Today in class we were studying how the police force is seen as discriminatory and insitituionally racist…
Iv had a pretty **** time with police…stopped and searched especially when i had braids…humiliated in the US when customs kept me for three hours interrogating me before i was able to just manage to get my flight to colombia…
Thing is i couldnt help but sit in class today and think i actually understand why…fair enough i havent done anything but you have to understand why they would target you…i used to cornorw my hair and i looked pretty black and thats when the majority of my stop and searches for drugs and weapons tended to be…thing is most ‘street’ crime is committed predominantly by black kids in my area so should it be seen as discriminatory when i get stopped and searched…some would argue that ethnic groups are targetted but i dont think its that simple…stereotypes always have a basis of some kind and whilst it cant be applied to individuals you can judge a whole…ill quite happily say that when i lived in Mile End most of the criminals were bengalis so its a bit rich for them to moan about doscriminatory behaviour when the fact is Bengalis commit almost all crime in that area…
Same with the Muslim thing…i felt humiliated and pissed off but shouldnt a person of pakistani/iranian/african origin with an arabic name travelling alone to colombia be worth a more thorough check than your average english guy?..is this discrimination or just correct profiling?
I think it becomes discrimination depending on the procedure…iv been stopped and searched before where the policeman has been polite and i have had time where you could tell the guy was being condescending and a bigot which naturally gets you on the defensive…
The guy at US customs was an absolute prick in how he treated and spoke to me…the issue wasnt the additional checks but the methods in which he did it…
So i dont think its discrimination to profile races i think it becomes discrimination depending on how you act upon the profiling itself…
So i dont think its discrimination to profile races i think it becomes discrimination depending on how you act upon the profiling itself...
huh??
Sir ji, I think you need to take a step back, and re-write what you really want to say so mere mortals like us can also understand what you are concluding.
Its not discrimination to profile a race...so if police say stop black people in Peckham there is nothing wrong with that cos black people are most likely to commit crimes...so i dont believe it to be discriminatory to profile a race...
You can stop and search someone and be pretty decent about it...you can be polite and non condascending or you can be a prick and you be aggressive and heavyhanded which some police can be...thats the discrimination not the profiling in my personal opinion...one of my friends actually got called a ****ing nigger when stopped by a policeman and iv been stopped quite forecfully before by a policeman which is humiliating...
so u are basically saying that if a particular race/gender/age whatever is statistically more likely to be a suspect based on past data, then stopping a higher percentage of people who meet that profile is not racism, but how the person is treated, and how law enforcement officials behave determines if it is racism or not.
peckham...hmm is is still as bad as it used to be with the NORFF peckham estates there? or wit those razed its getting better. I lived in dulwich to had to go through peckham all teh time, dinn really had any issues, the hoods were usually more scared of me anyways
Its not discrimination to profile a race...so if police say stop black people in Peckham there is nothing wrong with that cos black people are most likely to commit crimes...so i dont believe it to be discriminatory to profile a race...
You can stop and search someone and be pretty decent about it...you can be polite and non condascending or you can be a prick and you be aggressive and heavyhanded which some police can be...thats the discrimination not the profiling in my personal opinion...one of my friends actually got called a ****ing nigger when stopped by a policeman and iv been stopped quite forecfully before by a policeman which is humiliating...
why humiliating? if u fit the profile then they have every right to stop you and humiliate you just like they'll stop any other black guy. what makes you think that despite fitting the profile they should give u a red-carpet treatment? police humiliate first and then get their facts straight afterwards. so enjoy the humiliation while they get the facts right about you next time.
I agree. I'd rather have the police stereotype people and do extra checking on them if it means people will be safer. If you want to dress like a thug, then there's a price to pay for it even if you're totally clean.
Read it properly Saieen...iv had heavy handed treatment by police which is what builds resentment...funnily enough ethnic police especially can be dicks and get on a power trip...its more about the manner in which your searched...now being called a ****ing nigga is discrimination clearly...
iv also been stopped by police and spoke to quite reasonably...rather than get defensive...i go as well spoken as possible and am as polite as possible...makes a change from when i was young and got hostile and aggressive anytime i was stopped...there is a civil way to do your job...and maybe i can be civil becuase i understand that i do look like someone who commits a crime...im young, ethnic, wear baggy clothes and have huge curly hair...
X2...
Yeah thats pretty much what im saying...police ges accused of being discriminatory simply for targeting ethnic groups and i personally think thats ridciulous...
Dont chill in Peckham too much...live in south but spend most my time central...lived in east which is getting rougher each time i go...ilford is getting worse by the day...
Phatima...thats my point...i fit the profile so i shouldnt moan if i get stopped...
o stop and search someone they need probable cause, and simply looking a certain race or ethnicity does NOT cut it for probable cause. That is staunch discrimination.
You are only trying to justify your anger. And that I think is a good thing (in a way) to think positively. But that, my friend, doesn't change the very definition of the word. The screaming harsh reality stays.
