Police and Racial Profiling

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how racial profiling, the practice by law enforcement of targeting people for police and security stops based on their race or ethnicity, has become a topic of concern and debate across the country. It looks at how this practice is known as DWB - "driving while black," and how many other minorities feel that they too are singled out unnecessarily by law enforcement in public areas due simply to the color of their skin.

From the Paper:

"In 1997, Laurence Boze, a past president of the National Bar Association, the largest national association of predominately African American lawyers and judges, was en route to a convention when he was pulled aside for security screening at Baltimore-Washington International airport (Porter Pp). Although he identified himself with proper identification, the security officers searched his bags in full view of other travelers and detained him for more than thirty minutes at the gate (Porter Pp). In the 1997 USA Today article, "Profiling of Fliers Raises Racial Issue," by Keith Alexander, Boze said, "I fit neither a terrorist profile nor a drug trafficker profile...I was just FWB (flying while black)" (Porter Pp)."

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