Racial Profiling: U.S. Airport Security

Racial Profiling: Airport Security

Maridel Miciano

Definition: Racial ProfilingThe use of race or ethnicity as grounds

for suspecting someone of having committed an offence.

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PurpoPurposese

Spot potential terrorists

Yield drugs, outstanding arrest warrants or immigration problems

AdvantagesAdvantagesUncover potential terrorists before they

board plane

DisadvantageDisadvantagess Discriminatory

Ineffective way to identify someone intent of doing harm

Targets specific ethnicities: Middle Easterners, Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities

Singles out passengers based on nationality, race, ethnicity or religion.

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Types of people who are being Types of people who are being targeted:targeted: Middle Easterners, Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities

Those who wear baseball caps backwards are considered “suspicious”

“If they are black and have expensive clothes or jewelry, or if they are Hispanic,” said a white officer who spoke with the NY times.

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What happens?What happens? Pat down

X-ray scans

Questioned

Random search

Assessors look for: inconsistency with answers, unusual behavior, avoiding eye contact, sweating, fidgeting

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Intentions genuine or for national security purposes? Racial profiling is used for national security purposes - now a days the intentions

of racial profiling in American airports seem to be insincere.

True StoryTrue StoryAzheem Khan: “I went to Puerto Rico last weekend to celebrate a bachelor party for a friend of mine. On my way to the airport I joked with my friend that I was going to be picked for a random search because that's what happens to you when you have a Muslim name like I do. As I went through security, making sure to take all of the items out of my pocket to go through the scanner, I decided I had gotten it all into those ugly plastic bins. The official running the bags through the machine commented on my Yankees hat because he is a fan himself. I was feeling like maybe I was going to get lucky today, and not be searched just because I'm brown. After he told me to have a nice day I walked through the metal detector. It began to beep. I started to think to myself "here we go again." So I asked the TSA official in front of me if my glasses had set off the machine. He replied, "No, this is a random search."

Racial Profiling shall Racial Profiling shall continue?continue? No, specific ethnicities are being singled out.

Minorities make up an overwhelming number of the cases with this practice.

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Credits:Credits: www.google.com/imghp

http://www.psmag.com/culture/hey-tsa-racial-profiling-doesnt-work-25725/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/us/racial-profiling-at-boston-airport-officials-say.html

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/14/travel/tsa-profiling-accusations/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/azeem-khan/racial-profiling-muslim_b_3303582.html