The End

In today's world of manifold negative peace, created through the perpetuating binary of winners vs. losers, two opposing sides of an argument will continually struggle for a dominant position resulting in a win/lose situation, soon to be overthrown by the moment losers. However, to create a win/win scenario in which the conflict between sides is permanently resolved, differing sides must be united without compromise or conformity. The only way to truly end an argument forever, short of killing everyone who opposes your viewpoint, is to create a larger problem that encompasses both sides of the argument and ultimately unifies all parties involved through their opposition to the new problem or to remove the fulcrum on which the controversy hinges. Both sides must abandon their focalized viewpoint to go above the argument and see the controversy from every perspective. Thus the final solution lies in either the creation of an environing greater implication or the removal of the fulcrum.

In the example of racial profiling, primary players can be defined as; those who believe racial profiling is a constitutionally legal and effective law enforcement method that should be used by the United States executive system and conversely, those who believe racial profiling is not constitutional and should not be used as a method of law enforcement by the United States executive system. This binary could be eliminated if the fulcrum of ethnicity (the whole controversy hinges on characteristic differences generated by ethnic diversity) were eliminated. In order for officers of the law to see past the racial stereotypes that they have formulated, they must see no difference of skin color.

While this scenario is difficult to create, the premise remains that ending the controversy is achieved by removing the primary implication of the argument so that each side has nothing to fight over anymore.

The Fulcrum

Humans use their powers of association to judge the world around them through their knowledge of previous experiences and their subscription to the beliefs of others. The analytical skills of humans are always at work, extrapolating known information to make assumptions about things which they do not, or cannot, know for sure. Thus, in the case of racial profiling, one calls on either what they have learned through others about the characteristics of a certain race or what they have observed themselves. In essence, the controversy over racial profiling hinges on action in response to assumption. Regardless of whether racial profiling occurs in American society today, regardless of whether racial profiling is morally wrong, the ethos of the matter relies on the power of assumption that an individual will exhibit whatever stereotype one has developed in their mind.

Academic Research

After in depth research of academic sources, I have begun to see the implications of both sides of the racial profiling binary. Academic studies have shown that racial profiling in general is rooted in psychology. Psychological research has shown that the ideas and beliefs of ones peers are largely adopted by the individual, through subconscious conformity. This phenomenon, combined with the social respondent conditioning of an individual (phenomenon in which the experiences and observations of an individual are extrapolated to stereotype a person, situation or occurrence) ingrains in an individual, a perception of the world. This specific perception causes a person to extrapolate previous experiences to develop stereotypes of certain people or situations. This suggests that a police officers previous examination of his environment along with the views of his peers shape his judgments of individuals. It has been statistically established that minorities are “stopped” by law enforcement officials more than is proportional to the ethnic breakdown of America’s total population. However, the number of minorities stopped due to suspicion is very close, in proportion to the number of minorities in prison as compared to the number of incarcerated Caucasians. This may seem to justify racial profiling; however this raises a large moral dilemma. Many will argue that it violates moral code and more objectively, the constitution of the United States to impose judgment on an individual because of the stereotypes surrounding a certain race.

Racial Profiling in Law Enforcement

In a society where racial stereotypes exist, through the identification and realization of social traits that tend to characterize certain ethnic groups, individuals may use preconceived perceptions of a particular race to impose judgment on an individual before objective evaluation of the individual. A specific example that exemplifies this scenario is the issue of racial profiling by law enforcement officials. In particular, law enforcement officials have long been accused of stopping African American motorists on the premise that they fit the profile of most drug traffickers or law offenders. There is no solid statistical evidence to support the stereotype that African Americans proportionally break the law more often than Caucasians (although they may get caught more often because they are more heavily watched). Thus, while profiling may lead to more arrests by law enforcement officers, one must ask if the method is morally, or even constitutionally, sound. When it comes right down to it, an objective standard for police suspicion of an individual must be established. Even though law enforcement may be more effective if racial profiling is incorporated, the use of a stereotype as a basis for criminal suspicion cannot be deemed probable cause for suspicion as stated in the United States Bill of Rights.

A Specific Demonstration of Causality

In a world of genetic diversity, arising from the independent assortment of chromosomes, crossing over, and genetic mutations, variations arise in the human genome. In this realm of dissimilarity in the human form, different races emerged by way of geographic isolation. As genetic distinctions became prevalent for each ethnic group, certain genetic characteristics arise to demarcate each race. These attributes, which perpetuate themselves through cultural segregation, create stereotypes which fabricate model, perhaps “ordinary”, individuals for each ethnic group. While no individual embodies every trait indicative of their particular race, the majority of individuals in a certain ethnic group create, through the isolation of their culture, a stereotype based on actual genetic tendencies.

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My Topic

I will perform a non-biased, objective investigation on the issue of racial profiling/racial stereotyping.

Disclaimer: The following are my personal, self evident opinions on the issue of racial stereotyping. These are my preconceived notions on the subject prior to my research.

Racial stereotyping always has and always will be a prominent yet sensitive issue in the world. The stereotype can be as mild as the well to do, white collar Caucasian or as offensive as the ruthless, "hoodlum" African American. The problem of racial stereotyping stems from obvious factions in humanity and are perpetuated through lack of knowledge and inter-racial experiences. I say that racial stereotyping is a problem because leads to racial profiling. That is, it causes one to impose judgement on another individual on the sole basis of their ethnicity. Certainly many other, more significant factors play into the character and lifestyle of a person that their skin color.
While this judgment may give an advantage to some, it most often commands a handicap to others. It is simply unfair to expect an individual to fit into the "racial mold" created by a culture when one does not have any knowledge of the individual.
While racial profiling is not fair and just, it is not always incorrect. After all, in most cases racial stereotypes arise from some demonstrated characteristic of an ethnic groups culture. Even though it may sometimes seem that the majority of individuals in an ethnic group serve to proliferate a certain stereotype, it should play no part in the evaluation of a person.

