A white child, holding his white mother’s hand, crosses the street. They are on their way to a candy store, just a leisure walk, and everything seems fine. As they walk on the sidewalk, a black man, taller and bigger-sized, walks toward them on the same sidewalk. As the man comes closer the mother grabs her child's hand and pulls him on the other side of her and the black man. At the time, it seems like an act of protection as strangers can be scary and may end up being atrocious people. If this man was Muslim, had a disability in the physical appearance of his body, or overall just looks different than what they look like, the same thing could happen. What if this man was replaced with a white man? The new man is the same size, same looks, the only difference is that he’s white. Would the woman act the same? Most people would say that if they were her, they would act the same and that they are “racially blind”. However, statistics were taken by the FBI, CIA, and traffic cops around the U.S. prove that most people would not act in the way that they say they would. After all, thought is a lot different than actual practice. The black, Muslim, and Mexican society is profiled as being intimidating and criminals without any rational conclusion.

People claim that they are only scared of blacks and other minorities because of the facts that create these stereotypes. These facts include the higher crime, arrest, and search rate among minorities. However, are these rates comprehensive of all guilty people that are being arrested and searched? According to The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, two boys and their football coach, all African Americans, were driving to their football practice late one night. It was already dark outside while they were driving, and they were pulled over by police officers. The police officers were white, and they forced them out of their cars and onto the street. They held the three African Americans at gunpoint and checked the car for anything suspicious. However, all they found was football gear. Before the three black males were pulled over, they were not breaking any traffic laws or regular laws that may have caused them to be pulled over (The Reality of Racial Profiling, The Leadership Conference). The only reason it is believed that the white police officers stopped them, held them at gunpoint, and searched their car was because they were black and looked strong and scary. It appeared that the police officers immediately felt that they must have drugs or weapons inside their car because why else would blacks be out that late at night? Therefore, the police officers felt that they had to pull them over even when they had done nothing wrong in the first place. If it were three white men in that car, the police officers likely would have seen nothing wrong with the situation and may never have assumed that the white men were off to cause trouble, even if they were. However, these men were black and they seemed suspicious and were “threatening” to the cops, so the officers had to pull them over, even though the only crime they committed was looking different than the officers.  
   

African Americans are not just searched without reason, they are also arrested more for crimes than caucasian people who have committed crimes but who were just let off with a warning. On highways, traffic stops (or people being pulled over on the highway) occur when an automobile driver has broken a traffic law and a police officer pulls him/her over on the side of the road to give them a ticket or arrest them if it is a serious offense against the law. The FBI reported that black drivers were twice as likely to get arrested compared to white drivers for the same offense during a traffic stop. Granted, some of these arrests may be for second or third-time offenses. However, could the reason for the absurd amount of black drivers being arrested for the same crimes as whites really be that all blacks are worse drivers? That question is not a possibility. Blacks have the same driving capability as whites. It seems then that the only reason that blacks are twice as likely to get arrested for the same crimes as white people is because of racial profiling (The Reality of Racial Profiling, The Leadership Conference). The FBI also released that whites are more likely than any other race, especially blacks, to just get a warning for a crime, while minority races are more likely to just get arrested. This is probably because when the police officers pull over a driver and  it’s a black, they seem to feel threatened and don’t ask questions or give a warning. They immediately assume that the black man or woman has done something wrong. This happens because of the racial profiling that blacks and other minorities are faced with.

The uncalled for search and arrests against blacks are just the beginning. Many of the murders of blacks by law enforcers, officers, and neighborhood watch people go unnoticed and unpunished. One particular murder in the past was overlooked because of racial profiling. Trayvon Martin, a black young adult was visiting family in Florida. Martin stopped at a convenience store at a rest stop on his journey. A neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, saw him with his hood on and immediately guessed that he was doing something wrong. Instead of calling the police to investigate, he took matters into his own hands and pulled out a shotgun. Without any questioning or asking Martin to put his hands up, Zimmerman shot the 17-year-old right there. Martin died and Zimmerman was charged with the murder of Martin. However, Zimmerman was deemed innocent because he said he felt threatened. This shows two cases of racial profiling as Zimmerman saw Martin, a black boy with a hood on, and immediately thought he must be a criminal. Then, after Martin’s death, the council of six white women agreed with the man that seeing a black man is threatening which shows even more racial profiling. He is not the first person to be murdered without reason and with no justice given to the murderer. Others include Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Keith Childress, Bettie Jones, Jamar Clark, and Richard Perkins among many others. The stories of their deaths are told on Mapping Police Violence’s website. Their deaths are unnecessary in this world and happen mainly because of racial profiling, both in people's minds and actions.  

Overall, in many cases blacks and minorities are profiled as scary and threatening while whites are not found guilty of nearly anything. Blacks and other minorities are searched, arrested, and killed for things that whites would only be scolded about. Racial profiling is a huge problem and is not right. The deaths of innocent blacks keep happening because of the way they look. However, all humans deserve the same treatment, whether they look intimidating or not, and no one should be labeled as a criminal by the color of their skin or any other characteristics. These murders and innocent arrests must be stopped as they will rip apart the very meaning of being an American. Being an American is being able to travel, buy, create, and do these things without the fear of being judged by race, religion, or looks. These offenses against blacks and other minorities have disgraced the meaning of freedom and will keep doing so unless we stop racial profiling. If that black man walked past you, would you hide yourself from him, or would you treat him like everyone else?