Conyers Reintroduce Bill to End Racial Profiling

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Sen. Ben Cardin, D. Md., and Rep. John Conyers, D. Mich., on April 22 reintroduced the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA), which would prohibit profiling by federal, state, local, and Indian tribal law enforcement authorities on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

Comments

[BDP]

The Honourable Mr. John Conyers is once again on the right side of history and progress. Racial profiling shouldn't even be a topic of discussion in 2015 in the land of the free. Unfortunately this country is not nearly as "freedom-loving" as its propaganda to the rest of the world (esp. the "Brown"/"Black" worlds) might lead an observer to believe. Racial profiling is why we've undergone, what, 4 straight summers of pain in this country?

Trayvon Martin died as a result of dual-maladies: Racial profiling, white-privilege (the privilege to claim power at any cost). Of course my main concern is when official authority figures (particularly members of law enforcement) abuse their power. They do it more often than we see on the news, because the public isn't educated on their rights when in a cop's presence.

Gun-toting cops that many of us grew up believing were employed to protect us all, these cops only protect the inmates of those wealthy gated communities, For the rest of us, cops primarily serve to intimidate whichever vulnerable soul is caught in the cop's (vision) cross-hairs.

Racial profiling is so easy, so obvious to diagnose, then to bring down an indictment, that it's appalling and absurd that we keep seeing the same outrage again and again. That is to say that the outrage, the marching in the street, is perfectly justified but the idea that it's a continuous, monthly event is the absurd part. The state is apparently not concerned with losing its stranglehold on the people's voices and wallets (and lives).

Our respective governments throughout this nation should really though be listening to the people's voices, isn't that what a democracy is all about?

God knows our government listens to the soul-less edicts of institutions: the Catholic Church has something rammed up some bureaucrat's shit-hole, surely there are at least bodies buried somewhere, and the Pope's cult know exactly where those bodies are, i'm guessing.

But you and i, we're not institutions, we're not powerful. And if you happen to be African-american? Well, i can only shrug, look down in shame and walk away. It's not that i don't like standing next to African-americans, it's just that since i am not a target of racial profiling, it's better for both of us if the cops get a clear shot.

And that in a nutshell is how this nation seems to feel about Blacks when they're targets of government bullets.