Since when is it illegal for civilians to profile?
“Since when is it illegal for civilians to profile?”
The theory is that Zimmerman’s profiling led directly to Martin’s death, which you may have heard some people think was murder. Or, rather, that profiling led to following which led to confrontation which led to murder. The profiling itself, then, is not to blame, but the inevitable result of it when you add in Zimmerman’s deranged Dirty Harry mindset, or something.
Profiling itself is not the problem with cops, either, by the way. You can’t stop them thinking worse things about black people than others, nor should you, so long as it doesn’t push them to break the law. It does matter is when cops rely on it solely to effect stops, searches, and arrests. That is an important point, and it sheds light on the whole controversy. For those things are illegal in themselves when done without probable cause, which racial profiling alone cannot give you. So the problem’s the abuse of power, not the profiling.
But they want you to think profiling itself is the problem, and the trick is to confuse it with illegal searching and seizing. I’m not just making this up: there are people who want it to be harder for cops to arrest racial minorities (especially gang bangers and illegal immigrants), regardless of whether they are guilty of anything. There is some logic to it, I guess. Racial prejudice needs very little encouragement, and cops are all too willing to abuse power. However, it can get absurd. For instance when they pretend civilian profiling is the same thing.