Posits To Be Explored

-To what degree, if any, does the racial stereotype of an individual influence the ability of said individual to achieve a high social status?
-To what degree, if any, does racial stereotyping hinder ones ability to have an initially objective view of an individual, without any preconceived judgements?
-How, if at all, are racial stereotypes spread throughout a collective culture?
-What, if any, are the negative implications of subscribing to negative racial stereotypes when judging others?

Relevant Links

-http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/rsrch/papers/archive/2004-11-profiling_WP.pdf
This link objectively attempts to use statistics and economic models to analyze racial profiling. The proposals raised are logical and convincing and adequate demonstration was used to lead the author to his findings.
-http://www.uoltj.ca/articles/vol3.1/2006.3.1.uoltj.Gandy.297-327.pdf
This link looks to persuade the reader to believe that the use of racial profiling in the judicial system of the United States ultimately leads to an amplification of the crimes committed by a certain ethnicity. The author makes clear assumptions that racial profiling is, but should never be, used a reliable method in criminology.
-http://theses.lub.lu.se/archive/sob//psy/psy01001/PSY01001.pdf
This article details a study aimed at determining the causal relationship between an individuals experiences with other ethnic groups and the degree of racial stereotyping performed by the individual.
-http://fred.ccsu.edu:8000/archive/00000214/
This link proposes that racial stereotyping is a prominent issue in today's society which can be solved through the integration of neighborhoods.
-http://doku.iab.de/externe/2005/k050131f02.pdf
This link explores the underlying factors of the wage gap that exists between different ethnic groups in American society. The authors suggest that cognitive and skill gaps among ethnic groups arise because of racial discrimination. This is believed, in turn, to lead to the wage gap that exists among different races.
-http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-05252004-005153/
This heavily biased site asserts claims that the American judicial system is the most punitive in the world. Little support is given to demonstrate validity in the claims, however serious questions are raised about the severity of racial profiling.
-http://etd-submit.etsu.edu/etd/theses/available/etd-0325107-173040/
This link details a study performed to determine if racial profiling is used by North Carolina highway patrolmen. The results of the study suggest that race is a significant factor in pretextual highway stops, however the proposed theories that attempt to explain the study are purely speculative.
-http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04302003-175917/
This study was done to determine if racial profiling is used by police in North Carolina as a factor for suspicion of crime. The study found that, contrary to popular belief, racial profiling is not a significant a factor.

-http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/hr_racialstereotypes.shtml
This article gives a brief insight into the psychology behind racial stereotypes and suggests that while they are largely subconscious, they are reversible.
-http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=
7473032&dopt=Citation
This study attempted to used experimental data to justify the stereotype that African Americans do not have as high a cognitive ability as Caucasians.
-http://www.jstor.org/view/00925853/di975214/97p0155y/0
This article supports the claim that White individuals with negative perceptions of Blacks often judge blacks harsher and more readily than whites in a similar situation.
-http://www.leaonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1207/s15324834basp1903_2?cookieSet=1
This article states that experimental research has made it evident that society perceives African American athletes, on a whole, as more athletic. This information perpetuates one of the most commonly supported racial stereotypes.
-http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?id=doi:10.1086/338938
This article claims that stereotypes are influencing perceptions of neighborhood crime levels. The authors use surveys and census information to conclude that there is a significant relationship between a neighborhoods ethnic composition and the perceptions that citizens have of their neighborhood's level of crime.
-http://www.psy.ohio-state.edu/petty/PDF%20Files/2001-JESP-Wheeler,Jarvis,Petty.pdf
This link proposes that individuals who subscribe to the negative perceptions of their ethnic group ultimately live up to the stereotype as compared to those who view themselves as having equal opportunities as others.
-http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=k3m0xcDZKAAC&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=racial
+stereotyping+justified&ots=Srno5aGfQ_&sig=qDLSpx8Ri7OSBs728ZSYjshbQD0
This book states that race is a primary factor in exclusion among the youth of modern society. The authors assert that ethnic dissimilarity very often leads to prejudice and discrimination.
-http://www.jstor.org/view/00223816/di985518/98p0145y/0
This article states that negative racial attitudes held by Whites are the primary reason that most whites oppose welfare policies. This article makes this hefty claim with little logical progression leading to this conclusion.
http://www.jstor.org/view/00223816/di985516/98p0066i/0
This article takes a harsh stance, stating that the obvious racial segregation in America today is a distinct product of racial prejudice and ultimately racial stereotyping.
-http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1468-5930.2006.00326.x?cookieSet=1
This link states uses statistical data to conclude that racial profiling is an effective method for fighting crime, however it is a moral question as to if the crime fighting method should be used.
-http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2003/June/racial_profiling_fact_sheet.pdf
This article from the US Department of Justice asserts that racial profiling is morally wrong on the basis that it serves to perpetuate negative stereotypes for certain ethnic groups.
-http://academic.udayton.edu/race/03justice/justice01.htm
This article uses self evident examples to suggest that racial stereotypes are based on factual and true characteristics embodied by an ethnic group.