Racial profiling, according to Wikipedia, is “the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime or an illegal act or to behave in a “predictable” manner.”
Racist profiling, according to the definition that I believe has emerged, is the projection of racist or ethno centric beliefs on another person as an explanation for that person’s real or perceived actions and statements.
Wikipedia adds that racial profiling has “became particularly controversial toward the end of the 20th century in the United States, as the potential for abuse by law enforcement came to light.”
I will add that to the definition of racist profiling that it has become particularly controversial in the 21st century as a means of berating those of differing political opinions.
There are occasions when racial profiling and racist profiling appear to be logical. A Hispanic person in the United States that does not speak English is more likely to be an illegal alien than an Anglo or African American who speaks fluent English. Often, as evidenced by yesterday’s protests against Arizona’s new law to fight illegal immigrants, too few Hispanic Americans and illegal immigration supporters distinguish legal from illegal immigration. Along similar lines, openly racist people attach themselves to conservative groups and too often those conservative groups do little or nothing to distance themselves from the racists.
The Hispanic Latino community is upset in part over fears of racial profiling. Muslims world wide have complained since before 9/11 about racial profiling, and I have yet to meet an African American male that enjoys being presumed guilty on the grounds of his being black – and yes, it happens. Many liberals are furious over racial profiling (I too have a lot of sympathy for the targets of racial profiling despite my belief in the need to be tough on crime and preemptive against terrorism). Yet these same liberals believe that it is okay to decide that those of us that oppose President Obama do so because of expressed or deeply hidden racist beliefs and not his politics.
So my questions for you are; what is the difference between racial profiling and racist profiling? How do we educate racist profilers about what they are doing?
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“…too few Hispanic Americans and illegal immigration supporters distinguish legal from illegal immigration. ” Do you mean to say legal immigration supporters? I don’t follow your argument.
Thank you for the comment, Mary. I did mean to write “Illegal immigration supporters.” Part of the challenge that we have with this debate is that a segment of our population either refuses to accept that their opponents see any distinction between legal and illegal immigration; they attack opponents of illegal immigration as if they oppose all immigration (certainly there are those that do oppose all immigration but that is not our subject). There are also, as evidenced by signs at this weekend’s rallies, those that insist that there should be no designation of ‘illegal’ because no human can be illegal. I disagree with this view, however, if argued intelligently it is worthy of debate. Those that refuse to distinguish between opponents views of legal and illegal immigration are simply using their ignorance as a wall of defense and should be marginalized in any debate.
You’re right tha it isn’t fair to deny that there’s a distinction to be made between opposing illegal immigration and opposing legal immigration. Some legal immigrants seem to feel “lumped in” with the illegals, and you can be sure eventually some legal resident or citizen will be detained because he or she didn’t have a passport on hand. They certainly will get tired of being asked for their papers.
I think both sides can agree Illegal immigration is an overwhelmingly difficult issue, with respect to resources on taxpayers in the State of Arizona . I googled one estimate at $1.3 billion in education, health care, and Incarceration costs. I also agree that inflammatory language is wasteful and useless. I am not for illegal immigration but I do think that Hispanics have a legitimate fear concerning racial profiling. I heard today that three legal challenges have been filed concerning the law and more will follow. Arizonians polled at a 70% approval rating but the application of this bill will have some tragic consequences. Can you imagine an adult, who was brought here as a baby and is now subject to deportation? How difficult would it be to return to a country in which the language or culture are completely foreign? “[W]hat is the difference between racial profiling and racist profiling? Without question, it is intent but I don’t know if it will matter to the people who are the targets of this law.
If I understand your argument, you’re defining racist profiling as the unfair assumption that people on the right are racist. As I’ve argued before, a more helpful dialogue would be to discuss racism as an often unintentional bias that goes along with living in our culture, which has historically given privilege and status to whites over blacks–racist ideas and behavior are almost certainly held by all of us, because we’ve been exposed to a white-dominated culture. Name-calling by crying “racist” is very seldom accurate, and as you pointed out assumes thoughts and beliefs that we’re often not privvy to. Behaviors and speech can be judged on the level of bias they convey, though. It’s equally unfair to accuse someone of “racial profiling” (ie calling someone a racist) for merely pointing out the potential bias against hispanics, for example, in an immigration law. It’s absolutely fair to point out, that, (yes, people on the right) when Tea Party speakers talk about “regular people” and “taking back the country” many people interpret those as a coded race-based messages. Is it fair to point out that the white power movement will look on those messages favorably, and the speaker will reap the rewards of their support whether he or she consciously sees them as racial messages? I think so, and I would withold my support from the Tea Party movement based on that alone they have more to gain from alienating me apparently than reigning in speech of this kind.
Anybody who says I’ve called anybody a racist (except the white power movement, who I think are unapologetic racists) in my post has missed the point.
I don’t recall any post where you called someone racist. So that aside, racism certainly exists. A big part of fighting that racism that remains is to fight the false accusations. Watch the video and photos of this weekend’s rallies – not so much on mainstream media but alternative media where they are not concerned about offending people. There are many accusations that Arizonians (ians???) are racist. None of this should have come up had the feds done their job. Yes, the wall is being constructed but there were many delays due to politics (yes, under Bush). President Obama’s job is enforce the laws. The immigration laws, as poorly constructed as they are, are being violated because he is not enforcing them. We now have a war south of the border. We are funneling guns, illegally, to those fighting against the government, we are supplying them with cash, and letting them cross into our country. All while we ignore the immigration of workers we don’t need and can’t seem to handle (see the many articles on homelessness in the Spanish language newspaper here in Atlanta) all while making it tough for universities and businesses to bring in the people they want.
Not good.
I agree the sitution isn’t good, but with the resources we have, drug interdiction might be more important than immigration enforcement. In any case, local law enforcement probably should be allowed to do their jobs and set their priorities as they see fit. Comprehensive reform is needed, that’s for sure.
I couldn’t agree more with your thoughts on racist profiling. I think we all need to just recognize that we have prejudiced thoughts and move on. It’s not like it’s a binary thing, you aren’t either racist or not racist. It’s become an attempt to reduce thousands of human thoughts and behaviors into two buckets, one of which is becomes an excuse for suspending civility.
“Yet these same liberals believe that it is okay to decide that those of us that oppose President Obama do so because of expressed or deeply hidden racist beliefs and not his politics.”
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Paint with a broad brush often? This is a ridiculous statement. When so often we see overtly racist slogans and signs at Obama protests, of course it is racism. And it is perfectly reasonable to call it out. But to assume that “liberals” who point it out are also claiming that ALL opposition to Obama’s policies are racist in nature is just wrong. Perhaps you are being overly sensitive. You should be able to make that distinction yourself.
Racism is CLEARLY a driving factor for many of the protesters. Who has ever claimed that is the only factor? I challenge you to find that claim, made by liberals.