Black Men Are Still Subject to Racial Profiling

[Jazzy]

Even in the Ivy League, Black Men Are Still Subject to Racial Profiling

Earlier this month, New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow tackled the complexities of police interaction in a lengthy op-ed pegged to a Montana police officer's fatal shooting of an unarmed methamphetamine user.

The African American writer cited the incident as just one example of how complicated police interaction can be, and the types of questions it raises. Among them: "If part of your job is to patrol 'high crime' areas, are you predisposed to lump in some non-criminals with the actual criminals in those areas?"

That question proved all too relevant on Saturday, when Blow's son, a junior at Yale University, was reportedly accosted at gun point by an officer on campus because he fit the description of a suspect, according to the columnist's tweet.

Despite its prestigious U.S. News & World Report ranking as the third best university in the country, Yale is located in a 'high crime' area—New Haven, Conn. is one of the country's 25 most dangerous cities, to be exact—owing largely to rising gang violence.

Still, Blow's tweets suggest that his son Tahj's encounter with Yale police had nothing to do with gang violence in the city. Instead, he suggests that his son, a third year biology major who was leaving the library at the time, was targeted by police merely because of his skin color.

"He's shaken, but I'm fuming!" he tweeted, using hashtags that reference Eric Garner, the unarmed black man who died at the hands of New York City officers in July.

A Yale university spokesperson confirmed to the New Haven Register that a student whose behavior and appearance matched the description of a suspect—"a tall, African American, college-aged student"—was briefly detained, but did not identify the student by name.

The spokesperson said that an internal review of the incident will be conducted by the chief's office of Yale Police Department. The actual suspect was arrested that night in the University's Berkeley College and is reportedly facing charges of felony burglary.

Of the eight Ivy League universities, only Yale has a student population that is more than 50 percent white, according to the National Journal. Black students account for 8 percent of total enrollment, compared to 62 percent white, 17 percent Asian and 8 percent Hispanic.

Recent student-launched campaigns like I, Too, Am Harvard, were launched by black students who wanted to ensure that their voices were heard at the predominantly white Ivy League school. Last fall marked the university's highest percentage of accepted black students to date, at 12 percent.

Blow's tweets suggest that despite advancements in Ivy League diversity, not enough has changed in terms of racial biases on some campuses.

Do you think this was racial profiling? Why/Why not?

 

[Dee]

It could very well be. Only the officers responding will know that for certain, but I do know that racial profiling exists as I have seen many people confess to it. I've even seen it happen to other people, so yes, I feel like this is a high possibility. It's just a conversation that many people refuse to have, as well as refuse to identify or eve know what to do about. It's uncomfortable, yes, but it needs to happen. We need to find a way to stop judging people and putting predisposed assumptions of a person or a group of people (race) just because of the color of their skin.

 

[+paradox]

i don't need a columnist to tell me what the truth is...

 

[Jazzy]

That question proved all too relevant on Saturday, when Blow's son, a junior at Yale University, was reportedly accosted at gunpoint by an officer on campus because he fit the description of a suspect, according to the columnist's tweet.

Therefore, he was not targeted by police merely because of his skin color. This whole article is promoting racism, and blatantly shows the racist bias of the reporter.

 

[Dee]

That question proved all too relevant on Saturday, when Blow's son, a junior at Yale University, was reportedly accosted at gunpoint by an officer on campus because he fit the description of a suspect, according to the columnist's tweet.

Therefore, he was not targeted by police merely because of his skin color. This whole article is promoting racism, and blatantly shows the racist bias of the reporter.

But do we know what the description of the subject is? "Black male, aged 21-30 in jeans and a black coat." How many people could you identify in an area, a SCHOOL, for Christ's sake with thousands of students who could fit that description? A lot, probably. That's actually a very vague description unless they were given something like "suspect has a large, visible tattoo on the right side of his neck and forearm, as well as facial hair in a gotee", etc.

More often than not, the descriptions of suspects I hear on the news could be damn well anybody. Remember that incident in California where they were looking for the guy who shot the cop and was on the run for a little while? I think his name was Chris Dorner. They shot up a car because they thought he was in it, but it turned out to be completely different people. This is pure human error driven purely by human assumption and prejudice. One person's idea of something is not always going to fit every single factual detail fully, which is why I am slightly more inclined to believe this was racially driven.

 

[Jazzy]

So let me get this straight...a student who matched the description of someone the police were looking for was stopped, question and once was found not to be the person the police were looking for was released? Sorry I don't see the problem here. So, say if the police were looking for a tall, White, college-aged student, should the police not stop and ask questions of people fitting that description? Again, I don't see the problem here.

 

[+paradox]

So let me get this straight...a student who matched the description of someone the police were looking for was stopped, question and once was found not to be the person the police were looking for was released? Sorry I don't see the problem here. So, say if the police were looking for a tall, White, college-aged student, should the police not stop and ask questions of people fitting that description? Again, I don't see the problem here.

by pointing a gun at an innocent man because he was black, yes, that's a problem...

