The Case for African American and Latina/O Cooperation in Challenging Racial Profiling in Law Enforcement

Abstract

The formal and informal targeting of African Americans, Latina/os, and other racial minorities for police stops on account of race, known popularly as race profiling, has grabbed national attention. Race-based enforcement of the United States immigration laws, which grew in importance as the U.S. government escalated efforts to deport undocumented immigrants in the 1990s, has just begun to gain public awareness. The two law enforcement practices share a common thread - both use race as a signal of potential unlawful conduct or status.

This Article contends that African Americans and Latina/os share mutual concerns with governmental reliance on race in the enforcement of the criminal and immigration laws. Both suffer civil rights deprivations resulting from the use of statistical probabilities by law enforcement officers. Overlapping interests create the potential for intellectual linkages and political alliances designed to remove the taint of race from law enforcement. More generally, the criminal justice system in the United States, which skews enforcement, prosecution, and imprisonment toward young African American and Latina/o males, represents a legitimate target for concerted action. The common need and goal of reforming law enforcement creates the potential for far-reaching alliances.

Eliminating racial bias from law enforcement through multiracial coalitions - like all diverse alliances - will no doubt prove to be an arduous project, marked by setbacks as well as breakthroughs. Formidable barriers exist to the building of political coalitions between and among African Americans and Latina/os, as well as other minority communities. Importantly, the various groups may perceive themselves as having competing interests. Nonetheless, political realities dictate that alliances are essential to the quest for racial justice in the United States. Critical Latina/o theory has much to add to the analysis of coalition-building. LatCrit theorists contend that, to fully understand racial subordination in the United States, scholars must study its impact on African Americans, Latina/os, and other groups and how the subordination of various groups fits into broader patterns of racial and other discrimination. Coalitions designed to combat racial inequality are central to LatCrit Theory. Both aspects of LatCrit theory are implicated by the potential African American and Latina/o challenge to race-based law enforcement.

Part I of this Article sketches the legal problems with race profiling in criminal and border enforcement, showing how both forms adversely impact Latina/os and African Americans. Part II studies the common interests of Latina/os and African Americans in eliminating race-based law enforcement. Part III analyzes the efficacy of coalitions to remedy the racism at the core of law enforcement in the United States. The Article concludes that, difficult as it may be, collective action is essential to bring about much-needed racial reform in law enforcement.

Keywords: Criminal Procedure, Civil Rights, Immigration Law

JEL Classification: J6