Profiling: We All Do It

Profiling?  We all do it.  Don't deny it.  If you are breathing, you are profiling.  No one would deny that profiling can sometimes be very hurtful.  It is unpleasant when you are the book that is being judged by its cover.  It is certainly wrong to assign guilt based on color or certain character traits before gathering facts and  providing for a fair trial.  We tend to think of profiling in racial terms only.  We also profile by gender.  We profile by faith.  We profile by age.  We profile geographically, philosophically, economically and socially. 

Profiling is the process of using specific characteristics or traits to make a generalization about a person.  When I was dating the woman who would become my wife I did some serious profiling.  There were certain traits and characteristics I was looking for.  She was also profiling me.  When my wife and I started looking for a church for our family to attend we did some serious profiling.  We were looking for certain theological and ministerial traits that we could agree with and devote to.

Most profiling is based on the analysis of statistics.  Proponents of school choice profile certain schools by looking at graduation rates, attendance rates and test scores.  If the school is performing poorly they want to be free to choose another school where there children may have a greater opportunity to be successful. 

When my six year old son is old enough to date, his mother and I will be doing some serious profiling.  We will want to know what traits characterize the girl who has captured his interest.  We will expect her to have some spiritual qualities, some intellectual capabilities and some domestic talents and I would expect her father and mother to profile my son in the same way we will be profiling their daughter. 

Not too many years ago, it was not so uncommon for fathers here in the south to sit on their porches and profile, not so subtly, the young men who wanted to date their daughters.  They did that forcefully with a certain instrument in their hands.  If the boy of interest were a thug, a useless, lazy slug who had no direction or ambition in your life, if he was self-obsessed and out to exploit the daughter simply to satisfy his own sexual lusts…he was quickly profiled and told to get lost, emphatically.

When my wife and I adopted our son six years ago, we were asked to create a profile of ourselves, our family and our home.  We put together the best project we could come up with.  We were told by our case-worker that we should downplay the "Christian thing".  "Mothers, especially young mothers, are put off if it appears you are too religious."  Shannon and I discussed that and decided we wanted to be totally honest about who we are.  We made religion a central part of our profile because it is a central part of our home.  A few months later we got a call from Lacey, the birth mother of our son, Kameron.  She profiled us.  She chose us to be the parents of her son because of what she saw in our profile.

Again, profiles are based on statistics.  We profile certain neighborhoods in our city.  There are places we won't go as a family or when we are alone because the crime-rate in these specific places deemed them unsafe.  It is not because they are white, black, Hispanic or Asian…it is because the statistics show they are dangerous places. 

Crime investigators have been extremely successful in using psychological profiling to assist them in tracking down criminals.  They have discovered that many people who have been abused as children display abnormal behaviors as adults.  It they were involved in petty crimes in their youth they are more likely to be participate in serious crimes as adults. 

Local pastors in my community have learned to profile couples who seem to be safe from divorce.  When a couple comes in for counseling they ask them the following questions:  Do you attend church together?  Do you read your Bibles together?  Do you pray together?  If the answers to these questions are affirmative the chance this couple will divorce is nearly non-existent.

As a teacher I often profile my students.  Years of experience have taught me to look for certain traits that will indicate whether my students will experience academic success or not.  A twenty-year veteran teacher can tell after just the first few days of school which students will excel and which students will struggle academically. 

As a parent, I profile what television programs my six-year old can watch.  I profile what music he can listen to and what computer games he can play.  He is not always excited about my choices but until I consider him old enough to make those decisions for himself, I am the profiler-in-chief. 

We are so opposed to profiling here in the United States that the system we have developed to provide security from terrorists is insanely inefficient and offensive.  Trained agents groin grope and strip search ninety year old grandmothers and nine year old children.  They look for things instead of profile people.  Why have the Israelis been so successful in preventing terrorist attacks on their airlines?  They unabashedly profile those boarding Israeli flights.  They are highly trained and if you fit a certain profile you are pulled aside for some rapid fire questioning that is designed to make it impossible for you to pull the wool over their eyes.

Americans are accustomed to the inconsistent reaction to profiling in America.  The recent incident involving Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman perfectly demonstrates our inconsistencies.  Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan were all very eager to ride their steeds into Sanford, Florida, to save the day.  They framed this crime as white on black even though Zimmerman is Hispanic.  They successfully stirred up racial animosity in the community while blatantly ignoring the innumerable black on black crimes that are common throughout the nation.  It is statistically proven that black on black crimes are much more common than white on black crimes or black on white crimes.  Why is this acceptable?  Why do these black leaders turn their heads on crime in black neighborhoods as if those living there are of less value than those living in a gated community?

Profiling is not always a bad thing.  Profiling is not always racism.  When one properly interprets the statistics, profiling can be a life-saving procedure and it can improve the security of our communities and our nation.

