The Hill News

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s first hearing on racial profiling since 9/11 took place today, in the shadow of teenager Trayvon Martin’s killing and allegations that race played a role in his death and in its investigation. The struggle to eliminate racial bias, not only from policing but also from how Americans view and treat one another, is a longstanding and familiar one. But at today’s hearing, there will be a new and unwelcome guest at the table: religious profiling. 
 
Racial profiling absorbed Americans’ attention in the late 1990s when empirical studies established what black and Hispanic Americans had long-known: cops often selected drivers or pedestrians to stop and question based on race or ethnicity. The studies also showed that this discrimination didn’t help the police. The odds of finding illegal substances were roughly the same for targeted minorities and for whites. 

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