Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies
Center for the Study of Race & Race Relations: Lectures and Events
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Racial Profiling, Security, And Human Rights, Faye V. Harrison
Racial Profiling, Security, And Human Rights, Faye V. Harrison
Center for the Study of Race & Race Relations: Lectures and Events
Neighborhood Watch coordinator George Zimmerman’s February 2012 fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed, 17-year old African American in a gated community in Sanford, Florida has raised serious questions concerning racial profiling. Although a violation of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, ample evidence attests to racial profiling’s pervasiveness as a law enforcement tactic in contexts of street-level crime, counterterrorism, and immigration control. Since September 11, 2001, the longstanding problem of racial profiling has both deepened and expanded in terms of the populations targeted. Incentives to profile have been built into laws and policies that sacrifice civil liberties and …
Racism In A Black White Binary: On The Reaction To Trayvon Martin’S Death, Peter Westmoreland
Racism In A Black White Binary: On The Reaction To Trayvon Martin’S Death, Peter Westmoreland
Center for the Study of Race & Race Relations: Lectures and Events
Some philosophers have contended that racism necessarily involves a binary structure. In the United States, the binary is coded in terms of Blacks and Whites and functions in part in this way: it describes violence as racist only if committed by whites against blacks and prescribes that all such violence is potentially racist. This concept operated during the immediate aftermath of Trayvon Martin’s death in both allegations of racism without strong evidence and assertions against George Zimmerman’s being white that were intended to protect him. While perhaps no racism was involved in Martin’s death, we do well to remember that …