becoming a u.s. citizen was one of my proudest moments. [ speaking spanish ] >> translator: i'll never forget the way that i felt raising my hand and taking the oath to this country. [ speaking spanish ] >> translator: i felt that i was part of something bigger than myself. i felt that i was part of a community, and that i was finally equal to every other american. [ speaking spanish ] >> translator: that feeling was short-lived for me and my family. [ speaking spanish ]

>> translator: in february 2011, i confronted the harsh reality that so many in my community face. [ speaking spanish ] >> translator: racial profiling. [ speaking spanish ] >> translator: while driving a company van of the company where i worked at -- [ speaking spanish [ [ >> translator: i was stopped by a michigan state police officer. the officer said i had run a red light. i would have preferred that the officer just gave me a ticket rather than interrogate me about my citizenship.

called me a liar and threatened to kick my butt. the ticket would have been much easier to explain to my children than racial profiling. when the officer came to my car, i handed him my michigan chauffeur's license. yet the officer was more interested in my immigration status. i repeatedly told him that i was a u.s. citizen. he didn't care.

he went to his car to look at my record. and when he returned he told me to get out of the car and that i was going to be deported. the officer had called border patrol. my car was impounded. i was handcuffed and driven to an empty parking lot to wait for border patrol officers. i couldn't understand why this was happening to me. i felt worse than any criminal. because a criminal knows that when he's arrested it's because he's at fault.

he knows he has to pay for something he did wrong. but i did nothing wrong. i was working. i pleaded with the officer to listen to me. to believe me that i was telling the truth. i told him i'm a citizen. but it didn't matter. i offered to show him my social security card. but he refused to look at it. and finally border patrol officers arrived to this place.

the michigan state police officer had left. and the border patrol officers confirmed that i was telling the truth and i was let go. i never received a ticket for my traffic violation, but more importantly i never got an apology. i believe in the opportunities and dreams the u.s. represents. i believe in the promise of equality and justice for all.

and as i thought more about this experience, i realized that i couldn't just ignore what had happened. because there are others just like me who are harassed, arrested, and deported. for no other reason than a police officer's perception of what a citizen should look like or sound like. >> i went to the aclu of michigan. for help. and they sent a letter to the

michigan state police on my behalf asking for answers and an internal investigation. a few days later i sat in the aclu's office. while a police internal investigator asked me to tell my story. that was another proud day for me because i knew that i had

made a difference. although i still believe in the promise of equality, i know that i have to speak out to make sure it's a reality for me. my family and my community. no u.s. citizen should be made to feel like a criminal. simply because of the color of their skin, language abilities or religion. thank you. that's part of my story. >> hello.

my name is elizabeth dann. i want to thank you for this incredible opportunity to speak to you all about what muslim students have been going through for the past few months. i am a convert to islam. i'm in my final year of law school at nyu. and i'm the outreach chair of nyu's muslim law students association. i'm many other things as well. i'm a descendent of english immigrants who arrived in this country prior to the revolutionary war and irish catholic immigrants, i'm a wife and an expectant mother. the racial profiling that has culminated in the nypd's surveillance of muslim students in and outside of new york city appalls me on all levels of my identity. after finding out about the surveillance without any suspicion of criminal activity of muslim students from yale to the university of pennsylvania, i felt a variety of emotions. i felt fear. fear not only of harm directly caused by the nypd but for what

this means about the standing of my community in the eyes of american citizens. fear that we are considered an enemy that can never prove itself safe, neighborly, or kind with any amount of safe, neighborly and kind behavior. fear of what is coming next for us. fear of the legacy of interment of law-abiding japanese-american citizens during world war ii, and when that legacy might be resurrected. fear that we will have trouble finding jobs, finding space to worship freely, finding our voices during this and other political moments. fear that for the muslim students of so many universities who are young, hopeful and patriotic, the surveillance will destroy some of their faith in fairness, justice and law enforcement. fear that muslim students will lose a bit of their innocence and artlessness. fear that my friends and community members would suspect

