Although slavery has long been abolished, and everyone in the United States of America has equal rights, people have the misconception that racism is also dead. Make no mistake: Although people are not walking around openly judgmental and discriminatory toward other humans based on their race as fluently, as they did in the 50s, racism is still alive and prospering without a doubt.
One of the popular factors that contribute to racial profiling is the high rise in police brutality. If you haven’t been keeping up with the news lately (since about 2012), police officers are continuing to increase their number in arrests and unjust fatal executions to victims who unfortunately lose their lives over what people can only assume is because of race. Rest in peace to Trayvone Martin, Oscar Grant, Sandra Bland and Mike Brown, just to name a few.
Moreover, even though racial profiling is highlighted on white-on-black crime, the most because of history, it is definitely NOT limited to only that type. For instance, take 14-year-old Ahmed Mohmed last September. He was only a freshman in high school who, in his own time, built an alarm clock and brought it to school to show the final product he’d worked so diligently on to his teacher. Because racial profiling is still very much so a thing, he was immediately arrested and taken into custody.
People will always argue that extreme measures have to be made at times to ensure safety for the greater good, but seriously guys . . . if that’s not racial profiling at its finest I don’t know what is.
It is important to remember that laws regarding race only demand that feelings aren’t acted upon. In no way does this eliminate the root of the issue: emotion. You cannot change the way a person feels about another person and that is the reason why racism will always be amongst citizens.
Being a part of multicultural organizations on campus is an awesome way to be more open-minded because you’re willingly surrounding yourself around people who may speak, dress and overall look differently than you.
The more comfortable you become around people of different races, cultures and lifestyles, the more likely it is that you will not instinctively judge someone later in life.