Presentations 4/8

All of the presentations from Thursday 4/8 were very informational. Great job to all of the groups that went. The presentation that I found to be the most interesting was the topic about Social Issues: Racial Profiling by Police. I was surprised to learn that 17% of Maryland's drivers are black yet 77% of them have been pulled over and searched. The number of black drivers in Maryland that have been pulled over and searched seems way to high! It seems that if you are black you have a higher chance to be searched when pulled over over others. I believe that officers should only search cars if they have sustainable evidence or reason to do so. I believe it is an evasion of privacy without a reason to do so. I have heard of situations or rumors of Racial profiling but I have never heard any facts or statistics that actually prove racial profiling so I have never considered it a big deal. In Malcolm X he often talks about White policemen beating African Americans for not listening to the police officers like on page 238. It was interesting to connect the data with real life stories from Malcolm X. Rodney Kings beating in LA. also relates to this. How can America eliminate racism if state and government employees such as policemen are expressing racial profiling? Another presentation I enjoyed was the one about African American Music. It was interesting to learn about artists who were the first to combine different styles of music to create a new genre.