Racial Profiling
This weekend I was reading an article against racial profiling (don’t ask). And I thought it was very interesting. Then I found this article about the Egyptian exchange students who didn’t show up in a Montana university.
Now, I agree with racial profiling to some extent. Let me give you two examples.
1. If someone is walking down the street and they’re shot by a black person and the witnesses identify the person as black, I think the cops have the right to use that in their search for the guilty party. After all, it would be a waste of time and resources to look for a white person when a black person was guilty.
2. If someone is on line to go into the courthouse and they are taken off to the side and searched more than anyone else just because they’re black then this is wrong.
Now, if someone is wondering why I chose a black person and not a Mexican or a Puerto Rican then that’s taking things way too far.
So, what’s up with these Egyptian exchange students? Would it have been so much of a big deal if they had been white or some other race? So what, they didn’t show up. The article says that they weren’t suspected of being terrorists. So why do we care? And why did this even make the news?
If a white person took off and decided not to go to school on time would anyone care? NO. I’d like to take a week off right now and not show up anywhere. I’d probably lose my job, get yelled at incessantly by my parents, my friends would bother me, it’d be a whole big annoyance but I wouldn’t be arrested for being a terrorist.
So, in this world we live in now are we discriminating against Muslims without even thinking about it as much as we should? I say we are. It is practical to search Muslims because they might be suicide bombers more than a white person would, but we must respect their rights at the same time. We must remember that only a handful of Muslims hit us on 9/11 and not that many are extremists. Some are just good people. We should honor their rights just the way we honor everyone’s rights here in America, because they too are human beings.
Now, I agree with racial profiling to some extent. Let me give you two examples.
1. If someone is walking down the street and they’re shot by a black person and the witnesses identify the person as black, I think the cops have the right to use that in their search for the guilty party. After all, it would be a waste of time and resources to look for a white person when a black person was guilty.
2. If someone is on line to go into the courthouse and they are taken off to the side and searched more than anyone else just because they’re black then this is wrong.
Now, if someone is wondering why I chose a black person and not a Mexican or a Puerto Rican then that’s taking things way too far.
So, what’s up with these Egyptian exchange students? Would it have been so much of a big deal if they had been white or some other race? So what, they didn’t show up. The article says that they weren’t suspected of being terrorists. So why do we care? And why did this even make the news?
If a white person took off and decided not to go to school on time would anyone care? NO. I’d like to take a week off right now and not show up anywhere. I’d probably lose my job, get yelled at incessantly by my parents, my friends would bother me, it’d be a whole big annoyance but I wouldn’t be arrested for being a terrorist.
So, in this world we live in now are we discriminating against Muslims without even thinking about it as much as we should? I say we are. It is practical to search Muslims because they might be suicide bombers more than a white person would, but we must respect their rights at the same time. We must remember that only a handful of Muslims hit us on 9/11 and not that many are extremists. Some are just good people. We should honor their rights just the way we honor everyone’s rights here in America, because they too are human beings.
posted by Ellie @ 2:19 PM
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