me of being an informant because i'm a white convert. fear that my unborn child will feel it necessary to make a choice between the expression of her religion and the fulfillment of her professional dreams. fear of what i will tell her about her place in the city of her birth when her entire faith community is watched with suspicion. fear that the surveillance we know about is only the beginning and that we will be powerless to change it. and i was angry. i was angry because this action is a violation of the values this country holds most dear. the freedoms of speech, of religious expression and association. i was angry because the students around me were afraid to be angry because terrorists are angry. students are terrified that if they sound angry, even though they have been wronged, someone will be watching them, and note that they are dangerous people, people of interest. i was angry because commissioner

kelly is the son of immigrants and a member of a religious minority in this country and he has forgotten the pain the irish americans suffered at the hands of racist english protestants. i was angry because i felt violated. because i'm a student of the law and because i believe in rules. i was angry because i didn't know what else to feel. and now i'm disappointed. i'm disappointed that this happened at all. i'm disappointed that the muslim community has not forged the relationships with people of other faiths that are strong enough that other faith-based communities would be outraged on our behalf. i am disappointed that this is where we are, spying on the public lawful activities of young, unsuspecting students to look for terrorists because nobody has any better ideas. i am disappointed because of what this means for our constitution, what this means about our values.

what this means about the melting pot we live in if certain groups are subjected to treatment that makes them too terrified to speak or pray how can they melt into this wonderful pot that is america. i understand and commend any intention to keep new york city and more broadly this country safe. but i do not believe in my heart of hearts in my incredibly american, born and raised, new englander heart, that surveillance based purely on racial or religious distinctions is the way to keep us safe. we are all entitled to a feeling of safety. all of us. white, brown, yellow, black, christian, jewish, muslim, buddhist, hindu, sikh. we have all entitled to the protections of our laws and to the protection of law enforcement. and we, minorities, are harmed by these kinds of practices. we feel less safe and we are less safe. as a result of characteristics about ourselves that we are

powerless to change. it is not being an adherent to any religion that makes them a threat to security. it is not being any particular color that makes someone a threat to security. it is hateful, harmful unjust actions of individuals that are threats to security. communities do not bear collective responsibility for the wrongdoing of any one person. if i could assign a different religious label to every terrorist who has ever lived, i would. i disavow them, their beliefs, their values, their means, and their ends. i have felt anger, sadness and disappointment. but those feelings make me want to build a better future. not tear anyone's present down. and that is why i'm a student of the law. that is why i'm the outreach chair of the muslim law students association. that is why i'm a muslim. and that is why i'm speaking to you today. i asked the house and senate to pass the end racial profiling act and institute a federal ban

on profiling based on race, ethnicity, national origin on religion on the federal, state and local levels. i asked senator durbin's subcommittee to urge the department of justice to revise the the 2003 guidance regarding the use of race by federal law enforcement agencies to apply to profiling based on religion and based on national origin. to remove national border security loopholes, cover law enforcement surveillance activities, apply to local state and law enforcement agencies acting in partnership with federal agencies or receiving federal funds and make the guidance enforcement. i want to thank the naacp, the aclu and working groups for putting together this conference. thank you for all of you to coming and listening to us. >> hi good afternoon. i'm anthony romero. national director of the american civil liberties union. i shall be brief since i testified earlier today.

clearly the need for the legislation is well established in the record that was presented before the senate judiciary committee. prior to 9/11 racial profiling was seen as un-american. after 9/11 racial profiling is now seen as a necessary evil. where in order to keep our streets safe to keep our airport travelers safe, to free us from the quote harm done to us by undocumented immigrants, we hear many across the political aisle justify racial profiling as necessary to ensure the american way of life in their minds. today's hearing and hopefully the testimony you'll hear further today challenges that very notion. that in fact it's only by challenging the use of racial profiling in many different