 

[Jazzy]

So let me get this straight...a student who matched the description of someone the police were looking for was stopped, question and once was found not to be the person the police were looking for was released? Sorry I don't see the problem here. So, say if the police were looking for a tall, White, college-aged student, should the police not stop and ask questions of people fitting that description? Again, I don't see the problem here.

by pointing a gun at an innocent man because he was black, yes, that's a problem...

Again, he matched the description of someone the police were looking for. The person they were looking for was accused of felony burglary. Of course they pointed a gun at him. Do you actually think the cops are going to take the chance that the person who matched the description is unarmed?

 

[+paradox]

So let me get this straight...a student who matched the description of someone the police were looking for was stopped, question and once was found not to be the person the police were looking for was released? Sorry I don't see the problem here. So, say if the police were looking for a tall, White, college-aged student, should the police not stop and ask questions of people fitting that description? Again, I don't see the problem here.

by pointing a gun at an innocent man because he was black, yes, that's a problem...

Again, he matched the description of someone the police were looking for. The person they were looking for was accused of felony burglary. Of course they pointed a gun at him. Do you actually think the cops are going to take the chance that the person who matched the description is unarmed?

what was the "description"?

and if a cop pointed a gun at me when i didn't do anything wrong, i'd be pissed off too...

 

[Jazzy]

So let me get this straight...a student who matched the description of someone the police were looking for was stopped, question and once was found not to be the person the police were looking for was released? Sorry I don't see the problem here. So, say if the police were looking for a tall, White, college-aged student, should the police not stop and ask questions of people fitting that description? Again, I don't see the problem here.

by pointing a gun at an innocent man because he was black, yes, that's a problem...

Again, he matched the description of someone the police were looking for. The person they were looking for was accused of felony burglary. Of course they pointed a gun at him. Do you actually think the cops are going to take the chance that the person who matched the description is unarmed?

what was the "description"?

and if a cop pointed a gun at me when i didn't do anything wrong, i'd be pissed off too...

A criminal offense takes place and a description of the actor/suspect is obtained form victims. The police then put the info out to other officers in an effort to locate and arrest the actor. Mr. Blow's son being stopped is not about a man of color being on a predominantly white campus. It is because he resembled the description of the actor/suspect from a felony investigation. The police would be derelict in their duty if they saw someone matching the description and didn't investigate.

For racial profiling to occur the police would have to be stopping people without reason other than the color of their skin. That is not the case here.

 

[+paradox]

So let me get this straight...a student who matched the description of someone the police were looking for was stopped, question and once was found not to be the person the police were looking for was released? Sorry I don't see the problem here. So, say if the police were looking for a tall, White, college-aged student, should the police not stop and ask questions of people fitting that description? Again, I don't see the problem here.

by pointing a gun at an innocent man because he was black, yes, that's a problem...

Again, he matched the description of someone the police were looking for. The person they were looking for was accused of felony burglary. Of course they pointed a gun at him. Do you actually think the cops are going to take the chance that the person who matched the description is unarmed?

what was the "description"?

and if a cop pointed a gun at me when i didn't do anything wrong, i'd be pissed off too...

A criminal offense takes place and a description of the actor/suspect is obtained form victims. The police then put the info out to other officers in an effort to locate and arrest the actor. Mr. Blow's son being stopped is not about a man of color being on a predominantly white campus. It is because he resembled the description of the actor/suspect from a felony investigation. The police would be derelict in their duty if they saw someone matching the description and didn't investigate.

For racial profiling to occur the police would have to be stopping people without reason other than the color of their skin. That is not  the case here.

it depends on what the "description" was...

a cop can't just put out a description of a adult black male suspect and then go out harassing every adult black male they see, especially pointing guns at them... same thing with any other race or gender... a description must have some detail and not that vague...

and it's a fact that cops lie and tell people that they "match a description of a suspect" when the description wasn't even close to the people they were harassing, and at times, a made up description of a made op suspect just to validate the harassment of a citizen...

 

[MrDawn]

I'm so sick of all this racism crap, people need to get the focus off of race and onto the situation in the White House (or main body of government). Stop focusing on skin color and focus on ethics, focus on the laws, focus on the political scandals. Racism serves nothing but to divide the citizens of the country.

There are "ethics" and "policies" in place ALL have to follow. The sexual orientation groups have more of a fight of discrimination and such than other ethnic groups. Racism exist of course, albeit it is individualistic. A person or group may be racist, and they are shunned from our society for being so, pretty much to the extent of being black-listed. A persons color doesn't make them an automatic racist, and claiming one race can't be racist towards another is exceptionally hypocritical and stupid.

I do believe that racism will always be an issue no matter what. It is a back and forth issue. I just wish people could drop it, but seeing as racism has existed far back into history as we all can remember. I don't think we're going to go away any time soon.