Reclaiming Our Rights: Reflections on Racial Profiling in a Post-9/11 America

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September 2011

The report shares perspectives on the expansion of racial profiling in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and how the federal government's increased powers of surveillance, detention and access to private information impacted people of Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, and South Asian descent along with migrants and people thought to be migrants. The report also discusses how the issue of racial profiling - a longtime problem in black, Native American and Latino communities - became more controversial after the Sept. 11 attacks and how the broad congressional support for passing the ERPA in the summer of 2001 subsequently diminished. In the report, RWG makes recommendations to the Obama Administration, the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and Congress - among them is passage of ERPA - that would seek to not only prohibit racial profiling but provide greater oversight of law enforcement with regard to civil rights protections.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Foreward: September 2011
Margaret Huang, Executive Director, Rights Working Group

Introduction: The Evolution of the Debate Over Racial Profiling
The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., U.S. Representative, Michigan

The "New" Post-9/11 Realities
Karen K. Narasaki, President and Executive Director, Asian American Justice Center

Reflections on Racial Justice and Ending Racial Profiling
Laura W. Murphy, Director, American Civil Liberties Union, Washington Legislative Office

Reflections from the Frontlines: 10 Years of Organizing in New York City
Monami Maulik, Founder and Executive Director, Desis Rising Up & Moving

Those Who Remain Subject to Law
Shahid Buttar, Executive Director, Bill of Rights Defense Committee

The Open Wound of the U.S.-Mexico Border
Christian Ramirez, National Coordinator, American Friends Service Committee's Project Voice

Profiling At Our Northern Borders
Nadia Tonova, Director of National Outreach, National Network for Arab American Communities

Racial Profiling in the Context of Interior Immigration Enforcement
Pramila Jayapal, Founder and Executive Director, OneAmerica

To Honor the Constitution
Retired Police Chief Arturo Venegas, Project Director, Law Enforcement Engagement Initiative

Conclusion: Congress Should Prohibit Racial Profiling by Law Enforcement Agencies
The Honorable Benjamin L. Cardin, Senator, Maryland

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