I do not agree with this statement. I think that the USA Patriot Act is extreme and has given the government way too much power which they do not know what to do with. I do think that they needed to look into how to protect the American poplutation from another terrorist attack but to be allowed to pinpoint a certain race or group of people and freely go through their things in the intent to find fault in them is wrong. For the government to say it's ok to racial profile people, in my opinion, is taking us backwards not forward. The USA Patriot Act also stated that it was being used to investigate crime and drug trafficking which sounds to me like more profiling. I for one do not want to have every conversation either written or spoken to be dissected by the government based on my name, the color of my skin, or the religion I practice.
I don't think that when they're monitoring us, they're doing racial profiling. The government goes through everyone's information, regardless of skin or religion. When they tried to prevent a possible terrorist attack in Las Vegas, they took everyone's information from all of the hotels, casinos, and such; they didn't only pull the Muslim or Middle Eastern people, or any other race or religion specifically. But the terrorists that we are facing as of now (Al Qaeda, the Taliban) are usually Middle Eastern or radical Muslims, and we can't overlook that. I'm not saying we should be suspicious of everyone who is of that religion or race, but there is a lot larger chance of a terrorist being in that group than, say, British.
Even if they weren't racial profiling while monitoring I still don't want someone else monitoring me. That just doesn't sit right with me. I have done anything wrong why should my things/conversation/electronic data be searched through?
And yeah they pulled everyone's records in Las Vagas but they were searching through it for "terrorist" which in my opinion means they were specifically looking for ones who had or sounded like they had any type of connection with the Middle East...thus racial profiling.
But look at the NYPD, they were spying on Muslims all over the northeast, which includes going out of their jurisdiction. They even had an undercover agent go on a whitewater rafting trip with a group of Muslim college kids. They didn't notify, and they didn't have any justification except that they were Muslim, like the "typical" terrorist. How can we know for sure that the federal government doesn't profile when they don't even tell us everything because the Patriot Act protects them from doing so?
I agree with the Act but I can see what you're saying. It does give the government more control than they should have. But I also think we're "better safe than sorry".
i feel that the government isnt racial profialing anyone, they are only looking for known terroists. they look at everyones data not just one groups data. i dont see a problem if they use the information to stop crime and drug trafficing, it would make the country better if they did.
You are right when you say that, but it still invades everyones personal freedoms and nobody can ignore that.