Closing thoughts

From doing this project I have learned so much about how people are affected by labels of being criminal. I learned about Native American Indians and their relationship with the criminal justice system. It is hard to think of other marginalized groups when the media gives their issues no importance. When a history has been practically erased and the culture appropriated, it is no surprise that people are uninterested with what is going on in their communities.

It has astonished me the number of African Americans that have been killed as a result of police brutality. Compiling the list of African American individuals that were killed in 2015 and realizing that those numbers can’t even compare to the total amount of people killed from a variety of ethnicity, races, religion and gender killed was mind blowing. I thought about how the media has decided to depict some of these killings and thought about what individuals have posted on Facebook and other social media outlets. Sometimes there are two complete different stories being told. Sometimes it feels like people believe the one that that corresponds with their views on the victim’s race. For example, if they believe that African Americans, Latinos, Muslims, Native Americans etc. are criminal and dangerous then they are going to believe that they deserved what happened. With a popular sentiment being, “they should stop doing illegal things and maybe they won’t get stopped”.

I found how inspiring music, videos, and art could be to help people voice their issues. How important it is to them to have a voice and tell their stories. These forms of expression bring mass attention to the main issues. As far as the music that I decided to include, I had previously heard some of them. Other ones came up as I searched YouTube. It was not hard to find a song that spoke to the issue of mass incarceration, and police brutality in the U.S. This is something that I have mixed feelings about. If it was so easy to find a song that spoke to the issues of minorities and their relationship to the law, then that means that it is an obvious and harmful problem in our society. Yet, it seemed to be ignored and brushed under the rug as a dialogue of disgruntled people that make “bad” choices and don’t want to be reprimanded.

Finally, sometimes it is easier to talk about a difficult topic if there is comedy involved. I found that some videos, although meant to be funny, are there to bring light to issues that might be hard to talk about. It opens up the opportunity to talk about the problems and what is really going on. These once again are forms of expression and a way to voice what is happening.  Moving forward I have a more diverse perspective to think about when I speak about racial profiling and discrimination.

Muslims

Muslims are discriminated in the United States, and constantly seem to fit the profile of terrorist in the media. They are often victim of police brutality as well as the following story mentions:

"Khalia Wilson, aged 12 and 14 respectively, told the New York Daily News that they were thrown to the ground, put in chokeholds, and had their hijabs violently torn off by members of the NYPD, for a reason that remains unclear...The girls recounted that the cops followed them out of the park, and one grabbed Wilson from behind, putting her in a chokehold and wrestling her to the ground. “They said they asked for ID. I didn’t hear them,” reported Wilson. When her sister protested, she was also thrown to the ground, and both sisters’ headscarves were ripped off.

“I kept saying, ‘I’m 14! What are you doing? We’re not bad kids,’” explained Wilson.

A police source painted a wholly different picture, reports the New York Daily News. “The officers told the kids to leave (the park) when they began acting disorderly,” said the source, who added that the police were escorting the teens out of the park when Harris grabbed one of the girls away from the cops."

Muslim Teens Allegedly Beaten By NYPD In Bronx Park; 

Claims Made That Hijabs Were Ripped Off

 Because of anti-Muslim sentiments that increased after 9/11 many Muslim and middle eastern people have been victims of violence and accusations of being terrorist. Wearing the Hijab is part of the culture and is a symbol that is valued in their society. However, in the U.S can mark some women as targets of discrimination. People make assumptions and judge them because of it. I found a video of what it felt like for some non-Muslim women to wear a Hijab. It is not that this is what Muslim feel every single day, but it does give a perspective to people that are not aware of the constant surveillance that they come under. 

 

Furthermore, I do not intend to take away agency from women that do use the Hijab. The following video shows Muslim women talking about who they are, and how the Hijab does not and should not define their entire identity. They express fears that they face everyday as they walk out their homes. At the end of the day they are proud of who they are and are not going to be defined by what they choose to wear on their head. 

 

Current News

Recently my entire news feed has been filled with debates regarding trans people rights. I have seen some videos of police officers physically removing people from bathrooms because they believe that they do not belong in which ever gender specified bathroom. 

This might not have an obvious connection with racial profiling, but it is definitely connected to discrimination and labeling someone a criminal. The whole argument, as I understand it, seem to be that some people do not want trans people to use the bathroom that they want to because they fear that they will abuse, harm or molest people that are in the bathroom. Some people are going crazy  over the idea that an individual would want to use a bathroom that corresponds with the gender that they identify with. This has brought up past history to make point such as using Civil Rights rhetoric regarding desegregation to make their points. Some things that I have read mention that just like the Civil Rights Movement wasn't about drinking from a fountain, this is not about trans people and bathrooms, but the fact that people have rights and they should not be violated. 

