Racial Profiling: Everyday Inequalityby Patti MartinsonReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Publisher
Credits Grade: 10 Racial Profiling is a book on the racial profiling of non-white people since the founding of America. Divided into six chapters, the book covers historic inequality, contemporary inequality, criminal (in)justice, counterterrorism, and change.While in 2020, the focus is on the Black Lives Matter, this book covers racial profiling of Native Americans, Asian-Americans or of Asian descent, people of non-Christian faiths such as Sikhs and Muslims, and immigrants of Latino / Hispanic origin. Racial profiling often isn't as obvious as a white officer stopping a black person; it encompasses everyday biases of people, laws, and institutions in every aspect of life: housing, banking, employment, crime. The pervasiveness of racial profiling is something that this book really hammers home. While I was familiar with how racial profiling manifests itself -- like with the practice of redlining -- I still learned quite a bit including some that even surprised me, such as the practice of "convict leasing" where prisons leased prisoners to railways, plantations, etc. The prisons got all the profit, and the convicts nothing. Even though I had not heard of this practice before, I can't say I am surprised by it. This book was easy to read, provided historical context to racial profiling, including how pervasive it is even in 2020. It's a deep dive into data demonstrating the negative effect of racial profiling. We also get to read about the experiences of the victims of racial profiling. I can't recommend this enough. Written: July 2, 2020
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