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Racial Profiling:
Against African Americans
Young black men are often the targets in cities...with increasing numbers of refugees and
immigrants from Asia and Africa entering Western countries, racial profiling has become an issue
in Europe and other areas, as well as the United States. (Racial) Racial Profiling was primarily
towards Native Americans during the settlement in the New World. To make policemen
occupations simpler they began to target young black males for petty criminal offenses, so they
can have a reasonable justification to check their vehicles for contraband. Individuals began to
whine on the grounds that they felt as though they were continually being pulled over for DWB,
driving while black. Exhibited in the courts it was openly announced to not be right. Racial
Profiling has turned into a developing issue in America because of the way blacks are depicted in
the media, the perception of minorities, and the history of segregation.
Negatively portrayed in the media
Less than 20% of respondents indicated that they believe the media does a good job of
reflecting Black culture today. (Mintel) Negative representations of black males are readily
visible and conveyed to the public through the news, film, music videos, reality television and
other forms of media. (Smith) African Americans were never portrayed positively in the
entertainment business, way before they were allowed to be casted in any shows. It dates back to
the 1800s when racism was on Whites use to dress up, paint their faces in black coal, make fun
of blacks, and attempt to act how they thought they were supposed to act. Thats where Jim Crow

laws believed to be from, when a performer blackened his face and hopped around singing
Jump Jim Crow, later laws was made against segregation.
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Even today, African Americans always come off as the bad guy in any role thats played.
Most of all the black entertainers such as: rappers, producers, and songwriters also give society a
reason to stereotype blacks the way they do. Rap videos that are on television always have a
neighborhood hustler flashing money or walking with their pants to their ankles. Also, rappers
gaining a name for themselves stem way back in the late 1900s when east coast vs. west coast
killed off many people who were involved. Every young black kid comes off as a thug even if
they arent in that type of environment.
Racial Profiling kind of died down after the terrorist attack 9/11 against blacks and other
ethnic groups, but it came back up when a black teenager by the name of Trayvon Martin was
shot and killed by, George Zimmerman, a white man. That was the first case until other cases
against police officers and resisting black males started to arise. Even though all of the
evidence to convict this man was up front, it was still considered stand your ground. Black man
kill a black man, it's cool they loving dat,Black man kill a white man & the sentencing' him to
death, White man kill a black man then scream about self-defense, Break it down to
manslaughter with all of the evidence. (Soulja Slim).
Perception of minorities
According to Mr. Feist, Blacks are arrested at a higher rate than whites. Some of this is
because of a lack of trust on the part of law enforcement for people who are different from them,
and the perception that minorities are more likely to commit crimes. A white child can be do the
same as a African American child yet a white law authority would accuse a African American

child before his own particular kind any day. Since blacks were constantly looked down as not
having anything before and not having it now they're the first to be charged. Stereotyping

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minorities makes it less demanding and bode well out of a complicated environment. In society
eyes a minority would have more of a reason to kill and steal because they arent coming from
something anyways. A young white kid would get a bat on the back and it will be classified as
peer pressure. While on the other hand a young black kid would be sentence to 5 or more years
in prison.

Women who arent classified as minorities in their community look down on women who
are. Even though the profiling of a woman is not woman vs. woman. Its man vs. woman,
because of how men think their superior to a woman.

The relationship between perceived minority status (in race and gender) and attitudes
toward diversity was investigated ..(54.5% women, 67.5% nonwhite) Analysis
suggested perceived minority status in gender correlates significantly and positively with
attitudes toward diversity. Specifically, women who perceived themselves to be of a
minority gender were more likely to have positive attitudes toward other cultural groups
than women who did not perceive themselves as of a minority. Furthermore, perceived
minority status in gender mediated the relationship between sex and attitudes toward
diversity. Perceived minority status in race was not correlated with attitudes toward
diversity. (Minority etc.)

Minorities dont discriminate against minorities its usually from people who arent classified
as a minority in their community. Most minorities that are females are African American. Women
as a whole are considered as a minority because they do not share the same traits as a
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man. Racial Profiling against men and women are very common today as well because of the
debate that women will never be equal to a man.
History of segregation
Racial profiling is not something that recently begun in the late 1900s, its something that has
been striving for a considerable length of time. Despite the fact that laws against isolation were
placed set up, isolation still went on. Racial segregation was a system derived from the efforts
of white Americans to keep African Americans in a subordinate status by denying them equal
access to public facilities and ensuring that blacks lived apart from whites. (Lawson) Whites
felt as though they were better than blacks and blacks weren't equivalent to them. The thirteenth
Amendment was situated into stone and anyone holding a man against their wishes, would be
sentenced. Whites weren't exceptionally upbeat about that, so they took it to the courts, The
United States Supreme Court at that, to get separate offices, far from the blacks. In 1896, the
preeminent Court decided that different offices yet equivalent werent illegal. Not too long after
that separate but equal laws were sat in place, but it still wasnt equal.
Many civil right activists, like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, led bus boycotts, sitins, and marches to be looked upon as a human being. Whites didnt like that; they started to kill
anybody who looks like they were trying to make a change. Rosa Parks was an old lady who
refused to give her seat up to a white man and was sent to jail. By her doing that, she gained so

much attention worldwide; thousands and thousands came down south just to participate in
anything thatll help the black community.
Although many people blame whites for segregation and any other racial profiling it still
falls on African Americans. Whites treat blacks how they treat themselves. Every time the news
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is turned on, the reporters are reporting crime in low income neighborhoods which is usually
black on black crime. Every black kid isnt robbing, killing, or fighting but the good always have
to suffer for the bad. When a black man kills a black man its like they dont care about their own
race so why would a white man care.

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Work Cited
"Disparity in arrest rates defies easy answers." USA Today 21 Nov. 2014: 09A. Student
Resources in Context. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.

Lawson, Steven F. "Segregation, Freedom's Story, TeacherServe, National Humanities

Center." Segregation, Freedom's Story, TeacherServe, National Humanities Center.
National Humanities Center, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Portrayal of Blacks in the MediaTags: Culture, Diversity, Viewing." Reaching Black Consumers.
Mintel Group, Ltd., 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
"Racial Profiling." Gale Student Resources in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Student Resources in
Context. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of
Medicine, Dec. 2007. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Smith, Ph.D. Darron T. "Images of Black Males in Popular Media." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 09 Mar. 2015.