Pen-Elayne on the Web

Profiles in Cowardice

When is racial profiling not really racial profiling? When the most egregious example of its excesses in the last couple years is the one to receive a specific exemption. You know, "investigations involving national security and border integrity." Kinda like saying during WWII that internment camps will be closed except for all those Japanese-Americans. Look, racial profiling is either successful (which it isn't) or wrong wherever and whenever and for whatever reason it's used. "Terrorism" and "national security" are just the in-vogue buzzwords for "Arab-looking" (whatever that means anyway - what, hirsute with mustaches and names with "Al-" in them?) and "border integrity" is just "those darn Mexicans" in disguise. It's as bad as NYPD Commissioner Kelly insisting that warrants for no-knock NYPD raids are issued in neighborhoods in which crime statistics are the highest, which just happen to be predominantly minority areas. "We go where the work is." Uh-huh, cops pissing in tenants' iced tea pitchers must be real hard work. (Thanks to Jeralyn Merritt, link at sidebar, for alerts on both these abuse-of-police-power stories.)