Wednesday, April 28, 2010
AZ
Just a random musing.... I have an old friend who lives in Phoenix AZ. She is originally from Denmark and just moved there maybe 6 years ago. She has a strong Danish accent. She is white with blonde hair. Do you think if she was, say, speeding and got pulled over, and didn't have her license or registration on her, that the officer might ask her to bring papers down proving her citizenship while she brings in her other documents for the speeding offense? I think it's very possible they would, based on her thick accent. Is that profiling? Or is it just profiling if they stop someone for 'suspicious activity' and take note of accent AND a complexion other than caucasian? Is it going to be called profiling if an officer pulls someone over who sounds rather like a Canuk, saying 'eh?' left and right and asks to see proof of their reason for being in the US? I'm just curious.
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Profiling, God how I hate that word now.
ReplyDeleteIf the problem stems from brown skinned illegal aliens it's not profiling it's common sense to profile based on that obvious fact.
If three men in ski masks rob a bank is it profiling not stop stop women and ask them to empty their pockets but to stop the men in the area? No it's common sense.
Many Danes kidnapping and killing Americans in Arizona? there sure are a lot of Mexicans doing it though.
Why not? I spent the winter in Yuma AZ this year and saw and heard the problems they are having at the border.I have been stopped by the Border Patrol at checkpoints around Yuma and on one occasion had to produce ID. Did it bother me? Not a bit. Unemployment is running at 22 plus % in Yuma and the majority of crime is linked to Hispanics. Am I being a racist? No, it's the norm!!! I am an old white guy with veteran plates on my truck plus I carry my police ID in my wallet which I proudly produce if asked. Now if I have something to hide................
ReplyDeleteI was practically strip searched before a flight to Ireland in 2005 (at Stanstead-London) and I didn't kick up a stink. Maybe me and the fellow North American passengers (a family from Texas) should have ranted that we were being profiled because of our accents ;)
ReplyDeleteI am not stupid, I know that there are racist people out there, but the stuff I have seen on TV the past few days is starting to sound ridiculous. From what I saw of the new law, it states that if someone is involved in 'suspicious activity', the police can also ask for citizenship type documents.... but 'someone else' has said that a family going for ice cream could be harrassed... is going for ice cream a 'suspicious activity'?
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, it must be a duck. Some call that profiling. Those in the business call it common sense.
ReplyDeleteThis is a serious question: is racial profiling wrong in all circumstances?
ReplyDeleteSituation One:
A black male has been reported to have committed a crime. The police stop black males in the area who fit the description, and question them.
Situation Two
There are large numbers of illegal immigrants of a specific ethnicity in a state (e.g. large numbers of individuals of a specific ethnic group are suspected of committing crimes.) Therefore, the police stop a higher percentage of individuals of that group, in order to determine whether they have violated the law.
If racial profiling is acceptable in situation one, why not in situation 2?
Funny, once upon a time the phrase "documents please" accompanied by the threat of jail if they weren't in order or on your person, was something that was ridiculed and would never happen in superior North America.
ReplyDeleteTimes do change don't they?
If AZ department stores are asking for 1-2 pieces of picture ID, what is so scary about the police doing so? We have, sadly, come to a less trustful state in North America, as many people steal IDs and cheat the system now. I pay $27/month for alarm monitoring, something that should also not be needed in Canada. I would love to go back to unlocked doors, but this is not going to happen as civil morality has decreased.
ReplyDeleteAZ is tired of being a victim of lack of national action, so they are protecting their state. Their legislation appears to be respectful - the training program and implementation will be the keys. I fail to understand the premature outrage.
I can't begin to imagine what some people do go through when encountering a racist person, but being a woman, I have come across some sexist/chauvinist people and I do not brand or label a whole group (ie 'men') just because a few have a stick up their butt and are bigoted/sexist in certain matters.
ReplyDeleteThere are going to be cops who profile racially, for the wrong reasons, as there has been for years. Those few need to be weeded out. However, if it is becoming such a problem in various countries, what do protesters suggest should be done instead? All I hear for a plan is 'amnesty'. Okay, for current illegals but what will be done to stop an influx? Or should we all just open our borders and it shouldn't matter? I don't hear many responses/plans for that either. I am not even saying I agree totally with what AZ has done, I have not read the whole law yet. But I guess I tire of the news (like CNN) showing the protesters in a different light than how they chose to show 'tea party protesters'. Both are protesting something the govt is doing that they feel affects too many peoples' individuals rights and freedoms, yet one group gets slandered and the other gets applause. Why is that?