(Community Matters) It’s irresponsible of the Associated Press to highlight racial profiling within today’s AAS article, “FBI may use race in terror profiling.” Though I haven’t spent enough time thinking about & discussing with others the entire program, including race as only one factor in a matrix of factors such as travel to terrorist regions and access to weapons, while technically meeting the definition, isn’t the racial profiling Americans have come to overwhelmingly object. We object to minority experiences of racial profiling such as license to stop someone of color simply for driving or walking through certain neighborhoods, or treating a person of color differently during inquiries by authorities.
Of course, the Bush Administration has lost the privilege of trust when it comes to protecting Americans’ liberties. And, we know better than to allow 43s DOJ ambiguous language. Nevertheless, editors would better contribute to important national security discussions if they helped avoid inflammatory language [contradiction of title acknowledged as a point].
Community Matters 