of the car at gun point, handcuffed and placed in separate police cars while the officers searched their car and checked their identification. The police justified this detention because the men allegedly resembled a description of two suspects being sought for 19 armed robberies and one of the men seemed to be "nervous". The men filed suit against the officers and the court found that neither man fit the descriptions of the robbers, and that the robberies had not even occurred in the City of Santa Monica.
             Collie Brown was driving from Albany to Bethlehem, with his young daughter asleep in the car, when he noticed that his headlights were dimming. He stopped the car and got out to see what was causing the problem. A Bethlehem police car pulled up behind him with it's lights flashing, and the officer asked if he needed any help. When Brown replied that he did not need any assistance, the officer told him to get behind the car and proceeded to handcuff him. The officer informed Brown that the car had been reported as stolen, which was true. Brown had reported the car stolen many months earlier after it had been hot-wired in front of his home in Albany. The Albany police had recovered the car a week after it was reported stolen. At no point was Brown ever asked for his registration or diver's license prior to being handcuffed in order to prove that the car did indeed belong to him. The officer eventually retrieved Brown's wallet from the car and discovered that the car did belong !
             These are just two examples of the racial profiling that occurs on a regular basis in this country. The race against racial profiling the great era of civil rights started in the 1960s, with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s stirring “I have a Dream” speech at the historic march on Washington in August of 1963. At the same time Birmingham Police Commissioner “Bull” Connor used powerful fire hoses and vicious police attack dogs agai...