For our user agree- ment, click here . The resolution they adopted recently was a measured statement that avoided any accusations of racial bias. According to the U.S. Justice Department's regional community relations director, the cooperative effort is a first. In a better world, race profiling wouldn't be a blip on the radar screen. But its widespread practice has led congressional Democrats to call for an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.
Most people see the men and women in blue as guardians of the public peace.
Unfortunately, after meeting Officer Friendly in grade-school classrooms, not too many years pass until Americans of color start to have entirely different kinds of encounters. Nationally, Latinos and African Americans have a 70 percent greater likelihood of having contact with police than whites, according to a 1996 Justice Department survey. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., cited more recent surveys in Florida and Maryland showing 70 percent of those pulled over by state police on highways were black, even though African Americans were only 10 percent to 17.5 percent of the population. Stopping people because of their ethnicity assaults this nation's basic principles of freedom. It also undermines respect for law enforcement.