Pros And Cons Of Racial Stereotyping

Stereotyping: Society’s Downfall

Society has created several stereotypes for the different races and religions in America. These stereotypes are crippling the United States as a nation (Racial Profiling). Alongside these stereotypes comes racial profiling. Highly affected races and religions are African Americans, Asians, and Muslims. When a Muslim is titled a terrorist or an African American is labeled as a thug, society generalizes that group of people and says that is what the entire group of people are. This type of criticism has lead to the discrimination of cultures and races in the United States. With the recent terrorist attacks occurring around the United States, it has only strengthened the stereotype against Muslims. These actions

Racial profiling is a controversial, illegal, and discriminatory practice in which individuals are targeted for suspicion of crimes based on their ethnicity, race, or religion rather than on evidence-based suspicious behavior (Racial Profiling). A few examples of racial profiling are all Muslims being terrorists and all African Americans being labeled as gang members. These labels are based on race or ethnicity and have no merit. Although the practice is illegal in the United States, many groups concur that racial profiling is still evident today. Society has put the people affected by racial profiling lower in what society expects of them. Police officers rely on descriptions to identify suspects, in combination with other factors. When officers use the color of a person’s skin without using other identifying factors, they are guilty of racial profiling. Police officers are not the only ones guilty of using these discriminatory practices. Airport security guards, airline pilots, and business owners use these techniques. An example includes an airport security guard singling out a person because of the color of his or her skin. This can include the guard searching the victim and their possessions because of the way they look (Asra

After the events of 9/11, Arabs and Muslims became the main targets of racial profiling. They have reported being kicked off planes and questioned at airports just because of their ethnicity or religion. Business owners and employees commit racial profiling when they accuse certain people of shoplifting. They may follow customers of certain ethnicities around their stores, and some restaurant employees might overlook certain customers because of the color of their skin and seat or wait on others before them (Racial Profiling). Other examples of common examples racial profiling are people who cross the street when they see a person of another race walking toward them, or a black student being expelled from school for an offense that typically carries a lesser punishment for a white student. A phrase used to describe racial profiling is “driving while black.” This comes from African Americans complaining that they are pulled over by police officers for no reason other than the color of their skin (Racial Profiling). Native Americans use the phrase “driving while Indian” to describe police stops and searches that have no merit. Caucasian individuals also experience the effects of racial profiling, especially when they are in interracial relationships or with people of different races. For example, a white