Racial Profiling

Racial profiling in airports is still at large and the Center for Constitutional Rights recently published findings that showed 80% of people that NYPD questions are Black or Latino/Hispanic.

The report said:
“From 2005 to 2008, approximately 80 percent of total stops made were of Blacks and Latinos, who comprise 25 percent and 28 percent of New York City’s total population, respectively. During this same time period, only approximately 10 percent of stops were of Whites, who comprise 44 percent of the city’s population.

“Results show that Blacks and Latinos are significantly more likely to be stopped by the police than Whites; that Blacks and Latinos are more likely to be frisked after a NYPD-initiated stop than Whites; and that Blacks and Latinos are more likely to have physical force used against them during a NYPD-initiated stop than Whites. Yet the rates of summons and arrests from all stops is not only extremely low, but nearly the same across racial categories.”

(Further analysis from Racewire)

I find this all so interesting. Is profiling really anything to do with security? It's obvious that profiling doesn't really reduce harm or crime - sure it catches 'criminals' sometimes because the very bodies who are profiled are often the same bodies who are automatically constructed as criminals regardless.

It seems to me that profiling is more a way to make certain people feel safe and like they are being protected, while simultaneously reminding certain other people that they are not safe, are not protected, and are seen only as a threat. So profiling is about re-establishing the social order and reinscribing privilege and not about securing anything except white privilege and hegemony.