There is a resistance on social media of people posting selfies in the bathroom to bring awareness of what it means if trans people are not allowed to use the bathroom that they wish. The following are a few of them:

 Furthermore, it is not just that they are being forced to use a different bathroom that does not correspond with the gender that they identify, but they are being put at risk to be assaulted. There are some places like Target that have changed their bathrooms to gender neutral. but there is much work to be done. In the meantime some are left to make a scary choice:

Labeling people illegal.

Latin American immigrants are the population that is often labeled as criminal because of their appearance. The fact that because they look like they were born in a different country gives some people a "justifiable" reason to assume that they have entered the United States illegally. Immigrants form south of the border regardless of whether they are undocumented or not, they are stigmatized the same. They Thrump has ignorantly said, "they are rapists, and criminals". Other stigmas are that Latin American  immigrants, which usually end up lumped all as being Mexican, are that they are lazy, leach of the government, and are taking American peoples' jobs. 

Referencing material that we have discussed in class the following is a response to a discussion on immigration as we had in class.

             It is interesting to see that undocumented immigrants from Mexico were not an “issue” to American society until the1920s when the U.S decided to police the border. As Mirande (1987) states, prior to the 1920s Mexican labor was at a high demand. Once that demand decreased during the depression, the American people needed a scapegoat and the undocumented population of Mexicans was to blame. By 1929 it was instituted that it was a felony to unlawfully enter the United States. As a result this changed the population of working undocumented immigrants into a population of criminals overnight. The constant surveillance and persecution of undocumented immigrants form Mexico changed the dynamics of undocumented immigrant works in the U.S... It gave power to the law enforcers, business owners and the American people while subjecting the undocumented immigrant to a less than second class citizen status.

            Demand for cheap labor has a big role in how strongly the border is enforced. When the demand for cheap labor is high the border patrol relaxes a little to allow immigrants to enter the country and seek out the low paying jobs. When the demand is low, the immigrant is blamed for the unemployment of the the American population. They are accused of being a public charge and taking all benefits for the American people that “truly” deserve it.  Also,  even though it is illegal to hire an undocumented worker knowingly, business owners and agricultural owners still recruit them for their jobs. They are able to hold the status of “illegal” over their heads and ensure that they will remain in the job with no objections. Raids also play a role in keeping a steady flow of workers, they will go to jobs and deport X amount of workers, just enough to keep the flow and turnover good for the owners.

            Furthermore, there is a constant fear of law enforcement officers among the immigrant community and their reasons of fear are justified. Undocumented immigrants don’t see law enforcement officers as resources of help. Instead, they are seen as people that will abuse and take away everything they have worked for. They are scared that they will be stopped and deported back to Mexico. For many this means separated from family and friends. To others it is the fear of being identified as an “illegal” because their skin is brown. It causes a shame of being themselves, because they are stereotyped as criminals.  This fear causes them to “keep to themselves, stay out of sight, and steer clear of politics” (Parenti. P.149). Enforcing border patrols, raids, using fear and intimidation all create a form of social control. 

            Finally, there are many contradictory stereotypes that just go to show how ridiculous and uninformed we are as a society. For example,the idea that undocumented immigrants can be lazy and take up all the jobs at the same time. The idea that it is “illegal to be an undocumented worker, but not illegal to hire one” makes absolutely no sense to me. Also, the fact that people tend to blame the worker for working and earning a “living wage”—just enough to survive—and  not the people that hire them is insane! Unfortunately, it is the sad truth that many people truly believe some of those stereotypes  and even more frustrating that they don’t see the real issue.

Resource:             

Mirande, Alfredo. (1987) Gringo justice /Alfredo MirandeNotre Dame : University of Notre Dame Press, Chapter 4.

 

Me.

I don’t feel like I have ever experienced direct acts of racial profiling or discrimination based on my ethnicity. I do realize that could be due to my physical characteristics. If I had darker skin and dark eyes maybe my experience with racial profiling or discrimination would be different. Nevertheless, I have been witness to multiple microaggressions in my lifetime. I will use this blog post to share my stories regarding experiences of racial profiling and discrimination.