forms and circumstances that we will uphold the american way of life. as the legislation proceeds, of course, it has a very challenging road ahead of it. there will be many within congress and even within the advocates who will try to strip away certain positions of the end the wrashl racial profiling act as a way to get it done. we will try once again to negotiate whether or not there should be a national security exemption. whether immigration or customs border patrol protections should be forfeited. whether we should focus on the traditional minority groups like latinos and african-americans suffering at the hands of the police. i would exhort all of us in this room to not allow those politics to be played off, one against the other. that's, in fact, part of the difficulty we now find ourselves in when we have exemptions based on national security or on

ethnicity or national origin, or border enforcement, that is precisely the patchwork of acceptable racial profiling that's found in the law, which is unacceptable wherever it is. and so thank you very much. we look forward to working with you to make this legislative dream a reality and thank you all for organizing this event. >> good afternoon. my name is hilary shelton. i'm the director of the naacp's washington bureau and senior vice president for advocacy and policy. let me begin first by thanking the three of the naacp's biggest champions in congress on civil rights in general, and ending racial profiling in particular for their insight, their persistence and their leadership. senator durbin who's been active in trying to address racial

profiling in congress since he introduced the reasonable search and standards act over a decade ago and chaired today's hearing. senator card who introduced s-1670 the end racial profiling act last year and has been a tireless champion of the bill, and of course, congressman john conners, who has introduced the end racial profiling act in the past and continues to be our leader in the house of representatives on racial profiling as well as a host of other civil rights concerns. racial profiling is unconstitutional, socially core upting, and a counterproductive to smart and effective law enforcement. but the naacp whole heartedly believes that the majority of law enforcement agencies are hard-working, courageous individuals, as exemplified by chief ron davis who testified a little earlier today. who should be commended for their sacrifices, they make on a regular basis, and their willingness to serve their neighbors and their communities. racial profiling by just one officer can lead to mistrust of all officers. in fact, it is safe to say that

the continued use of racial profiling is sadly and underfortunately undercut our communities. trust and faith in the integrity of the american criminal justice system. what we need is a database approach to define the problem determine the in order to fix t problem. in essence, in order to fix this problem, you must first measure it. then, we must have an education and training at all levels to eliminate racial profiling once and for all. the training must be uniform and reach all levels from the federal government down to neighborhood watch groups. and from unit commanders down to cop on the beat and even the desk sergeant. finally. in order for the law to be effective, it must offer citizens and the government real accommodation, that is, avenues to enforce and ensure that racial profiling is stopped. not only is racial profiling morally wrong and ineffective, it is a misuse of government resources and detrimental to

effective policing. it must be stopped and on behalf of the entire naacp, i applaud our champions here today and urge the immediate enactment of the end racial profiling act. thank you very much. i look forward to the work we will do. >> good afternoon, everyone. i want to give commendation to senator cardin and particularly to john conyers who has been consistent in ringing the alarm across the country about the deficit and the scathing gap that racial profiling is doing in america. my mind goes back to 1995, breaking into the cannes film festival, a small underdiscovered film that many people didn't think was going to go far. it was, in fact, coined and named after one line from casablanca, and that film is entitled "the usual suspects." it talks about a motley crue of

criminals that were found and as the film begins to develop, they think that the person who they thought did it is not the person who did it. they thought it was going to be a conman and figured out it was somebody they would have never expected. when it is we participate in racial profiling, it is, in fact, the usual suspects, who it is that the media has portrayed criminality in america is supposed to look like. any person who has any breath of memory will remember when it is that dukakis ran for president, that the linchpin to his demise and failure was, in fact, raising up the portrait of criminality was a black man. you don't even have to go too many days further than that, when a distraught woman in south carolina claimed that her children were, in fact, kidnapped but she, in fact, killed her own children, was racial profiling. you remember when it is that "time" magazine darkened the hue of o.j. simpson so he would look

