Kevin Encarnacion
Professor Bergeron
ENC1101
4/18/2012
Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover Trayvon Martin, an African-American male, was recently shot and killed by community watch coordinator George Zimmerman because of “suspicious behavior,” when reality he was just walking to his girlfriend’s house in a gated community. Does racial profiling and stereotyping still exist in our society today? I believe it does, and I feel it has an impact on our lives on a daily basis. We may not notice it, but we stereotype races every single day in our lives. We may not be racist or hateful people, but I think we apply the typical stereotypes of races in everything we do. First of all, I think people stereotype black people the worst. There are thought to always be involved in crime, drugs, violence, etc. It is true that a lot of bad things happen in the ghetto and suburbs of cities, and that the crime rate is higher in these areas. But does this mean that all black people are bad people? I feel that a lot of people think this way. There are successful black people in the world, but just the way some of “thugs” present themselves these days allows peoples perspectives and stereotypes to continue. I see it in my life every single day; Obnoxious black people wearing baggy clothes that don’t fit and we see their underwear sticking out. I’ve seen them be rude in stores, restaurants, etc. all for no reason. And it is through this type of behavior that allows them to be stereotyped like this. Second of all, racial profiling by the police has become an increasingly controversial issue in recent years. I myself have been pulled over for completely no reason before. The cop didn’t even ask for my insurance or registration, just my license. And after he ran my name and saw I had no record, he let me go and said it was a “free-bee.” He never told me why he pulled me over because he had no reason to. He did it because it was late at night and it probably looked like my car was up to no good. Third of all, I myself have faced racial stereotyping. Because I’m Asian, ignorant people assume that I’m either Japanese or Chinese, when I’m really Filipino. People will say dumb things like Asians can’t drive. It doesn’t bother me though. I actually laugh at