The Roots of Racial Profiling: A History of Racial Disparity

 Racial profiling, for want of a better term, is a Gateway Act -- is a term applied to an act against People of Color. During slavery the race of a person was generally determined by eyeballing them. When Mulattoes and Coloreds started popping up, the race was determined by testimony of whites. A white person could go to court and testified that someone, who may have appeared white, was Mulatto. What was at stake was the freedom of the person, which depended upon their racial status. If the courts found the person to be Mulatto, they were sentenced to serve an Indenture (thirty years for females, twenty years for males). The Free Negro Registry required registration every three years in Colonial Virginia Counties and Cities. The document contained personal information, including the name, age, color, residence, and status. Some  registrations often went further, stating skin color (dark or light mulatto), hair texture and color (straight, kinky, red, or black), height, marks or colors, and the names of parents. 

Today if you are not carrying some form of identification, you can be taken to the Police Department. That seldom happens with a white person who has no ID, but often happens with African Americans and Hispanics. It is understood in African American neighborhoods that you can be taken downtown for little or no reason. What were the consequences of failing to carry the required papers during colonial period? For Free Persons of Color, the worst-case scenario was being sold into slavery. Or they could be thrown in jail until a white person came forward on their behalf.

  The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees every citizen equal protection under the law. 

In Section 1 it states:

       "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law, which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws (1868)." 

        This was supposed to be the law that gave slaves citizenship, and guaranteed them equal protection under the law.  That did not happen and has yet to happen, except when we (African Americans and Hispanics), have marched and protested for our rights. There have been many Civil Rights Movements since the Fourteenth Amendment was passed in 1868.  The one thing we have not had is an open and honest conversation on race, here in America.