People always expect Oxford street to be a hotspot for crime and chaos which is why when I saw the swarm of people gathered outside of American Candy, phones at the ready, I feared the worst. But the reality of the situation was very different.
The real reason for the crowds, the large numbers of police officers, the congestion, the evacuation of the shop was because of one young black boy, aged 14, allegedly stole some sweets. He and his friends insisted that they didn't steal anything and according to Natz, one of the boys apart of the incidence, his accused friend was “grabbed” by the owner and when the police came “they slammed their friend against the car and cuffed him for no reason”. The owner saw him in a tracksuit, browsing, and assumed he was a thief. He had been racially profiled as the man had no concrete evidence of a crime, he just fit the description of a young black boy.
Being stopped and searched is not a regular occurrence for me. The closest I ever came was when I was driving with my mum in our little corsa, a car usually associated with young boys, with the bass pumping out loud music late at night. But then we heard sirens. So we pulled over and the police came and slowed next to the car. However when they saw two women in there, they immediately moved on. This incident did make me question things though. What if I was a young boy, especially one a part of an ethnic minority? Would my experience have been very different?
When some of the black boys that I knew told me that they had been racially profiled often, I was surprised. But statistics show that black people are stopped and searched almost 5 times the rate of white people, mixed people are searched almost twice the rate of whites and South Asians are stopped marginally higher than whites too. The statistics suggests that racial profiling is a problem because of the disproportionate stop and searches amongst the different races.
Racial profiling is an issue that need to be addressed within our society. It leaves people frightened. Frightened of walking out, frightened of the police, frightened of the people within their community who could blame them for something they did not do. It is not harmless or just a small hassle, but a serious issue that can negatively impact someone for their whole life.
