“…The police are stopping hundreds of thousands of law abiding New Yorkers every year, and the vast majority are Black and Latino.”- New York Civil Liberties Union website
With the surveillance of Muslims in full swing, a “Stop and Frisk” policy that only targets select residents and a history of shootings that involve unarmed African-Americans, does New York City represent the new American democracy?
What is racial profiling?
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg defends racial profiling tactics as does his Police Commissioner, Raymond Kelly. But what exactly is “Racial Profiling?”
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “‘Racial Profiling’ refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.”
In a city with an ethnic make up that has whites outnumbering blacks and Hispanics, sometimes by almost a two-to-one ratio, is racial profiling ethical or even legal? An article published in The Huffington Post on April 20, 2012, “NYPD Muslim Spying: The Legal and Policy Issues Raised by Widespread Surveillance (Q&A),”suggests city officials appear to be violating their own rule. The Huffington Post explains, “A 2004 New York City law prohibits racial profiling, which is defined as ‘the use of race, color, ethnicity, religion or national origin as the determinative factor for initiating police action.’”
If protection from potential Muslim terrorists is the motivating factor behind current surveillance policies, how do you explain the public risk factors associated with radicals such as Timothy McVeigh, the “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, or anti-abortionist Eric Rudolph? Though each was a fanatical killer, none were Muslim, Latino or African-American.
New York City is treading on dangerous territory. In the past, similar social policies enacted by the federal government led to internment camps during World War Two that shamefully held Japanese American citizens captive in their own country. Generations later, the Muslim community is now a target, especially within the five boroughs of New York City.
“Stop and Frisk” policy
Where do a citizen’s civil liberties end and the authority of the government begin? The Center for Constitutional Rights defines “Stop and Frisk” as “the practice by which a police officer initiates a stop of an individual on the street allegedly based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.”
Is it the interpretation of “Stop and Frisk” procedures that are at issue or is something else taking place? Numbers don’t lie. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) has compiled alarming “Stop and Frisk” statistics.
The NYCLU indicates over 600,000 people were stopped by the New York City Police Department in 2011. Of those, 53% were Latinos and 34% African-Americans. Merely 9% were listed as white. Perhaps even more disturbing, 88% were, in the words of the NYCLU, “totally innocent.”
Unarmed and shot
Before the Trayvon Martin tragedy came to dominate recent national news, three other unarmed African-Americans were also shot and killed in separate incidents, silenced legally by the New York City Police Department. The deaths of Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell and Remarley Graham have never been put to rest.
In one of those instances, ubiquitous rocker, Bruce Springsteen, was so moved by the outrageous circumstances surrounding the shooting of Amadou Diallo, he wrote the song, “American Skin (41 Shots.)” The New York Police Benevolent Society staged a boycott of Springsteen when he performed his powerfully moving piece at Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden. Since the recent killing of Trayvon Martin, Springsteen has once again incorporated the tune into his live show.
Do all racial groups enjoy the same social equality in New York City? As of late, it doesn’t look that way.