By Erin Endres Racial bias, prejudice and profiling are injustices that minorities all across the country face every day of their lives. Our society has been like this for an innumerable amount of years, but recently this situation has escalated. As a country, we need to improve upon these relations and fully accept and appreciate all races, genders and religions. In 2014, a nationwide survey was released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics that calculated the racial disparity in police stops. This data that was collected showed that 13 percent of African American drivers were pulled over at least once in 2011. On the other hand, only 10 percent of white drivers were pulled over at least once in 2011. This may not seem like a large difference; however, this survey did not calculate the number of times drivers were actually pulled over, which would most likely show a substantial gap between the races. Additionally, African Americans only make up 12.3 percent of the U.S. population while whites make up 63 percent of the population. Racial injustice also takes place in other police-driver contact situations such as tickets, license suspension, searches and arrests. In 2015, a New York Times analysis discovered a wide racial gap in measure of police conduct in Missouri, Illinois, Rhode Island and North Carolina. They found that African American drivers were 1.5 to 5.2 times more likely to have their cars searched by police officers than white drivers. This does not mean that every time an African American is pulled over it is based on their race. Everyone makes mistakes while driving and gets pulled over or ticketed a decent amount throughout the course of their lives. However, a study of Connecticut traffic stops found that the racial disparity between who was pulled over was larger during the day than at night. An explanation for this could be that it is easier to observe the race of drivers during the day than at night. “Minorities are targeted more than whites in every situation,” Wilson junior Kendall Bossler noted. The United States is also facing an eruption of racially motivated police shootings. One example of this occurred on Sept. 20, 2016 when Keith Scott, a 43-year-old black male, was shot by the North Carolina police department. The police claim that Scott was holding a gun when they shot him, but the truth is still unclear. His death caused riots and protests which were part of the the latest Black Lives Matter movement. In addition, the income gap between African American and white workers has been increasing for about 40 years and is currently worse than ever. According to a report by the Economic Policy Institute, African American men make 22 percent less than white men even when they have the same education and experience. African American women also make 11.7 percent less than white women. Furthermore, there is a large wage gap between women and men in general. In 2015, for every dollar a man made, a woman would only make 80 cents. Sabrina Gonzalez, sophomore, commented, “these are all injustices that need to be fixed.” Other races and religions are also being persecuted more than ever throughout the nation. For example, many Americans have been mistreating Muslims due to terrorist groups who misrepresent the religion of Islam and do not follow its practices of love and peace. Even during the most recent election season, Islamophobia has been taken to new heights. President Donald Trump continuously made outrageous and ignorant comments about both refugees and Muslims in America throughout his campaign. This also sparked sparked racism and prejudice towards Mexicans and hispanics by calling them criminals and “rapists”. On Oct. 4, Brian Green, a white man, was inside a Southwest Airlines flight when his Samsung Note 7 phone began smoking and forced the plane to be evacuated. In an interview, Green said that he threw his phone onto the ground where it continued smoking and burned the carpet. This is a clear example of white privilege. If Green had been any other race or religion, like Muslim or hispanic for example, the people on the plane would have thought it was some type of bomb or that he was a terrorist. This racial discrimination has been a problem in our country ever since the beginning of it. However, things are spiraling out of hand fast and we need to do something about this. As young Americans, it is our duty to remain aware of these situations surrounding us. Furthermore, it is necessary that we understand the privileges and hardships that some of us may face. By acting upon this, we can change our world and society for the better.
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Elena Caputo
Hi! My name is Elena, and I'm a senior at Wilson and one of the Editors of the Editorial section. If you have any questions or ideas or if you want to write, email me at [email protected]! Olivia MonosHello! My name is Olivia and I'm a junior this year, and one of the editors of the Editorial section! I'm really excited to write for the Paw Print again this year!
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