for criminal in his intent, causing the publishers and the editors having to apologize for making o.j. seem darker to make him give a more criminal tint to his extinction of his own wife. ladies and gentlemen, we stand today in 2012 and my heart is asunder, knowing that 49 years ago this very day, martin luther king jr. wrote a letter from a birmingham jail. only this day, that 17th of april, he had to raise the question, why are we here, we're here because injustice is here. and 49 years later, we come into this room in this senate building, muslim, jew, catholics, they want to know why we are here with visitor badges, we are here because injustice is still here. how all of america paused when it is that we heard the glaring report about trayvon martin. here is a young man, not driving

while black, but walking while black and profiled and we all have the 911 tape to prove it. what is his crime? he looked suspicious. we get to a place that in middle class america, you have suspicious because you have on an athletic uniform. what is your crime? you're suspicious because you have a bag of 69 cent skittles, or, in fact, a can of arizona iced tea. what is the crime of millimete s millions of americans who are now afraid to walk outside of their homes? not that he was with the bad company. it's not that he was apart of a gang it was not that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. he simply is suspicious in america because he's a young black teen. we've got to come to a place, ladies and gentlemen, that the legislation must be passed. martin luther king jr. was very clear. that you cannot legislate love. it was, in fact, in the book by

barrel entitled "brainwashed," that in order for us to change america, it will not happen through congress. it will not happen in sentiment, it will only have to happen through a change of heart. regrettably, ladies and gentlemen, perception is reality. when many of our young people look at the housewives of orange county and aspire that that is what success looks like, but what the camera does not show is that 37% of the houses in orange county are under foreclosure. what is the perception? what is the reality? when they turn the channel and look at basketball wives and out of nine frustrated women, eight of them are not even married. what is the perception? and what is the reality? when we look, if you've got a large stomach and can handle your nerves and look at the house wives of atlanta and see an unwritten script that as the world turns doesn't even have that kind of vivid imagination, what is perception and what is reality? it is our question why we sit

here in this panel today, talking about who is wrong, is it the police officers? how i wish we could give every police officer in america rose-colored glasses. what we found out as president obama's bill could not pass, it's not in the budget. and so because we cannot give all of them rose-colored glasses, we need to change the perception of how america looks at our minorities, how it looks at our women and how it is that we look at different religious affiliations. just while it is that we were assembling here, my own bishop who stands with me today was late coming into the galley. the reason why it is that he was late is because a few blocks away from here, he caught a cab but the cab pulled over. cab pulled over because the cab driver wanted to see the launching of "discovery." amazing, ladies and gentlemen, that when it is you do excavation, you do archaeology, you always look down. but when you want to do discovery, you've got to look forward and you've got to look

up. the cab driver pulled over and made a bishop of the church walk because he was looking to discover. not going back into the past, not opening up the annals of racism, but he's looking up to see, will america live up to its constitution? will america be its greatest dream or be its greatest deficit? and ladies and gentlemen, how i wish i could have seen my bishop walk for two blocks, because it is a marvelous testament of what it is minorities, ethnicities and the church community is going to have to do. while the new generation is looking up, we may have to go back to marching so that america can be the place it was intended to be. thank you so much. >> thank you.

first off, i like to start off by thanking you all for allowing me to speak to you on the matter that is near and dear to my heart. and forgive me. i speak to you today from two perspectives. one as a professor of criminal justice and as a current deputy commander with the hines county sheriff's department and, with being that, also, one time law enforcement officer of the year and three times law enforcement officer of the month. all accomplished without using racial profiling but using community policing. as a law enforcement officer, i've heard various arguments for the use of typecasting, also known as racial profiling. as a law enforcement officer, i have heard many complaints from citizens who look just like me, about the use of racial profiling tactics also known in

this professional connotation as typecasting or t-capping. however, as an academic, i have my own perspective of both terms. if you ask a law enforcement officer who spends much of his time conducting interstate interdiction, what method of observation he or she uses in determining which vehicle to stop. i'm sure you'll hear politically correct narration, you'll hear simple terms such as observation, tracking or variable awareness, et cetera. or, you may hear the term more traffic stops lead to more arrests. however, what you won't hear is the use of the term racial profiling. the most common example of police racial profiling is dwb. otherwise known as driving while black. studies have shown