Racial Profiling
Tanisha Rubin
11/8/2011

Topic:

Racial Profiling in the U.S today.

General Purpose:

To persuade the public that racial profiling is wrong.

Specific Purpose:

Racial profiling is defined as "the practice of targeting people for police or

security stops based on their race or ethnicity in the belief that certain ethnic groups may be more likely to commit a particular crime, based on unsupported assumptions about race and criminality. Available evidence suggests that racial bias in the criminal justice system may be most acute in the initial stages of interaction between law enforcement and the general public, so racial profiling warrants the public's acute attention according to Institute on Race & Poverty.
This kind of racial targeting is wrong, and should not be tolerated; therefore taking a closer look at such behavior should subdue the problem. I.

Introduction
A.

Attention Getter: School officials suspend a Latino child for violating the school's zero tolerance policy while a white child's behavior is excused as being normal child's play.

B.

Reason to Listen: This kind of racial targeting is one of the most talked about topics. To be subjected to a police stop or unwanted searches just because of the color of your skin is an issue that needs to be tamed.

C.

Thesis Statement: This kind of racial targeting is wrong, and should not be

tolerated; therefore taking a closer look at such behavior should subdue the problem. D.

Credibility Statement:
1.

According to Data Collection Resource Center the debate over racial profiling has become a central element in a much larger history of adversarial relationships between the police and communities of color
A "profile" is a coherent set of facts ­ known conditions and

2.

observable behavior ­ this indicates that a particular individual may be engaged in criminal activity. The technique of "profiling" is a well­known and long­standing law enforcement tactic.
3.
E.

II.

Preview of Main Points:
1.

First, I will describe different types of racial targeting.

2.

Second, I will examine what is being done to subdue the problem.

3.

Third, I will discuss why it is wrong and should not be tolerated.

Restate Thesis, exact same as above.
This kind of racial targeting is wrong, and should not be tolerated; therefore taking a closer look at such behavior should subdue the problem.
A.

First Main Point
1.

Idea of development or support for the first main point
a.

The so­called "war on drugs" targets people of color, it has resulted in pervasive racial profiling by the police in the enforcement of drug

laws. In fact, some would argue that skin color has now become a proxy for criminality. The emergence of crack cocaine in 1986 and the exaggerated press accounts of inner­city crack use have reinforced the public's impression that drug use is predominately a problem among low­income, urban, communities of Color. Subsequent operations undertaken in cities across the nation have targeted these communities where drug dealing is easy to detect. As a result, arrests for drug possession reported by state and local police nearly doubled between
1981 and 1988.
b.

Police look for drugs mainly among African Americans and Latinos; they find disproportionate numbers of people of color with contraband.
Consequently, more minorities are arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and jailed, thus reinforcing the perception that drug trafficking is primarily a minority activity, and perpetuating the assumption that it makes sense to stop a disproportionate share of blacks. When that’s not even the case. Anybody who wants drugs or deals drugs will go get drugs, no matter what color their skin is. So since blacks and Mexicans are the only ones targeted majority of the times, whites have a better chance at getting away with having drugs as opposed to coloreds.

[Transition Statement: Understanding who gets