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

No Racism? Think Again

Two separate incidents in Florida and St. Louis seem to indicate that racism is still prevalent in American society.  Should the president sound off on racial incidents?  Are his comments one sided?  What does racism tell a person about himself?

Those Americans who have been able to pry themselves away from their video games, their satellite television and their sports obsessions have probably heard the tragic story Trayvon Martin’s death.  This young African-American was allegedly unarmed when he was shot by Hispanic, George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman.  An FBI investigation is currently being conducted to determine the facts regarding the case.  God-fearing Americans pray that justice will prevail for all parties involved. 

A primary focus of the investigation is the 911 call made by George Zimmerman.  The call will be diagnosed by special technicians to determine if George mumbled any racial slurs before the shooting.  If it can be proven that he did then his claim of self-defense will crumble under the weight of a hate-crime accusation.

During Obama’s presidential campaign he portrayed himself as the great racial unifier.  He said, “…we may not look the same and may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction.” (Political Intelligence, March, 2008)   The president seems to contradict himself when he fails to constrain from weighing in on the racial issues that surface from time to time. This shouldn’t be surprising considering his tutelage under the likes of Jeremiah Wright, Derrick Bell, William Ayers and a multitude of other extremists.   

Obama finally entered the fray in response to strong criticism from the likes of Al Sharpton, the perpetrator of the Tawana Brawley hoax, and Louis Farrakhan, who spews his hatred for Jewish people by exalting Hitler as a “very great man” and Jews as being “satanic” and their place of worship as “satanic synagogues”. (DefendingtheTruth.net, March 19, 2012)  Instead of falling back on his previous theme of “we may not all look the same”, he emphasized that he and the victim have certain similarities.  “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.”

Many are question the President’s motive behind such a statement?  Was he trying to comfort a hurting family or was he using his words to stir racial tension and mobilize African-Americans to support him?  He has been losing the political backing of many African-Americans who are not satisfied with his performance as president over the last three years.  Many are offended by the idea that their vote can be earned by handing out more candy (welfare) instead of providing them with more jobs in order to make a respectable living for their families. 

Newt Gingrich climbed up on his stump to declare without hesitation that President Obama intended to spawn racial tension with his comment:  “What the President said, in a sense, is disgraceful.  It’s not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background should be safe, period.”  Gingrich went on to say, “Is the president suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot, that would be OK because it didn’t look like him? That’s just nonsense dividing this country up?”  (The Hill, 3/21/12)    Questioning Obama’s intentions seems to be a legitimate quest but in all fairness, only Obama knows the motive behind his words.  He may be calling a beer summit again on the White House lawn to explain himself to the nation.

Trayvon’s tragic death occurred after the NBA All-Star game in February.  About one week later the Coon family from Kansas City was struggling with their own tragedy.  Melissa Coon’s son, Allen, was targeted in the school he attended, East High School.  During a discussion regarding Black History Month, Allen, who is white, tried to answer a question when his teacher, Ms. Karla Dorsey, who is black said to him, “What would you know about it?  You’re not our race.”  (The Moral Liberal, March 25, 2012)

Probably far less people know about what happened to Allen Coon than what happened to Trayvon Martin.  There is no justification for comparing the two incidents.  One boy is dead while the other still lives.  But both incidents reveal that racial hatred is still a cancer that affects our culture.  Allen Coon, 13,  was approached by two older black males who doused him with gasoline and set him on fire.  An investigation into the incident indicates it was a hate crime because of what was said as they set Coon aflame, “This is what you deserve.  You get what you deserve, white boy.”  (Katie Pavlich, News Editor, Townhall, March 5, 2012)

Certain Americans are questioning why they didn’t hear President Obama’s voice when Allen Coon was set aflame.  Why didn’t Attorney General Eric Holder condemn this horrendous crime?  Why didn’t MSNBC’s Al Sharpton and Rainbow Coalition’s Jesse Jackson and Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan mount their steeds and ride into St. Louis declaring all hate crime, whether perpetrated by blacks or whites, wrong and unacceptable?

We so often vehemently rise up against the sin we see in others, a reflection of a sin that may be prevalent in our own lives.  Rather than confess our own sins to God we try to justify them by discovering and magnifying them in others.  We feel so much better about ourselves if we can find someone worse than we are.  We feel a measure of self-hatred when we see our ugly reflection in the humanity of others.  Racial hatred exists and always will because the hearts of men are depraved.  Laws and courts and attorneys may be useful in limiting the effects of racial hatred in our society but only the grace of God can eliminate the stain of racial hatred from the soul.  Shouldn’t that be the message of the ‘Reverends’ Jackson and Sharpton?

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.