Sunday, June 7, 2015

Elishable of the Day-Racial Profiling

What is racial profiling?  According the Office of the Arizona Attorney General it is defined as the "Use by law enforcement personnel of an individual's race or ethnicity as a factor in articulating reasonable suspicion to stop, question or arrest an individual, unless race or ethnicity is part of an identifying description of a specific suspect for a specific crime."


Some people claim that racial profiling is something that will always happen. Some people in the realm of law enforcement argue that the practice is necessary and effective. They believe that due to demographic and socio-economic factors and their relation to crime, those in a large minority population have a higher risk of participating in criminal activities. They argue that ignoring the facts due to moral integrity is professionally and morally wrong. If law enforcement officers are to identify and take action against violators, any information to assist them in being more effective is crucial. Critics of racial profiling argue that individual rights are violated when this practice is utilized. Civil liberties organizations intimate that this type of profiling is in fact a form of discrimination and undermines basic human rights and freedoms. Researchers are interested in collecting data and analyzing trends to see how this information corresponds to perceptions of racial profiling and the effects it has on ethnic groups.


However racial profiling is ILLEGAL....


In 2001, former President George W. Bush addressed a Joint Session of Congress and declared that racial profiling was wrong and that America was going to end it. He went on to comment that the nation's police officers need the support of the American people, and due to the abuses of a few, they were hindered in doing their jobs properly. Rather than being racially profiled, law enforcement was being pigeon holed, although it could be said they were experiencing a similar situation to that of those individuals who were racially profiled. A year later, Attorney General John Ashcroft shared President Bush's sentiment and stated that using race as an indicator of potential criminal behavior was unconstitutional and undermined the criminal justice system. A former policy regarding racial profiling was issued by the Department of Justice in June of 2003 that forbade the practice by federal law enforcement officials. 


In New York they conduct Stop-and Frisks and claim that it helps lower the violent crime by targeting the public for minor violations.  The police force was supposed to stop and every dynamic equally and yet it was found that they targeted more Hispanics and Blacks than White people.  On top of that they discovered that used force on a higher percentage of the H and B communities than on the W community.  The real kicker is though, that we found out that it did NOT lower crime rates in NYC.  In 2002 the murder rate for New York was 587 and in 2011 it was 532.  That hardly signifies that stop and frisk practice which is using RACIAL PROFILING to conduct said procedure is useful at all.


 http://racerelations.about.com/od/thelegalsystem/a/Do-Stop-And-Frisks-In-New-York-City-Amount-To-Racial-Profiling.htm


What is your story?   Have you been a victim or do you support racial profiling? Please share and discuss.





Saturday, June 6, 2015

Elishable of the Day-Immigration

It truly is time for the United States to seriously overhaul immigration reform.  This country was built on the back of immigrants, and the only way we can continue to succeed is to have a more simplified process for immigration. 


Have you every wondered how many undocumented immigrants reside in the United States?  ELEVEN MILLION!!!









Can you even imagine who life is like for an undocumented family living in the USA?  President Obama is on the right track to request immigration reform because it is SOMETHING that must happen here in the United States.  We cant afford to ship 11 million people back to their home countries and by doing that you would  be responsible for splitting up families.  According to the Pew Research (link provided above), 7% of the school age population has at least one parent who lives in the United States who is an illegal immigrant.  Can you even imagine what type of fear that family must live in?  To wonder if their spouse or parent could/would be deported for up to 10 years? That's ridiculous.  We, as Americans, should support a new immigration policy that allows illegal immigrants amnesty to come forward, identify themselves, and pay a fine for breaking the law.  Then we can apply back taxes on jobs (assuming that they didn't pay taxes,  most illegal immigrants DO pay taxes using their ITIN's)  and allow them an easy to follow process towards the path of citizenship.  President Obama's immigration policy requires background checks and would investigate each individual to determine if they broke the law or committed crimes in the USA.  If they did, then we would of course SEND those immigrants back to where they came from since we want law abiding, family centric individuals that work hard and would appreciate the opportunity to live and work in the USA.







http://news.yahoo.com/illegal-immigrant-pay-taxes-government-195527675.html








The United States of America used to take pride that we were the melting pot of the world.  Every single American has had a family member who immigrated to the US.  The truth is, according to Gallup, 72% of Americans believe that we should allow undocumented workers living in the United States the chance to become legal residents or citizens if they meet certain requirements. The same poll showed that 71% believe that more visas should be given to workers with advanced skills, and 68% believe that the government should spend more money on border security and enforcement.  Obviously Democrats are supporting President Obama's reform policy and the Republicans are supporting border security and enforcement.



Honestly, the key to presidency at this point IS immigration.  When you discuss what life is like for a Venezuelan or Brazilian (for example) in their home countries compared to here you can see how much being an American means to them.  How grateful they are to even BE in the United States.  All they want to do is work, and have an opportunity to provide for their families and the can not do that with the corruption that exist in their homeland.  I believe that undocumented immigrants should be granted the opportunity to earn their citizenship here, do you agree?


Please comment, share, and discuss.

F