Group Profiling

The piece we read this week, "Black Men and Public Space" by Brent Staples, brought up a lot of ideas about racism and racial profiling. Everyone had different views on racism and the "profiling" that goes on in public. Although I agree with Staples, I also think that other races other than African Americans are subject to racism. I think it has a lot to do with people grouping cultures as a whole and not seeing each person as a separate person with a different personality. Ms. Valentino then brought up an interesting issue: Is there a solution to racial profiling? Quite honestly, I don't know if there is. Staples noticed racism in 1986, and instead of growing away from racism, we still have it today. Staples talks about "being perceived as dangerous" and people "who fear the worst" in him. Today, I still feel that people act like this. Some automatically judge others based on their general notion of a certain culture. Not only, do I think this occurs with the African American race, but also, with other races. People assume that Asians are really smart and the only thing they do is study. Others think that Indians only eat curry, or that we're all behind Dell's customer service line. Which, I can tell you, is definitely not true. This ridiculous racial profiling is based upon people grouping races as a whole. Until that stops, I don't think racial profiling will ever end.