Racial Profiling in America After 9/11

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The people have realized that it is no longer right to interrogate and deport innocent Arabs simply for being Arab. Racial profiling has and always will have a negative connotation in it, as when one considers the things law enforcement does for no reason to try and prove someone illegal or a terrorist, it can be seen as illogical and quite unnecessary. However as stated by Ihekwoaba Onwudiwe, “Islam is always going to be associated with Holy War, male patriarchy, and terrorism” (Onwudiwe 8). It is interesting to note that even with all the heightened security checkpoints at events and places like clubs or airports or sporting events, the United States has yet to prevent a terrorist attack on American soil. In 2006, ABC News conducted a survey of 1,000 adults across the United States. The results showed that nearly six in ten Americans think Islam is prone to violent extremism, almost half regard the religion unfavorably, and about one-quarter of respondents openly admitted to harboring prejudicial feelings against Muslims and Arabs alike (Peek 14). Throughout our countries history we have been known to have the best freedom in the world, its even in our national anthem “the land of the free”, but as we can see by the blatant racial profiling occurring today that America is either not quite at that level or it is redefining that term “land of the free”.

In the United States constitution, it forbids racial profiling by federal law. Deep into the fourth amendment, President Bush brought to light the prohibition against racial discrimination. It states that any and all actions taken upon a citizen based on race or religion is strictly prohibited. Law enforcement officers are not allowed to use race in interrogations, and deciding on normal traffic stops. The U.S.’s response to September 11 can be characterized as regulating immigration, the law affords considerable leeway to the political branches of the federal government. The Supreme Court has upheld racial, national origin, political, and other forms of discrimination against noncitizens in the immigration laws that would patently violate the Constitution if the rights of citizens were implicated (Akram 67). It is sad to see that even with these laws in play, the very ones enforcing it, the federal government, are violating their own laws on a day-to-day basis. Most Americans believe it is unreasonable to assume that all Muslims are terrorists, however, they understand that in this day and age you can never tell whether they are or are not until it is too late. It is a reaction made by law enforcement that Americans as a whole do everyday. Although the Supreme Court condoned the practice in 1975, one court of appeals in 2000 held that the Border Patrol could not consider a persons appearance in making an immigration stop (Akram 119). The current state laws are inadequate to ban any kind of racial profiling from law enforcement agencies. There are over twenty-seven states that have not placed any anti-racial profiling laws in place; subsequently, there are only four states that have laws that are not based on race but on religion, which does not actually solve any of the problem, because the root of it is in the race and the religion that comes from that race. As we grow into a new day and age we can see that the plot only thickens as things like Black Lives Matter sprouts up and the terrorist activity grows worldwide.

No matter what the American people thinks of racial profiling, or what the government puts in place to prohibit it, one fact still remains and that is the ongoing prevalence of racial profiling in America. Although the United States wants to deny any and all use of racial profiling they are still being used in airports and other places of high security nationwide. As long as Americans see that racial profiling is a means of security against violent crimes or terrorist attacks human rights activists against racial profiling will have little success. Racial profiling is an epidemic that has spread around the country depicting Muslims and Arabs falsely as automatic terrorists, although we fight it, it still remains as a factor in our daily lives. The problem then lies with the United States government. How can a government ensure its citizens national security without breaking human, ethical and civil rights?

Works Cited:

ACLU. “Aclu-Report-Documents-Racial-Profiling-Nationwide-June-30-2009-1pp.” Human Rights Documents online, Feb. 2004, pp. 1–24., doi:10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-9970-0064.

Akram, Susan Musarrat, and Kevin R. Johnson. “Race, Civil Rights, and Immigration Law After September 11, 2001: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims.” SSRN Electronic Journal, doi:10.2139/ssrn.365261.

Cainkar, Louise. Homeland insecurity: the Arab American and Muslim American experience after 9/11. New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 2011.

Onwudiwe, Ihekwoaba. “Defining terrorism, racial profiling and the demonisation of Arabs and Muslims in the USA.” Safer Communities, vol. 4, no. 2, 2005, pp. 4–11. doi:10.1108/17578043200500009.

Peek, Lori A. Behind the backlash: Muslim Americans after 9/11. New Delhi, Social Science Press, 2012.

Weitzer, Ronald, and Steven A. Tuch. “Perceptions Of Racial Profiling: Race, Class, And Personal Experience*.” Criminology, vol. 40, no. 2, 2002, pp. 435–456. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.2002.tb00962.x.