Home : Racial Justice : Racial Profiling

Racial Profiling and Professor Henry Louis Gates' Arrest
Racial profiling was in the news this week because Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a Professor at Harvard University, was a victim. This story is news because of the identity of the person profiled, not because of the rarity of the underlying police actions. More >>
> "A Teachable Moment?": Dennis Parker on GRITtv with Laura Flanders
> The Diane Rehm Show: Dennis Parker on Racial Profiling and Professor Henry Louis Gates' Arrest
> Boston Globe: "Racial profiling is Alive and Well" (Carol Rose, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts)

New Report From ACLU and RWG Finds Racial Profiling Still Pervasive (6/30/2009)
Widespread racial profiling by law enforcement agents as a result of Bush-era policies remains a pervasive problem throughout the United States, according to a report out today by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Rights Working Group (RWG). Government policies are a major cause of the disproportionate stopping and searching of racial minorities by law enforcement agencies, according to the report, which was submitted today to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).
>Press Release
>Click here to read the report
>Listen to a podcast with Dennis Parker, director of the ACLU Racial Justice Program

Raed Jarrar in his T-shirt.

"We Will Not Be Silent": Lawsuit Against TSA, JetBlue Charges Racial Discrimination and Free Speech Violation
The American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against JetBlue Airways and a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official for barring an American resident of Arab descent from boarding his flight until he agreed to cover his T-shirt, which read "We Will Not Be Silent" in English and Arabic script. The passenger, Raed Jarrar, was told that wearing an Arabic shirt to an airport was the equivalent of a "person wearing a T-shirt at a bank stating, 'I am a robber.'" The lawsuit alleges that the TSA official and JetBlue Airways illegally discriminated against Jarrar based solely on the Arabic message on his T-shirt and his ethnicity.
> Press Release
> More on this lawsuit

ACLU Gives Testimony Against Local Police Enforcement of Immigration Law (3/4/2009)
The ACLU submitted written testimony for the House Homeland Security Committee's records arguing that racial profiling under the 287(g) program is a serious nationwide problem. ICE has completely failed to monitor or acknowledge, much less address, this issue.
> Read the testimony

Complaint Form: Report a race-based traffic or pedestrian stop

Landmark Settlement Reached With Maryland State Police In “Driving While Black” Case (4/2/2008)
After more than a decade of fighting for justice on behalf of individuals who were racially profiled on Interstate 95 in Maryland, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Maryland, and the law firm of Hogan & Hartson, LLP are pleased to announce that a landmark settlement has been reached today with the Maryland State Police (MSP) to end the “Driving While Black” lawsuit. The agreement provides substantial damages to the individual plaintiffs, a requirement that the MSP retain an independent consultant to assess its progress towards eliminating the practice of racial profiling, and a joint statement by all parties involved in the lawsuit condemning racial profiling and highlighting the importance of taking preventative action against this practice in the future.
> Press Release

Day of Darryl Hunt's Exoneration, Feb 2004

Podcast: The Trials of Darryl Hunt ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Reggie Shuford talks with Darryl Hunt, left, and Mark Rabil about Darryl Hunt's wrongful conviction. His case brings up questions of cross-racial eyewitness identification, prosecutorial misconduct, inexperienced defense attorneys and racial bias in death penalty cases. > Learn more MP3 | Podcast

New Report From ACLU And RWG Finds Racial Profiling Still Pervasive (06/30/2009)
NEW YORK – Widespread racial profiling by law enforcement agents as a result of Bush-era policies remains a pervasive problem throughout the United States, according to a report out today by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Rights Working Group (RWG). Government policies are a major cause of the disproportionate stopping and searching of racial minorities by law enforcement agencies, according to the report, which was submitted today to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

State Department Agrees To Fair Issuance Of Passports To Mexican Americans (06/26/2009)
McALLEN, TX –The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has agreed to implement new procedures designed to ensure the fair and prompt review of U.S. passport applications by Mexican Americans whose births in Texas were attended by midwives. Under the agreement, no eligible applicant should be denied a passport.

Case Dismissed Against 62 People in Orange County Gang Injunction Case (05/14/2009)
SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Orange County District Attorney's Office dismissed the case against five clients of the ACLU of Southern California on Thursday after a Superior Court judge refused to include them on a preliminary basis under the provisions of a sweeping gang injunction. The case against 57 other individuals named in the injunction was likewise dismissed.

Attorney General Says Ending Racial Profiling Is Priority For Obama Administration (05/07/2009)
WASHINGTON – During a hearing before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee today, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that ending the practice of racial profiling is a “priority” for the Obama administration. In response to a question from Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Holder described the use of race, ethnicity or national origin by law enforcement officers in making routine or spontaneous decisions as “simply not good law enforcement.”

