When Racial Profiling is Acceptable.

Lots has been said concerning racial profiling recently. I want to make the point that it does exist and many if not most times, it’s necessary and should be acceptable. Lets examine some of the reasons why a police person should racially profile a member of a minority. In a recent article authored by Katherine Kersten and appearing in The Star Tribune, a major newspaper located in the Minneapolis, St Paul area, the author points out that we shouldn’t accept racial profiling as a simple fact, she writes there is often good cause for it. 99% of suicide bombings are a product of Islam, that’s not disputed by most people. So, it makes sense that when looking for a potential bomber, first look at the Muslims. Using figures from Ms Kersten’s article, she points out why profiling by police should be accepted and list the reasons why. Borrowing from her work I’ll use her figures to make the point, I have no reason to think they aren’t credit worthy.
As the author points out, the incident with Professor Gates has brought racial profiling to the forefront, all the way to the White House where our President felt it was alright to malign the white policeman involved in the Gates incident. That Gates views the world as racially bigoted, the incident where he immediately said the white policeman were racially motivated should have been expected. But not from a person such as the President who is supposed to represent all of us.
The Professor is black. His remarks suggest white policeman should not question black people, he fails to take into racial reality. In his recent remarks about the incident, President Obama made two points, the police acted stupidly and that racial profiling was common place. Obama did no service to his race trying to justify the Professors remarks and attitude. His remarks were offensive and a disappointment to many people.
Racial profiling exist now as before and will in the future. Not by racist as such, but by police legitimately trying to do their job. It’s become part of police culture. Let’s look at some of the reasons.
Solving a crime with no other information, the police should first look at the people that are more prone to commit crimes. The sad truth is blacks commit far more crimes than any other group. In Boston of which Cambridge (where the professor is tenured) is a part, Blacks make up about 23% of the population, yet they accounted for over 50% of the crime. (2007) The author pointed out in New York, where blacks make up about 28% of the population, blacks commit 68% of the violent crime there. That breaks down to 78% of the robberies as well as 82% of the shootings according to the Manhattan Institute. In Minneapolis, blacks make up just 18% of the population there, yet 64% of those arrested in 2008 for major crimes were black. The disproportion doesn’t stop with these three examples. According to the Justice Department, from 1976 to 2005, 52% of homicides in the U S were done by a black person. They make up just 13 percent of the population.
These figures demonstrate the likelihood that when a major crime occurs, it isn’t unreasonable for a policeman to look first in the black community. That is where he is most likely to find the perpetrator. To suggest otherwise wouldn’t be a logically responsible approach. In the age group of 18 - 24, which is only 1% of the population, these males are some 5 times more likely to kill someone than say black males upward of 25 years. In 2005, blacks were 6 times more likely to be a homicide victim than a white person. From 1976 until 2005, according to the justice department 94% of black murder victims were killed by another black
There’s no question some police officers are racist, both black and white.
But the notion that racial profiling is wrong during the course of an investigation for a violent crime is nonsense and irresponsible.
IMO, after reading the article and doing some research on my own, racial profiling is acceptable many if not most times, yet we condemn police when they do their job and go first to the most likely source.
May I suggest Professor Gates come to grips with reality, the black community would be better served if his efforts were directed toward teaching young black males the idea of responsibility rather than promoting racial hatred through his bigoted views.
http://www.startribune.com/local/52219792.html?page=2&c=y