Topic: Horowitz
In an Aug. 6 NewsReal blog post, David Swindle takes us to task for our previous criticism of him and David Horowitz for their apparent support of racial profiling:
David Horowitz had a great one-line response to Terry’s inability to even bother engaging our arguments for discussion:
What is it you don’t understand about protecting black people from black predators?
To which we respond: What is it you don't understand about not treating all black people like potential predators?
As we originally pointed out, Horowitz and Swindle seemed to justify the full search of a vehicle of a black person pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike for a minor traffic offense -- mentioned during an appearance by Horowitz on Glenn Beck's Fox News show -- by claiming that "a high percentage of drug dealers in the New York-New Jersey area were black." That, on its face, implies support for racial profiling due to the apparent belief that because most drug dealers are black, all blacks should be therefore treated as potential drug dealers. No additional justification was provided.
Swindle then added:
I’m not sure Terry really understands what Horowitz and I are defending here. We’re not suggesting that it’s acceptable for a cop to pull over an African-American male who’s just driving down the street, not breaking any laws. To do so would be true “racial profiling” and a genuine example of a “DWB” — “Driving While Black.”
But if an African-American male is pulled over and fits the offender profiling (which would include many factors apart from his race), a cop shouldn’t be afraid to search his car because some leftist, anti-cop activist will try and attack him as a racist.
But there was no indication from the person mentioned during Horowitz's "Glenn Beck" appearance who was stopped and searched that he fit the profile of a drug dealer beyond being a black male.
We have no problem with police using profiling techniques to catch criminals -- after all, that's their job. We have a problem with race being a disproportionate factor when it's not justified, which is what Horowitz and Swindle (as well as Newsmax's Ronald Kessler) appeared to be endorsing.
We believe in color-blind justice. We hope Horowitz and Swindle do too.