Judge Finds OC District Attorney Cast Too Wide a Net in Gang Injunction (05/07/2009)
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A Superior Court judge today rejected an attempt by the Orange County District Attorney's Office to subject a 22-year-old Orange resident and three others to the provisions of an overreaching, preliminary gang injunction that criminalizes ordinary daily activities.

The Persistence of Racial Profiling in Rhode Island: A Call for Action (01/04/2007)
ACLU of Rhode Island's fourth report examining the problem of racial profiling in the state.

The Persistence of Racial Profiling in Rhode Island: An Update (08/09/2005)

Rhode Island Racial Profiling Report (05/11/2005)

Flawed Enforcement report (05/19/2004)
Flawed Enforcement: Why drug task force highway interdiction violates rights, wastes tax dollars, and fails to limit the availability of drugs in Texas. Report by the ACLU of Texas

Racial Profiling Since 9/11 report (02/26/2004)
Sanctioned Bias: Racial Profiling Since 9/11

Jarrar v. Harris, et al. - Complaint and Jury Demand (04/09/2008)

Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches v. Maryland State Police Department - Settlement (04/02/2008)

Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches v. Maryland State Police Department - Complaint (09/26/2007)

ACLU of Northern California FOIA Request for Lodi (06/16/2005)

Settlement Agreement in Arnold v. Arizona Department of Public Safety (02/02/2005)
In August 2006, the court approved settlement of an ACLU lawsuit to end racial profiling on Arizona highways

ACLU Testimony Submitted for the House Homeland Security Committee hearing titled, "Examining 287(g): The Role of State and Local Enforcement in Immigration Law" (03/04/2009)
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) commends the House Committee on Homeland Security for conducting a hearing on March 4, 2009, concerning the role of state and local law enforcement in immigration law as part of the 287(g) program (hereinafter the “287(g) hearing”). We submit this statement to draw the Committee’s attention to the causal link between the use of the 287(g) program by state and local law enforcement agencies and racial and ethnic profiling. In response to Committee members’ questions on whether 287(g) results in racial profiling, William Riley, Acting Director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) Office of State and Local Coordination Program testified at the hearing that ICE has not received any complaints of racial or ethnic profiling in connection with the 287(g) program. Available data, pending litigation, and news reports strongly indicate, however, that racial profiling under the 287(g) program is a serious nationwide problem that ICE has completely failed to monitor or acknowledge, much less address.

ACLU Legislative Priorities for the 111th Congress (01/13/2009)

ACLU Letter to Judiciary Leadership Urging an Inquiry into Reports of FBI Use of Racial Profiling (07/09/2008)
On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union, its hundreds of thousands of members and 53 affiliates nation-wide, we write to express concern about recent reports that the Justice Department will issue new Attorney General Guidelines authorizing the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to use racial profiling to open and conduct investigations on Americans, and we urge you to vigorously investigate these reports.

Coalition Letter to the Transportation Security Administration Urging the Auditing of Racial Profiling Abuses (04/04/2008)

The ACLU Urges Members of Congress to Co-Sponsor and Support the End Racial Profiling Act of 2007 (01/16/2008)
On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a non-partisan organization with hundreds of thousands of activists, members and 53 affiliates nationwide, we strongly urge you to co-sponsor the End Racial Profiling Act of 2007 (ERPA). Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Representative John Conyers (D-MI) will introduce ERPA on Wednesday, December 12th and we encourage you to sign on to the bill as an original co-sponsor.

Biographies of Plaintiffs in Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches v. Maryland State Police Department (04/02/2008)

Joint Statement of the Parties in Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches v. Maryland State Police Department (04/02/2008)

About the Campaign Against Racial Profiling (03/20/2008)
An explanation of the patterns and practices that constitute racial profiling, who is targeted, and why it's bad policy.

Background: Jena 6 (09/20/2007)

Civic Duty: Special Screening and Discussion (05/07/2007)

Fact Sheet - New Attorney General Guidelines (10/08/2008)

NYPD in the Subways (04/11/2008)

Fact Sheet: Jena Six Cases (09/17/2007)
The American Civil Liberties Union has serious concerns about the possibility of racially-motivated unequal treatment in the Jena Six cases, in which six black high school students were charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder for fighting with a white student last year in Jena, Louisiana.

ACLU Legislative Priorities for 2007 (03/21/2007)

Hip Hop Surveillance Factsheet (01/01/2007)
Think being rich and famous insulates you from racial profiling? Think again.

Brendlin v. California (03/05/2007)
Reviewing whether a car's passenger can challenge an illegal traffic stop under the Fourth Amendment. DECIDED

"Driving While Black" in Maryland ()
ACLU Lawsuits Against the Maryland State Police