While attending California
State University, Sacramento (CSUS) two of my classmates had made disturbing comments
about blacks. The first disturbing comment about blacks came up in my social work
class, a former female student (who wants to be a social worker) stated “Blacks
females are not doing good. They are just having babies like their mothers and
I will never give them a job.” The second disturbing comment was in my
Criminal Justice Search and Seizure class in which a male classmate made this
statement, “If they act like a duck or looks like a duck it must be a duck”. This
student also stated that, “If I see someone with dreads or wearing baggy pants he
must be up to no good.” What caught my attention was that he wants to be a
police officer, and since he wants to work in law enforcement field I feel that
he should not be judging any one base on his appearance. When people make
statements like that I feel there are making assumptions about my race. At the
end of the day both of my professors corrected them and both students apologized.
Even though the students apologized, I know that racial profiling still exists
still today.
The statements my
fellow classmates made disturbed me because we are the future workers and we are
supposed to be an example for the younger generations. We do not want people to
think is acceptable to judge people by their appearance. I was shock they would
say such harsh things about blacks. I am sure what made my classmates make
statements like that but I believe these harsh feelings towards another of a
different skin color are deeply rooted in our minds from previous generations.
Years ago, blacks were used as slaves. The slave owners treated them badly. The
owner’s own children then grew up with the same ideals and passed them on to
the new generation, but this need to stop. I am a black student. I am young I
do not have kids. I know people with dreads for instance my mother and she not “up
to no good.” I was hurt by their comments about blacks because it is not true. Also
I know this issues is just not affecting me it is affecting others in America
too.
So I did some research on the
publication, “Restoring a National Consensus: The Need to End Racial Profiling
in America”, the report is an update of the earlier 2003 report, “Wrong Then,
Wrong Now: Racial Profiling Before and After September 11, 2001” the problem of
racial profiling continues to be a significant national concern that demands attention.
This publication examines the use of racial profiling in the street-level
context in which it originally arose. It also examines the newer context of
counterterrorism and the most recent context of immigration.
http://westorlandonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/racial_profiling2011.pdf
Whether you watch the YouTube video
or read the publication about racial profiling you must know that racial
profiling does still exist. Ask any person
who might be different color or ethnicity and they would let you know that they
have been insulted more than once in their life time by other people. Nobody
should be putting these ideas into anyone’s head to judge someone base on their
skin. It only makes one wonder will Martin Luther King Jr’s vision of a
color-blind society come true… where everyone is equal and treated equal, It make me ask this question will it ever come
into existence? I only hope so. I believe and will always believe that all men,
and women, are created equal and they deserve to be treated with respect.