Racial Profiling in African American and Black British Culture Essay

This essay provides a comparative analysis of African American and Black British cultures, primarily focusing on the issue of racial profiling. It delves into the historical context of African American culture, shaped by slavery and racial segregation, and contrasts it with Black British culture, influenced by British colonialism and immigration. The essay examines instances of racial profiling in both societies, highlighting legal challenges, social disadvantages, and the impact on community relations. It also touches upon the role of law enforcement, media representation, and governmental policies in perpetuating or addressing these issues. Furthermore, the essay explores the impact of Brexit on racial discrimination in the UK and discusses the importance of social actions and relationships in understanding and combating racial inequality. This document is available on Desklib, where students can find various academic resources and study tools.

COMPARISON OF AFRICAN
AMERICAN WITH BLACK
BRITISH CULTURE (RACIAL
PROFILING)

African American culture refers to the contributions that are made to the culture of
United States. There are distinctive identities in the culture which is rooted in historical
experience of African American people, which includes the Middle Passage. The culture is
distinct with influence on American and global worldwide culture. In contrast, the Black British
Culture are about the British citizens of black people 1. The culture has different applications
with racial and political label that are used widely for sociopolitical contexts with encompassing
a wider range of people who are involved and set for handling the ethnic minority populations
effectively. The report will discuss about the racial profiling of African American based and
Black British culture with their traditions and values, along with their racial profiling.
Considering the African American based culture, there is a need to understand about
identifying the cultural growth in United States. The slavery has a greater restriction on the
ability of African Americans to practice with focusing on the values and beliefs. The identity is
set through producing a dynamic culture which could continue towards a profound impact on
American culture2. The elaboration of rituals and ceremonies are considered to be a major part
from the ancestral culture and are believe that the spirits tend to dwell in the surrounding3. They
are mainly to mediate between the supreme creator and living. It has been seen for a long time
that the African American culture tends to develop separately from European American culture
mainly due to the slavery and the persistence that is set for the racial distribution. It is seen that
the slaves of Africa are those descendants who are ubiquitous in their impacts and dominant as
1 Sanchez, Delida, and Germine. "Ethnic group differences in racial identity attitudes, perceived
discrimination and mental health outcomes in African American, Black Caribbean and Latino
Caribbean college students." International Journal of Culture and Mental Health 9.1 2016: 31-
43.
2 Brewer, Rose. "Theorizing race, class, and gender: The new scholarship of Black feminist
intellectuals and Black women’s labor." Race, gender and class. Routledge, 2016. 58-64.
3 Bowleg, English, del Rio-Gonzalez, Burkholder, Teti, & Tschann. Measuring the pros and cons
of what it means to be a Black man: Development and validation of the Black Men’s
Experiences Scale (BMES). Psychology of men & masculinity, 2016: 17(2), 177.

well. The racial profiling is considered to be one of the major issues which is patently illegal and
violating the U.S. Constitution core promises for equal protection under law to all and freedom
from different search and seizures4. It is ineffective as it alienates the communities mainly from
enforcement of law and then hinders the community policing efforts which could lead to lose
credibility. It can be seen that the racial profiling is considered as one of the major issue for
handling the violation of the laws which are related to the U.S. Constitution. The culture holds a
complete transformation on different elements where culture of America is defined to handle the
exchange of mutual creativeness. It includes the premises that are defined and then set for the
law practices with different practices that are for seizures. The federal government
encouragement has been mainly of the unprecedented raids that is on the immigrant communities
and the workplaces. The policies have been unjustly expanded with trust in local law
enforcement. Terry v. Ohio holds the challenge of racial profiling in US 1968. Here, the
discussion is about handling the people who are African American. They are then arresting the
men where Terry is also challenging to handle the grounds that could lead to the violation of
search5. The case includes the decision about identifying suspicious or certain illegal activities.
The scorpions are considered to be the basis of racists and the beliefs of group of targets. The
discussions are important to be made with regaining control over freed and former slaves. Prior
to U.S. immigration, there are Japanese immigrants who were rejected U.S. citizenship at the
time of World War II mainly due to the fear of disloyalty that follows the attack on Pearl Harbor.
In 1990s to present, the study has been about community criticized police for targeting on the
black community at the time when the traffic stops. However, when there are major lack of
media coverage or concerns which relates to the racial profiling, then there are amounts of arrests
or the stop in traffic for the African American community. There have been attacks in 2001
where the debate has been about the African American policies with the policing that is mainly
4 Anderson, Victor. Beyond ontological blackness: An essay on African American religious and
cultural criticism. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.
5 Butler-Barnes, Sheretta et al. "The protective role of religious involvement in African American
and Caribbean Black adolescents’ experiences of racial discrimination." Youth & Society 50.5
2018: 659-687.

