Racial profiling—the targeting of individuals because of race, ethnic identity, national origin or religion—has no place in our nation. The recent, tragic and avoidable shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African-American teenager in Florida, has focused national attention on the need to make sure minority communities are protected from hate crimes and racial profiling, a practice that is ineffective in crime prevention, undermines effective law enforcement, and erodes civil rights.
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly states that “no State shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Last October, in keeping with the U.S. Constitution, I introduced legislation that would put an end to racial profiling and ensure that all Americans have “equal protection under the laws.”
My bill, the End Racial Profiling Act, S. 1670, would prohibit the use of racial profiling by federal, state or local law enforcement officials. It also would prohibit state and local law enforcement officials from using race as a factor in criminal investigations. It has the support of the NAACP, ACLU, the Rights Working Group and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Racial profiling demonizes whole communities. Following the murder of Trayvon Martin, I met with members of Maryland’s faith and civil rights communities and heard about repeated incidents in which racial profiling has been used to target minorities for suspicion.
We must put an end to such targeting based on race or ethnic identity. I am pleased that the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating all the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, including the investigation that was conducted by local authorities.
Maryland law enforcement has had problems with racial profiling. In the 1990s, the ACLU brought a class-action lawsuit against the Maryland State Police for illegally targeting African-American motorists for stops and searches along Maryland’s highways. The parties ultimately agreed that “the need to treat motorists of all races with respect, dignity and fairness under the law is fundamental to good police work and a just society … (and) that racial profiling is unlawful and undermines public safety …”
Racial profiling is not an effective policy and often saps scarce law enforcement resources that could be utilized more effectively. Minority communities—African Americans, Arabs, Muslims, Hispanic communities—know all too well the anger and frustration of being singled out because of their race, religion or ethnic origin. One of the major reasons racial profiling doesn’t work is because it corrodes public trust and makes it less likely that affected communities will voluntarily cooperate with law enforcement and community policing efforts.
It is time that we make clear that racial profiling has no place in law enforcement.
It would help both,
"Here's hoping & praying this 'lynch-mob' mentality and prejudgement never comes knocking on our doors." Watch out, the Lynch mob mentality of Ben Cardin saying racial profiling is in the national discourse is coming to get ya.
Stay happy. John
ben cardin is a class A schmuck. a race hulstelr like jesse and revum al.
http://www.toledoblade.com/Police-Fire/2012/04/03/Man-78-recounts-assault-by-6-youths-in-E-Toledo.html Six black youths beating a 78-year-old man in Toledo, Ohio in revenge for Trayvon's death. Ben, you are the greatest. always telling the truth just like ABC, NBC, CNN and Obama. Are you going to wear a hoodie during your election campaign? cc: Sen. Cardin
Not knowing if these folks on this thread even have children, let alone going to school with your children's classmates and shaping their views is an extreme "generalization" and no better than the "offending" original comments.
Is "intolerant" the same as "injustice"? Sounds like that is your view. Ben would look real good in a hoodie. He would do well to campaign in a hoodie?
That's really a silly question.
Hate crime legislation is generally directed to the protection of minorities. It would be good to hear Ben say what you are assuming. His article which occasioned all these comments did not reflect what you are assuming. It was gutter politics. He doesn't deserve to be our senator.
No. You are wrong, my question is not silly.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57413385/court-affidavit-zimmerman-profiled-trayvon-martin/?tag=stack
I think that will have to be proved in Court, until then it's just the usual stuff. A prosecutors job is to win at all costs and will use all favorable words. I imagine the defense attorney will say NOT PROFILING.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c103:1:./temp/~c103rxLcxz:e927518: "(a) DEFINITION- In this section, `hate crime' means a crime in which the defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property crime, the property that is the object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person." In the case of the above bill on Racial Profiling that Ben Cardin was citing, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c112:1:./temp/~c112oPedrT:e2495: it defines Racial Profiling as: "The term `racial profiling' means the practice of a law enforcement agent or agency relying, to any degree, on race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion in selecting which individual to subject to routine or spontaneous investigatory activities or in deciding upon the scope and substance of law enforcement activity following the initial investigatory procedure, except when there is trustworthy information, relevant to the locality and timeframe, that links a person of a particular race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion to an identified criminal incident or scheme." Note in both places the term minority is never used.
From the CBS report: (Can we trust CBS?) "The affidavit, which is the prosecution's point of view in filing a second-degree murder charge against Zimmerman, presents the prosecution's answers to two questions that have been debated in the weeks since the shooting: ..." Even if the prosecutor is factually correct, it doesn't justify Cardin's slime-ball politics calling it profiling before any authoritative statement. Even now he is not justified in calling it profiling until proven in court. Have a great day!
For Montgomery County, does anyone know of any prosecution, in the past 10 years, of any minority for any Hate Crime in which the victim was/is an otherwise normal White person?
Actually racial profiling is good police work. If an officer works in an area where 95% of the armed robberies have been committed by black males and he sees two black males enter a store at closing time while another remains behind the wheel would it be unlawful under Cardin's bill to keep the car under observation? Would it be unlawful for the officer to get out of his car and look in the store window? Mr. Cardin you are a joke.
Senator Cardin, What about White communities? Do they deserve to be protected from hate crimes and racial profiling? Why did you single out minority communities? Do they deserve special protections, that non-minorties will be denied? It seems to me that "equal protection under the laws" will be denied to many, to appease the few if your law is passed.
And I am confident the prosecutor is correct. Too bad Travyon wasn't just a "normal white person," right, Frank!