Vision Circle

Polls -- Revisiting 9/11

After 9/11, there was a poll done that "showed" that Blacks favored profiling of "Arabs".

PROFILING OF ARABS
Polls say blacks tend to favor checks
By Ann Scales, Globe Staff, 9/30/2001

WASHINGTON - African-Americans, whose treatment by the criminal
justice system gave rise to the phrase ''racial profiling,'' are more
likely than other racial groups to favor profiling and stringent
airport security checks for Arabs and Arab-Americans in the wake of
this month's terrorist attacks, two separate polls indicate.
The findings by the Gallup Organization and Zogby International were
met with varying degrees of disappointment and disbelief by black
activists and intellectuals, who struggled with explanations.
Roger Wilkins, a historian at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and the author of a new book on black patriotism, said he was
surprised and disappointed. ''I do not think that you beat people who
are trying to tear America down by turning your back on one of
America's core principles - the presumption of innocence,'' Wilkins
said.

Arab-American leaders said the poll results may reflect the nation's
need to find a scapegoat, and said they didn't blame blacks for
harboring attitudes that are part of the fabric of this nation.
''I don't think it's in any way hostility'' by blacks, said John
Zogby, an Arab-American who conducted the Zogby poll. ''I think what
they are saying is, `We get profiled all the time and we survived.
Maybe they ought to, too.'''

Around Thanksgiving, I saw the Larry Elder Show where he referenced these numbers. Then, I shook my head and said to myself that I bet he knows the numbers don't add up.

How did I know the numbers didn't add up?