When the black professor was arrested for trying to break into his own house, Obama called it stupid. I think the professor over reacted and the policeman was doing his job, and this matter was between the police officer and his superiors. Our president, whom I voted for, should have zippd his lip.
But racial profiling is alive and well. Let me tell you something that happened to me 25 years ago. I had moved to San Antonio Texas and was working at a hospital. "Marie" a Mexican nurse who worked with me was big in every way. She was a big woman, with a big voice and a big heart. She was an unofficial social worker type. She dedicated herself to helping wetbacks (that's like calling a black person nigger, but that's the derogatory term used for Mexicans crossing the border looking for work.)
Marie would help these men fill out job applications and help them through the maze of becoming "legal" so they could get work. She helped them make phone calls home and write letters for them and take them for various appointments. One morning early she called me to say the hospital had called her to come to work on her day off and asked if I'd do her a favor. I said Okay. She asked if I'd pick up
"Pedro" and take him to the doctor for a physical (part of a job application.)  She gave me directions and I picked him up. He spoke no English.
Driving into San Antonio there were vast stockyards and packing plants. Pedro needed the physical to work for Hormel. So I was tootling along and saw police lights in the rearview mirror, and puzzled, pulled over. A caucasian city cop came to the window and looked in at me and Pedro. He noted that I had Mississippi license tags, and I showed him my Mississippi driver's license. He said you gotta get that changed to Texas plates and license if you're gonna live here. As soon as he heard my southern accent and I told him I was a nurse at a nearby hospital, he knew I was "legit." I explained I was taking Pedro  to the doctor for a friend.
Then he leaned into the window and said "You're hauling a wetback around. That don't look good for a decent woman. I wouldn't do that anymore, know what I mean?"  I was astonished. I already felt intimidated by his aggresive attitude. I was used to being treated with respect. So anyway, after getting Pedro to the doctor and dropping him off, I went home and stewed about it, then called the police dept. and next day they sent an investigator to the house.
The cop investigator said I was over reacting and that was it. I don't know what I expected. After all, the news of the day had been about cops chasing an unarmed wetback under a house and shooting him to death. But ever since that experience I have an inkling about how it feels to be pulled over and/or harassed. Unsettling, demeaning, something I'll never forget.
susil