Dress Shopping:

                During my senior year of high School a group of friends and I had gone out to the mall and were going in and out of stores. We all Latinas except for one who is African American. We were not necessarily looking for anything, just browsing. We happened to go into a Windsor dress store. From the moment we walked in a lady began to follow us all over the store. She would pretend to be folding clothes, or fixing a display but would constantly glance over to us. My friend and I decided that we did not want anything from the store and would wait for the rest of the group outside of the store. As we stood outside we watched in disbelief as the lady continued to follow my two friends that were taking items to try on. We didn’t know what to do and felt very uncomfortable. When my friend came out and we asked them what the lady’s deal was, she just replied that she’s used to that kind of treatment.

Driving:

                It was late at night and I was driving through what is considered a “bad neighborhood” of Chicago. A group of friends and I were going to go out to a party, but needed to pick up a friend that lived in this neighborhood. He had mentioned to pick him up through the back door that went through the ally. As I searched up and down the alley looking for his house I did not realize that a cop in a non-police car had been following us for some time. He waited until I made a left turn at a light to stop me. He used the excuse that I had forgotten to signal the turn to stop me. I had forgotten my driving license and only had my ID but that did not seem to preoccupy him. He was just looking for a drug bust. He immediately accused me of looking for my “drug dealer” and that I was obviously driving up and down the alley to score some pot. I continued to assure him that I was only looking for my friend’s house and not drugs. He turned his attention to my male cousin that was on the passenger seat that had taken out his phone. He immediately told him to put his phone away, and asked him what did he think he was doing? My cousin confused asked him why should he put his phone away, he was not doing anything illegal. The officer took this as a chance to search him taking his response a form of defiance. He made my cousin get out of the car and searched him to make sure he didn’t have anything on him. He went ahead to accuse him of contacting “our drug dealer” to give him a heads up that we were with a cop. By this point we were not sure what to do. We were being made to feel like criminals and just wanted to prove to the officer that we were not doing anything illegal. We decided to tell the officer that he could go through my cousin’s phone and contact our friend to verify that we were not in search of drugs. He went ahead and called our friend and began the conversation by telling him that he had busted us, and asked him if he was a drug dealer. He continued to say that if he was a rat, because we were looking for his house through the alley. Our friend told him that he did not know what he was talking about and would have his mom drop him off where we had been stopped. By this point the officer’s attitude changed realizing that he had made a mistake. After hanging up he told us that he was just doing his job. He said that we were in a tough neighborhood where this kind of things happened all the time, and asked us if we wanted him to wait with us until our friend got to us. He left by warning us to not be so suspicious driving up and down alleys next time. We were made to feel like criminals because of the environment we were in. Thinking back to this experience there are so many rights that the officer violated.  We were all around 17 and 18 years old and had been our first bad experience with police enforcement.

Growing up:

                Growing up I was always told that I was so lucky to have been born with blue eyes and light skin and hair (my hair has gotten darker as I have gotten older).  When I was younger I didn’t really understand what that meant, or why it was so valued in my family. I remember stories that my mom has told me of relatives giving her some ridiculous recipes and what not to make sure that my eye color would remain blue and not turn brown. My mom would always tell them that they were crazy that whatever happened would happened.  My siblings would always tease me that I was adopted because of my blue eyes and had the lightest skin compered to them. Of course being younger I would always tell them to “shut up” and would continue to tell them that they were adopted after all both of my grandfathers had blue eyes, my mom has green eyes and my dad hazel so they were the oddballs.

                It was during my junior year of high school when I took a Latin American class that I came to understand why I was so “lucky”. Our teacher that year had us looked at racism Latin America. Up until them I had inly thought of racism as being in the United States and only pertaining to Whites and Blacks. It was a very broad general idea.  We started to see who the famous actors that stared in telenovelas were. We noted the people that were portrayed in the media, beauty magazines and who and what was considered beautiful. It became obvious that people that looked European were beautiful and successful as opposed to individuals that were dark skinned and had indigenous features were characteristics that people did not want. After that I saw it everywhere. When I would watch a telenovela the rich people and bosses had fair skin, light hair, etc. while the servants, thieves, and so on were typically darker skinned people. It is cleared that these valued characteristics are a result of oppression and discrimination of otherness when the one thing that is valued is “whiteness”

                These notions are part of the culture, and in recent years I have seen campaigns in Latin America that are trying to change the idea that one has to be light skinned and faired skin to be successful. There has also been a movement to stop the use of the phrases such as, “no seas india” which is telling someone not to be so indigenous.

                Finally, there are many campaigns out that promote different kinds of beauty. I wonder if in 20 or 30 years these campaigns will have an impact on what is valued.