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Henri Duygulu

Professor Moore

English 1301

12 October 2017

Racism in the Police Force

In with the new and out with the old is a good representation on racial profiling but at a

cost most people wouldnt realize it comes with. The average African American man is more

than five times more likely to be stopped and frisked than a white man (joscha 383). However

African Americans make up just 13% of the population and commit around half of homicides in

the United States (Watson). Statistics are no justification racism but have been used as a

measure of proficiently stopping crimes. In law enforcement this tactic is known as racial

profiling, a term with many meanings in todays society. Racial Profiling in the oxford dictionary

is known as the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having

committed an offense. In the majority of communities across effected areas of recent police on

black crimes define it as unconstitutional and racist.

The social media has a tremendous amount of pull power with societys opinion on how

law enforcement is seen. Social media has a far left, far right and an unbiased center. Each side

of coverage depicts incidents differently. The far left is normally made up libertarians and the

ideas of changing social norms to todays new society. The far right is more traditional and set

on social standards and norms in society. In a incident of a cop shooting a African American
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civilian would be labeled and shown to the public completely different on each of these three

sides. The left will normally jump to the cop being racist and the right will say that it was the

civilians fault. Popular examples have happened over the past twenty years such as Alton

Sterling and Philando Castile.

Database have been used to analyze and predict where crimes are more likely to

happen. This information combined with training in profiling will make what most see as racial

profiling. The databases analyze crimes reported and records of offenders and put out

percentages and statistics. If a stereotype is racist but backed up by statistics it is a controversy

whether or not it justifies profiling race with crime. In 2014, African Americans constituted 2.3

million, or 34%, of the total 6.8 million correctional population. The numbers seem high but

white Americans are five times less likely to be arrested for the same crime an African American

commit. The system is far from perfect and statistics and databases is what is used to attempt

to keep a grasp on the situations the country is in on racial profiling.

False allegations towards law enforcement and civilians has been the lead area of

confusion in popular court cases involving police shootings on African Americans. The Michael

Brown case in Ferguson Missouri on August 9, 2014 is an example. A 18-year-old black man,

was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, 28, a white Ferguson police officer, after reportedly robbing

a convenience store. Two sides were given to this story, both completely opposite. Officer

Willson said that Michael brown charged him trying to take his gun which lead to a small brawl

leading to the defensive shot used to make the kill. Michael Browns friend Dorian Johnson, 22

that was on location with him. Dorian said the Michael was putting his hands up on his knees

saying dont shoot when the shots were fired. Little video evidence found to support both the
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claims from the police officer and browns friend. This is just one case of many where no one

knows what really happened and all faith has to go to the courts to make the right choice.

Racial profiling used to be the key to an officers job in an older America but racism has

become one of the greatest crime you can commit today. The question of effectiveness is

important if it is a proficient deterrent to crime. Racist shootings are hate crimes and lead to

more violence such as riots and police killing. The line isnt so black and white but filled with a

large grey area. Statistics shouldnt lie but in todays society they seem to occasionally. Law

enforcement and the populist will have to find a way to put the justice system on track and

keep the peace.

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Work Cited

Legewie, Joscha. "Racial Profiling and Use of Force in Police Stops: How Local Events Trigger
Periods of Increased Discrimination." American Journal of Sociology, vol. 122, no. 2, Sept.
2016, pp. 379-424. EBSCOhost,
libproxy.uhcl.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&A
N=118161270&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Pundik, Amit. "Against Racial Profiling." University of Toronto Law Journal, vol. 67, no. 2,
Spring2017, pp. 175-205. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3138/UTLJ.3883.
https://libproxy.uhcl.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db
=a9h&AN=122041834&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Black Crime Facts That The White Liberal Media Darent Talk About. Infowars, Paul Joseph
Watson, 5 May 2015, www.infowars.com/black-crime-facts-that-the-white-liberal-
media-darent-talk-about/.