Mercado 1

Kristina Mercado

Mrs. Di Somma

ERWC Period 2

18 October 2016

Targeted

Just like how a mother dog should protect its puppies from any harm, the second they are

born, law enforcement should protect the citizens they oversee, no matter what race. Law

enforcement should focus on the crime and not the race because those enforcing the law end up

targeting innocent people and losing the trust of the community.

The rights of innocent minorities are at jeopardy everyday due to the forceful interactions

they have with law enforcement. Racial profiling becomes a problem when it targets and

violates the rights of too many innocent people leaving minorities vulnerable to abuse (Jadallah

& el-Khoury 219). The targeting of innocent people has caused them to feel fearful as they go

about their day. As a matter of fact, minority groups feel like their whole race is being attacked

and that law enforcement should not approach everyone of that race the same way. The fear of

being attacked has occurred due to a system of law enforcement that casts entire [races] as

suspect (Kowalski). Law enforcements actions of targeting specific races need to be in check.

When protecting a community you should be aware of all races and all genders. Innocent

minorities are feeling so attacked that some would prefer to move to the Middle East where

[they] might feel less alienated (Jadallah & el-Khoury 225). The fact that people would rather

move out of the country and have less freedoms to feel less alienated, shows that law

enforcement has attacked innocent people of specific race too much. These interactions with law

enforcement leave minorities feeling targeted for their race.

 Mercado 2

If you are the protector of a community, the trust of the citizens is valuable. The more

alienation minorities feel, law enforcement [loses] credibility and trust among the people they

are sworn to protect and serve (Kowalski). Without the trust of the citizens, the job of enforcing

the law becomes harder due to people feeling targeted for their race. If police continue to act this

way, these groups will stop obeying what they are asked to do. Minorities believe that police

lack lawfulness and legitimacy [that] can lead [them] to distrust of the police (Race, Trust and

Police Legitimacy). Respect is lost between the two due to minorities minds being set on the oh

im being pulled over or im in trouble because of my race. If police continue to act this way

towards minorities they will lose their ability and authority to function effectively (Race, Trust

and Police Legitimacy). The police should make sure that they are not only pulling over people

of certain race. The more effort the police put in to be aware of everyone, will be transparent to

those living in the community and respect can remain.

Targeting innocent minorities and losing their trust will only make it harder to enforce the

law. Law enforcements goal should be to protect the citizens of a community from any harm.

Law enforcement continues to racially profile minorities day to day and it needs to be put to a

stop before it becomes even more out of hand than it already is. We need more mother dogs to

protect their puppies.

Work Cited
 Mercado 3

Jadallah, Dina, and Laura el-Khoury. State Power and the Constitution of the Individual: Racial

Profiling of Arab Americans. Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol. 32 Issue 4, p218.

Kowalski, James A. "Racial Profiling Is Morally Wrong and Based on False Assumptions."

Racial Profiling. Ed. Carol Ullmann and Lynn M. Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013.

Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Everything Wrong with Racial Profiling." Huffington

Post. 2012. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 6 Oct. 2016.

"Race, Trust and Police Legitimacy." National Institute of Justice. NIJ Journal, 14 July 2016.

Web. 8 Oct. 2016.