on criminal and drugs. The attacks have been done on WTC along with changing focus on racial
profiling debates that are from street crimes to terrorism. According to the survey, there are
enforcements where there is a need to focus and handle the scrutiny about commitment of
crimes. The report includes the discussion on how Human Rights hold further assets where the
people of African descent, face a major higher rate of racial profiling along with the law
enforcement officials working on higher levels of discrimination6 .
The comparison is done to the Black British people who are African Caribbean people
with mixed ancestry. The term focus on the black people who are from the former British
colonies set in West Indies. The racism in United Kingdom has a heavy relationship with the
former colonies and their citizens 7. UK has never been able to implement the laws which are
found to be discriminating or segregating on the race of ethnicity. Racism is against the black
people who are seen to be growing in popularity in 1860 with the race-based discrimination that
is fed when there are theories related to scientific racism. It has been seen that in 1970, there has
been a time of rising activism that is set against any racial discrimination with main communities
that are British West Indies and Indian Subcontinent. The Black British is also for the
descendants of migrants who are seen to be from England and Canada and then they are
identified as British. The evidences of presence in Roman Britain of residents from North Africa
suggest that there are inhabitants who were mainly involved with the military sectors. The
analysis is done, and it belonged to the mixed-race female. Considering the examples of racial
profiling in Black British culture, there are problems related to ethnic minority boss with closer
relativeness to marry an ethnic minority spouse. The changes could be determined for Britain
ethnic minorities where people are less likely to be employed to work and then handle the
worsening jobs or suffer worse health than White Britons 8. In 20th century, UK began restricting
all the immigrations that was set under the Aliens Act 1905 where there are observations that
6 Hayward, David, and Neal. "Religion and strategies for coping with racial discrimination
among African Americans and Caribbean Blacks." International Journal of Stress
Management 22.1 2015: 70.
7 Hudson, Darrell et al. "Racial discrimination, John Henryism, and depression among African
Americans." Journal of Black psychology 42.3 2016: 221-243.

aims at Jews fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe. The racial hatred of Jews has been seen to be
unacceptable in British society with far-right groups leading to formation of 43 Groups by
Jewish ex-serviceman. Here, the discrimination is done in a racial manner, which is considered
to be a major part, in context to the ethnic minorities of Britain. The public sector employees
need to discriminate mainly on sex ground.
Considering both the cultures, it is seen that African American cultures investigation in
marketplace helps in examining about the overt and the subtle forms of retail discrimination. The
customers are seen to be browsing with high end retail stores with removing any security sensors
that are from pair of sunglasses. The racial profiling has been about law enforcement agencies
which have been adopting the war on drugs campaign 9. This is primarily targeted for African
American males who are travelling on I-95 Corridor from Florida. The report highlights on the
law enforcement officers who make use of racial characteristics for identifying the criminals and
the other drug couriers. The specific focus is on how the African Americans are the victims of
crime mainly because the members of the media tend to believe in Caucasian victims who are
good predictor. The government officials and politicians are seen to be ignoring or dismissing
the reports related to African American complaints where enforcement of law officers tend to
make use of people’s ethnicity for determining criminality. The research helps in experiencing
about African American police officers who indicate that one does not feel a sense of belonging
by any other fellow officers. The racial profiling is researched for decades and then there are
major social disadvantages when it is compared to the Caucasian American counterparts 10. The
8 Wallace, Stephanie, James, and Laia. "Cumulative effect of racial discrimination on the mental
health of ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom." American journal of public health 106.7
2016: 1294-1300.
9 Andrews, David "The (Trans) National Basketball Association: American commodity-sign
culture and global-local conjuncturalism." Articulating the global and the local. Routledge,
2018. 72-101.
10 Banks, James "Diversity, group identity, and citizenship education in a global age." Journal of
Education 194.3 2014: 1-12.

