Introduction
When Abraham Lincoln made his epoch making decision to let American Blacks enjoy freedom as much as the whites did, little did people realize that the progressive society would retain some of the old mental shackles of negative stereotypes well into the 21st century. While time and again we are told that we live in a free and fair country where all citizens are treated equally, events often remind us that all is not fair and square in this country where even the custodians of the law violate legal processes just because the defendant has a dark skin. In fact, many blacks feel that the police often devise ways to mistreat them as a people. In this respect the happenings in the US is not very distant from the grave violations of human rights in other countries that discriminate people on the basis of their race. Even though there is a difference in the magnitude to which the crimes are perpetuated, the essence behind these crimes remains the same. It is therefore quite upsetting to note that even after so many years the seeds of hatred and racism are harbored by many who feel that the white race is superior over the blacks in many ways.

Analysis
Racial profiling is not restricted to the black community. After the September 11 incident, religious groups have also been included in the list of social untouchables. Government records show that racial profiling by the authorities is not a fictitious or isolated situation. It is indeed a part and parcel of the American society. The constant rise in racial profiling has stunned the nation and thrown open an array of questions from the troubles ethnic groups. There has been a mushrooming of several civil liberty rights organizations that protect the interests of minorities. Over ten states in the United States, including Oklahoma have passed laws to make racial profiling a punishable offence. Recent events such as law suit settlements and written agreements have done their share in creating awareness against encouraging racial discrimination. The Maryland Board of Public Works has passed a historic agreement that puts an end to public racial profiling on the state's highway, announced the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland [Clarence, 2003]. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had filed a suit regarding the unnecessary attention attracted by black and brown people while using vehicles on public roads. In similar events, the state of New Jersey has consented to pay a compensatory sum of around 775,000 to motorists who have been victims of racial profiling by the police. The ACLU of New Jersey hoped that would serve as a lesson to those who practiced racial profiling in any field of life. Such events have brought the cases of racial profiling under national light, forcing the government to pay heed to it. In an attempt to win back the heart of his voters from minority groups, President Bush has vowed to take immediate steps to redeem the situation. The U. S Attorney General John Ashcroft has come outlined a “two component” plan that will destroy the rudiments of racial profiling, under a directive from the President.

With the September 11 incidents the condition and mistrust on the blacks has further worsened. Muslim blacks were the targets of ridicule and attack due to their color and their religious afflictions. The community as a whole is being wrongly held responsible for the terrorist attack. This may be due to reports in the Asian press of Muslim blacks being recruited for mercenary activities by fundamentalists in Asian and Arab countries. The high incidence of profiling and intense scrutiny in the streets and harassment Muslims had to face because of investigations were unprecedented [Al-Amin, 2003].

Beyond any reasonable doubt, the US death penalty continues to reflect the deeply-rooted prejudices of the society that condones its use. Amnesty International cannot find any evidence that current legal safeguards eliminate racial bias in the application of the death penalty. [Amnesty, 1999]

While racial profiling was experienced more in the closed environs of the offices and other secluded areas when the white majority and the black minorities interacted, a new form of racial profiling is being undertaken by the police which is nothing but a brazen attack on the traditions of this country that has always stood by freedom and equality. Known as "driving while black" this kind of racially influenced torture involves penalizing a vehicle rider with checks and harassment just because his or her skin color is dark. There is ever increasing evidence to show that racial profiling in the form of harassment of drivers with colored skin is a reality in the United States. While Blacks were more prone to be picked up for questioning if they were found in suspicious circumstances, the intensity and frequency of stopping black drivers for questioning and verification of documents is increasing with each passing day in the United States. Most people who complain to the concerned authorities about being stopped in the roads for apparently no fault of their own, are quite piqued at the fact that the law is increasingly becoming selective in this land. While white drivers are allowed to go scot-free or are checked once in a while, the color of one's skin increases one's chances of being stopped, questioned and searched by the police authorities. In many cases the social status of the person is rarely considered and even war veterans who have done the country proud are being stopped and humiliated for no fault of their own [Harris David A., 1999]

What are the immediate compulsions of the police to commit racial profiling in the form of Driving while black? While many believe that the law does not have any legal provisions to harass the colored race or for that matter any citizen of the United States like the way the police are doing it now, the state police are quick to present some excuses to justify the atrocities. One of the main reasons that the police gives is the fact that racial profiling is done in order to prevent drug peddling in the country. The police believe, for some strange reasons, that the colored people like Latinos and the blacks are the most probable carriers of drugs. This is a pernicious stereotype that has been used by the police to harass and often wound mentally and physically, people of the colored races. Even today, police journals and training manuals blatantly violate racist norms and opine that interracial couples, blacks and Latinos are more prone to carrying drugs than their white counterparts in the country. While the police claim that these are mere observations that have been deduced from the arrests that has happened in the country, the fact that the arrests were conducted in a partial manner reduce or even negates the validity of this claim [Counterpuch, 1999]

Many social organizations are active on this issue and many believe that the high handedness of the police can be stopped by a concerted effort by the minorities. While most of the minorities are not averse to the police carrying out routine checks to maintain law and order, the fact that they are almost always singled out for harassment makes them apprehensive of the judicial system in the country [Kinnon,1999]