May 19, 2010

I Think, Therefore I Profile

By Carol Peracchio
Two recent events have propelled the issue of profiling to the forefront. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed an immigration bill that "requires police to question people if there is reason to suspect that they're in the United States illegally." And on May 1, a Pakistani-American failed to set off a car bomb in Times Square. In both situations, Americans are exhorted to refrain from profiling. Mayor Bloomberg warned us, "We will not tolerate any bias or backlash against Pakistani or Muslim New Yorkers." Governor Schwarzenegger joked, "I was also going to give a graduation speech in Arizona this weekend. But with my accent, I was afraid they would try to deport me."Whatever you do, the elites tell us, don't profile! But is that even humanly possible? In my earlier work in hospital nursing, we profiled from the minute we clocked in for our shift. We didn't call it profiling, of course. When I worked in the ICU, we called it "assessment." In the...(Read Full Article)