a rose by any other....

The spread of racial profiling since 9-11: Civil Rights Rollback

by Chisun Lee - August 3rd, 2004 10:10 AM

"Racial profiling is being stopped driving while black or driving while Hispanic. This is not racial profiling," said Mark Corallo, spokesperson for the Department of Justice, when asked about the administration's 9-11–related operations. He voiced precisely the kind of thinking that has obscured the crisis of profiling for the past three years.

Trawling for terrorists and pulling over motorists in search of drugs are in fact the same thing. While it may be acceptable to target people based on a racial or ethnic description if—and only if—there is some specific indication that those particular people are actually criminals, broad sweeps based on general traits are never OK.

Not only are they unlikely to yield "hits" and certain to humiliate innocent parties, but such dragnets also violate this nation's fundamental principle that people will be treated as individuals and not according to stereotypes. (more...)