As I See Racial Profiling

“Racial profiling” is an unfortunate, but necessary tool of law enforcement, a fact too many white, middle-class Americans fail to grasp, but a tool with which, I believe, most minorities in this country will have not problem.

Think about it. Suppose you are Arab. You are American. You love your country and understand that, because you look like an Arab, you will probably be pulled over more often than the Japanese looking guy next door. What would you like to see happen: A) the authorities scrupulously avoid “racial profiling” and pull over just as many white guys, percentage wise, as Arab looking guys, thereby increasing the likelihood that some terrorist infiltrates our country and sets off some bomb; or B) the authorities inconvenience you repeatedly because they consider your “race” more likely to attempt to set off a bomb and in the process thwart a terrorist attack? I’m willing to bet the average Arab, Mexican, or even Black, provided they were US citizens, they loved their country, and they were convinced that a particular type of skin color was more likely to blow people up, would choose B. Why? Because I am not a racist. I am not a racist because I am convinced that the average non-white person in America is just as patriotic and willing to sacrifice for this country as I am. I am not a racist because I believe that not all minorities automatically reject the idea of profiling, racial or otherwise. I am not a racist because I do not believe I have to defend those poor minorities from the evil hand of the racist government (those poor minorities who are too poor, too ignorant, too backwards to defend themselves). I am not a racist because I do not believe that every person who has a different skin color than me is to be given a free pass, as if there is no possibility that they would ever do anything dishonest, and even if they did, that he or she would be justified in doing so. I am not a racist because I believe that the minorities in this country are willing to sacrifice for the better of the whole, even if that sacrifice falls disproportionately upon them. And I have good evidence that such is the case.

Remember WWII? What did the Japanese do when they went to internment camps? Did they rebel? Did the spend the next fifty years claiming they couldn’t get ahead because “the man” had it in for them? No, the went quietly and when it was over they went back to work rebuilding what they had lost and then some. And the Blacks? What did they do in WWII? Did they run for the hills and claim that America wasn’t there country? No, they signed up in force, they fought beside their American brothers and sisters, and they died beside them. And when it was all over they returned to their country even though it was still full of bigotry and hatred, and they continue to server their country. The story was, and is the same, for every minority in this country. Not a one has ever failed us, and I doubt very much they ever will. So if we ask them to submit to “racial profiling” because it helps keep their country safe, I’m willing to bet they will, no questions asked.