Civil and Human Rights Coalition Commends Senate Reintroduction of the End Racial Profiling Act

Washington, D.C. – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement after today’s introduction of the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) by Senator Ben Cardin, D. Md.:

“The Leadership Conference thanks Senator Cardin for taking this essential step toward ending racial profiling in America.

Racial profiling robs people of their dignity, undermines the integrity of our criminal justice system, and instills fear and distrust among members of targeted communities.

Despite strong evidence that racial profiling is ineffective and unproductive, its use has actually expanded after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the context of counterterrorism; fighting drug trafficking and other “street-level” crimes; and in efforts to enforce immigration laws.

This is true for Muslims, Sikhs, and South Asians targeted by law enforcement for terrorist activities – true for Latinos in places like Alabama who are subject to S.B. 1070 copycat laws – and still true for African Americans subject to street-level profiling while walking or driving their cars.

We know from experience that this is the wrong approach. Racial profiling makes us all less safe, by distracting law enforcement from the pursuit of individuals who pose serious threats to security.

We urge Congress to pass ERPA and take this critical step toward ending racial profiling in America.”

Wade Henderson is president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

For More Information

The Leadership Conference recently released the report, “Restoring a National Consensus: The Need to End Racial Profiling in America.”  The report examines the use of racial profiling in the street-level context in which it originally arose, in the newer context of counterterrorism, and in the most recent context of immigration; and calls for the re-establishment of a national consensus against racial profiling in all its forms.