Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested for "breaking into" his own home.
posted by ocherdraco on Jul 20, 2009 - 985 comments

Racism in Austria is a problem that has been well documented for quite some time. With the recent rise of the far right political parties, however, things seem to be getting worse. The recent case involving an African American teacher who was mistaken for a drug dealer and beaten by the police however has the potential to bring some changes to the country.
posted by Slash_fan on Feb 19, 2009 - 31 comments

Racial profiling to end Toronto gun violence? Michael Thompson, a black city councillor, says police should be allowed to "target" young black men at random as part of a crackdown on guns. The mayor, police, and public collectively go, "Whaaaa!?"
posted by Robot Johnny on Aug 16, 2005 - 31 comments

Ethnic profiling by dummies. A group of Sikh tourists visiting New York were "identified" as "foreign looking (read muslims). They were then handcuffed with their arms behind their backs and ordered to kneel on the pavement. Maybe this Sikh man has the right idea.
posted by lowgfr on Jul 31, 2005 - 54 comments

Bush camp solicits race of Star staffer. President Bush's re-election campaign insisted on knowing the race of an Arizona Daily Star journalist assigned to photograph Vice President Dick Cheney.
The jounalist's name was Mamta Popat. She sure sounds like a terrorist.
posted by JeffK on Jul 31, 2004 - 30 comments

Is this a firsthand account of a terrorist "dry run"? Terror in the Skies, Again? On June 29, 2004, at 12:28 p.m., I flew on Northwest Airlines flight #327 from Detroit to Los Angeles with my husband and our young son. Also on our flight were 14 Middle Eastern men between the ages of approximately 20 and 50 years old. What I experienced during that flight has caused me to question whether the United States of America can realistically uphold the civil liberties of every individual, even non-citizens, and protect its citizens from terrorist threats. Read the whole thing
posted by Rob1855 on Jul 15, 2004 - 124 comments

Last week some friends of mine launched terroristidkit.com to, as they put it, "[poke] fun at the racial profiling, loss of civil liberties and terrorist paranoia that is sweeping the US." Five days later Register.com seized their domain and refuses to explain why, despite the fact that they complied with two requests for identity verification and even called Register.com to talk about it; after putting them on hold for twenty minutes, Register.com put the phone down. Today the domain is now owned by Register.com. What the hell is going on?
posted by lia on Apr 11, 2003 - 52 comments

N.C. Congressman OK with the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII What is even scarier is this man is the head of a Homeland Security subcommittee. This is without question as repelling, hurtful and unfit to come out of US leader as Trent Lott's comments but somehow I do not believe this will get as much press nor condemnation. It is really chilling to wonder how many others on the committees and the Bush administration hold this or similar attitudes. It makes you wonder how far would they go in the name of Homeland Security if they thought they could get away with it.
posted by GreenDragon on Feb 6, 2003 - 28 comments

911 has had a tremendous impact on us all, and especially on Dolpho, a drug sniffing dog that can also apparently tell the difference between Blacks and Whites. So now a Pennsylvania councilwoman has moved to put the German shepherd to sleep for his racial profiling tactics while on the job. WOW, almost seems like an Onion piece, although I guess foxnews isn't far from it :)
posted by Why on Jun 11, 2002 - 19 comments

I Am a Racially Profiling Doctor "In practicing medicine, I am not colorblind. I always take note of my patient's race. So do many of my colleagues. We do it because certain diseases and treatment responses cluster by ethnicity." (NYTimes link)
posted by Irontom on May 8, 2002 - 30 comments

The Case for Profiling 'As it happens, the suicide bombers who attacked us on Sept. 11 were young, Islamic, Arab and male. That is not a stereotype. That is a fact. And there is no hiding from it, as there is no hiding from the next al-Qaeda suicide bomber. He has to be found and stopped." From what can be read here, here, and in another Time article here , it would appear that profiling is a touch harder to do than this lightweight rant suggests. Whether one agrees with profiling or not, there seems little point in Time Magazine cheerleading it with an article that can only add to the high level of ignorance already surrounding this subject.
posted by RobertLoch on Mar 15, 2002 - 23 comments

It's time to stop racial profiling and start profiling rich white men. So says one man's editorial. I think we can all agree -- it'd probably prevent another Enron.
posted by tiny pea on Feb 26, 2002 - 30 comments

Greyhound suspends service. Rinearson said when she refused to give up her seat, "He just went up to the bus driver and like slit his throat. And the bus driver turned the wheel and the bus tipped over." Normally, just another whack-job ending his days. But the annoying thing was listening to the radio this morning on the way to work and all they could keep wondering about aloud was what the guy's nationality was. What, is the first reaction of normal people when they see a little spark or ember to immediately rush over and fan it into raging flames? Are people no longer able to think critically? Is your response to the situation going to be different if the nationality answer is 'American' vs. 'Saudi'? What does this say about you?
posted by warhol on Oct 3, 2001 - 51 comments

Airport Detainees Cleared At least 10 travelers of Middle Eastern descent who were detained at two New York airports have been cleared of any connection with Tuesday's terrorist attacks, Sen. Joseph Biden said Friday.

"Anyone with dark skin or who spoke with an accent was taken aside and searched," passenger Mike Glass of Seattle told the Times. "And then they went to any male with too much facial hair."

Isn't this going too far? >more<
posted by metrocake on Sep 14, 2001 - 20 comments

More than half of all black men report that they have been the victims of racial profiling by police, according to a survey by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University.

Overwhelming majorities of blacks, Latinos and Asians also report they occasionally experience at least one of the following expressions of prejudice: poor service in stores or restaurants, disparaging comments, and encounters with people who clearly are frightened or suspicious of them because of their race or ethnicity. This is 2001?
posted by owillis on Jun 22, 2001 - 62 comments