrary to belief, minorities do not commit
most crimes, white Americans do. The table below is from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) website [5]. It breaks down certain crimes and the amount of them committed by certain
races.

As you can see from the table, it is actually white Americans that are more likely to
commit crimes than other minorities, including African Americans. Some are even 100,000
above African Americans. So what is that lead many people to believe that minorities are
responsible for most crimes? Why is it that most law enforcement, that are supposed to remain
unbiased, seem to believe this also? The best way to answer this is to analyze current examples,
Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.
In 2012, Trayvon Martin was killed by a neighborhood watch officer. The American
public was outraged that a 17 year old boy was killed. The officer, George Zimmerman claimed
that he had reasonable belief that Martin was being suspicious. A fight ensued and Zimmerman
shot Martin. A trial later followed where Zimmerman was acquitted of second degree murder
and manslaughter [6]. In 2014, Michael Brown was shot by Darren Wilson. The grand jury
decided to not indict Wilson [7]. Both of these events sparked outrage over police using racial
profiling and shooting unarmed African American children. There have been media outlets that
try to outline each party involved and their characters. Trayvon and Michael have been portrayed
as either thugs or innocent children. Zimmerman and Wilson have been portrayed as either
ruthless murders or officers attempting to protect their communities. These events were tragic
and still a topic of hot debate today.
There are still riots occurring in Ferguson, in the name of Martin and Brown. The public
are not only accusing the police of racial profiling, but in living in a white dominant society that
will always keep minorities down. Case in point, President Obama is the first African American
president in United States history. The idea of a society dominated by affluent, white males has
been present for decades. Many people cite white privilege as to how white Americans are able
to get away with anything. In fact, Ruth Wren describes in her article, Everywhere I Go, Im

White: Facing the Responsibility of Privilege how being born with white skin is a privilege in
this society.
In her article, Wren describes how society would prefer for white people to live in
ignorance of this privilege and instead, declare that it stands for justice and equality. Yet, when it
comes to health care, education, financial security, housing, white people will always have the
advantage of being presented with the best of these options. In a truly democratic nation,
everyone is included in the decision-making process that would affect them, but people of color
are denied this access. Colored people do not hold as many political offices and face unfair
treatment in the criminal justice system, as seen recently. To put it shortly, if a white male and a
black male both entered a store one after the other, who is the security officer more likely to keep
a closer eye on? This is a discussion that is rampant in todays society. And there seems to be no
resolution in sight.
Racial profiling is definitely prominent today. Recently, Arizona state law allows law
enforcement agents to be required to detain anyone they suspected of being an unauthorized
alien. And in New York City, stop-and-frisk practices have essentially been eliminated.
Stopping someone because they look suspicious seems simple to follow. But stopping someone
that looks suspicious because he or she is colored is a completely different story. Racism and
racial profiling are separated by a fine line. But has that line been crossed? The people in
Ferguson would say that it has been crossed. But better yet, is there still even a line? Possibly.

Bibliography
[1] "Definition of Racial Profiling."Dictionary.com. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racial profiling>.
[2] "The Reality of Racial Profiling." The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Web. 3 Nov. 2014. <http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/racial-profiling2011/thereality-of-racial.html>.
[3] "Racial Profiling and Traffic Stops."National Institute of Justice. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/legitimacy/Pages/traffic-stops.aspx>.
[4] "Racial Profiling." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. 2005, and DAVID COLE. "Racial
Profiling." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 1 Jan. 2005. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Racial_Profiling.aspx>.
[5] "Crime in the United States 2012." FBI. FBI, 7 Aug. 2013. Web. 7 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.2012/tables/43tabledatadecoverviewpdf>.
[6] "Trayvon Martin Shooting Fast Facts." CNN. Cable News Network, 22 Feb. 2014. Web. 4
Nov. 2014. <http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts/>.
[7] "Michael Brown Shooting - Ferguson Missouri News & Top Stories." NBC News. Web. 4
Nov. 2014. <http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting>.