Profiled Becomes Profiler
by Diane Schachterle
April/May 2002
The term “racial profiling” was coined specifically to identify law enforcement’s practice of targeting blacks in general for harassment. It has been denounced and exhaustively studied with extended periods of data collection of traffic stops in order to identify patterns and eliminate the offending practice.
Following the 9-11 attacks, a shift of attention from blacks to Arab-Americans generated a surprising result. A September 14-15 Gallup Poll and a similar Zogby International Poll showed blacks are more likely than other racial groups to favor stringent airport security checks for people fitting the “Arab” profile.
In the Gallup Poll, 71 percent of black respondents said they would favor requiring Arabs, including those who are U.S. citizens, to undergo special, more intensive security checks before boarding airplanes. Fifty-seven percent of whites said they would favor such a policy. There was no category specifically for Hispanics and Asians. But among non-whites the figure was 63 percent.
Asked whether they favor or oppose requiring Arabs, including U.S. citizens, to carry special identification as a means of preventing terrorist attacks, 64 percent of blacks said yes, while 48 percent of whites said no. Among non-whites, 56 percent supported requiring Arabs to carry IDs.
In the Zogby poll, 54 percent of blacks surveyed said they support singling out Arab-Americans for special scrutiny at airport check-ins. However, Hispanics and whites said they were opposed to such action, 63 and 53 percent, respectively. Each surve questioned about 1,000 respondents and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
Some black community leaders expressed shock and disbelief at the poll results. Some reacted with resignation and sad acknowledgement of the humanness and fear, following the terrorist attacks, expressed by the poll results. The prevailing ideology proclaims that whites profile blacks, and that blacks are victims who cannot tolerate similar mistreatment of other groups. The truth in America is that we are not a bi-racial society with only two players. America is a multi-racial society with each “race” and ethnicity bringing a myriad of cultural and social biases and expectations to the table. Among blacks, or any other group, exists the possibility of bias or prejudgment.
It is illogical to assume that all members of a racial or ethnic group think and feel alike on all subjects, and yet that is exactly the foundation of our societal obsession with “race.” Not all persons of Middle Eastern descent are terrorists, not all whites are racists, and not all blacks are above the human frailties of fear and bias.
Racial profiling is never an acceptable or efficient method of law enforcement or airport security, so the poll results suggest a larger and more pervasive mindset that transcends race and ethnicity. A vast number of Americans in general were amenable to profiling Arab-Americans, and therein lies the tragic result. Lest we again be blinded by racial stereotypes, let us remember in today’s society how the color linkes are blurring (making profiling more and more an inexact science) and how important it is to treat people as individuals who should not be arbitrarily assigned the sins or privileges of others in their “group.”
by Diane Schachterle
Copyright © 2002 ACRI and The Multiracial Activist. All rights reserved.