racial profiling of African Americans have been researched for many decades and the social
relationship theory highlights on social stratification along with focusing on social actions like
instrumental, value-rational, traditional and affectual. The described value rational actions are
determined like the religious or spiritual actions, ethical pursuits and the other artistic pursuits.
One needs to note about different traditional actions which are found to be separate from
conscious actions mainly because they are instrumental. The social relationship is based on how
each individual or the group treats other society members. As per the suggestions that are made
by majority society members, one needs to elect and allow other members in a particular
communal group. The social relationship is motivated with particular interest that is mainly in
between certain group member and the majority group members. On the contrary, Black British
culture had to face Brexit which contributed to increased racial discrimination and intolerance.
There is an explicit growth in racial, ethnic and religious intolerance which includes the extreme
views that have been able to gain a ground of mainstream political parts for left and right. The
environment at the time of referendum and after it has been able to make racial and ethnic
minorities vulnerable for racial discrimination. The harsh reality is about race, ethnicity and the
disability status, which is related to continue and determine the life chances in Britain in ways
that are unacceptable. The strength of commentary around the racial profiling and the
consequences which arises from over policing, criminalizing and the deaths from use of force
need to address the matter of urgency. The concern is about the policy choice which is embodied
in Prevent Program and includes civil servants, social workers and other care-givers, so that one
can make the life-altering judgements easily.
References
Anderson, Victor. Beyond ontological blackness: An essay on African American religious and
cultural criticism. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.
Andrews, David L. "The (Trans) National Basketball Association: American commodity-sign
culture and global-local conjuncturalism." Articulating the global and the local. Routledge,
2018. 72-101.
Banks, James A. "Diversity, group identity, and citizenship education in a global age." Journal
of Education 194.3 2014: 1-12.

Bowleg, L., English, D., del Rio-Gonzalez, A. M., Burkholder, G. J., Teti, M., & Tschann, J. M.
“Measuring the pros and cons of what it means to be a Black man: Development and validation
of the Black Men’s Experiences Scale (BMES). Psychology of men & masculinity, 2016: 17(2),
177.
Brewer, Rose M. "Theorizing race, class, and gender: The new scholarship of Black feminist
intellectuals and Black women’s labor." Race, gender and class. Routledge, 2016. 58-64.
Butler-Barnes, Sheretta T., et al. "The protective role of religious involvement in African
American and Caribbean Black adolescents’ experiences of racial discrimination." Youth &
Society 50.5 2018: 659-687.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé Williams. "Beyond racism and misogyny: Black feminism and 2 Live
Crew." Words that wound. Routledge, 2018. 111-132.
Hayward, R. David, and Neal Krause. "Religion and strategies for coping with racial
discrimination among African Americans and Caribbean Blacks." International Journal of Stress
Management 22.1 2015: 70.
Hudson, Darrell L., et al. "Racial discrimination, John Henryism, and depression among African
Americans." Journal of Black psychology 42.3 2016: 221-243.
Sanchez, Delida, and Germine H. Awad. "Ethnic group differences in racial identity attitudes,
perceived discrimination and mental health outcomes in African American, Black Caribbean and
Latino Caribbean college students." International Journal of Culture and Mental Health 9.1
2016: 31-43.
Wallace, Stephanie, James Nazroo, and Laia Bécares. "Cumulative effect of racial discrimination
on the mental health of ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom." American journal of public
health 106.7 (2016): 1294-1300.