Racial Profiling Goes Beyond Black and White by Polakow-Suransky, Essay

Racial Profiling Goes Beyond Black and White by Polakow-Suransky, (Pages.200-205) - Essay Example rican Americans, especially young males, are more likely than are whites to be involved in the commission of a crime.   Racial profiling is illegal but police are allowed to stop and search drivers if they have reason to believe that person may be in possession of drugs or weapons so therefore, this practice continues. Since September 11, 2001, law enforcement agencies around the country are practicing a new type of racial profiling which has the approval of most all citizens. It is referred to as ‘flying while Arab.’ â€Å"In the post-September 11 climate, ‘driving while black’ has become ‘flying while brown’† (204). Many cases have been reported where Arab, or ‘Arab looking’ Americans have been ordered to depart airplanes simply because their appearance was making some of the other passengers uneasy. Decisions regarding what person to hire, which people will be admitted and who will be detained by airport security as their suitcase is ransacked while they are trying to catch a plane is based upon characteristic generalities that are either observable or perceived. However, even when generalizations are statistically legitimate, they can be very erroneous in particular cases. For example, many black students are more prepared, scholastically speaking, to enter a university than many white students. Racial profiling is, by anyone’s definition, a rational method of discrimination. While most would have agreed prior to September 11, 2001 that racial discrimination is morally wrong and cannot be justified for any reason, those following the tragic events which killed more than 3000 Americans and the continued threat of terrorism has made this practice more palatable and even desirable. Had the terrorists that committed these acts not been of Arab descent, then the profiling of airplane passengers and the widespread fear of this particular ethnic group would not be a matter of discussion. Profiling Arabs is an easy sell to a country made up

Reflexes Uncovered-Pathway of an action potential Comprehensive Paper Essay

Reflexes Uncovered-Pathway of an action potential Comprehensive Paper - Essay Example A stimulus is generated immediately a person comes in contact with a painful object like fire. The stimulus has to pass through layers of the layers of the skin, which include the epidermis and the dermis. The anatomy of the skin displays a rich network of receptors that are responsible for detecting pain (Moses et al., 67). The epidermis consists of hair and Merkel’s disc, which is a tactile receptor found between the epidermis and the dermis. This receptor detects any form of external stimuli. The Pacinian corpuscle is also found in the outermost layer of the skin and it detects abnormal pressures from external environment. Apart from these receptors, the outer skin layer has free nerve endings that detect pain. The stimulus goes through the free nerve endings to other sensory receptors in the dermis (Moses et al., 70). The presence of sensory receptors enables the skin to detect any change in environmental pressures like fire. The dermis also has the Ruffini’s corpuscle which is a receptor similar to a mushroom shape. The stimulus is also detected by the Pacinian corpuscle, which detects deep pressure within the hypodermis layer. The dermis contains free nerve endings that play a major part in detecting external stimuli. A stimulus excites the impulse at the resting membrane potential of the neuron threshold potential in order to reach the maximum action potential. When the maximum action potential is achieved, the cell membrane of the neurons becomes depolarized and the sensory receptors convert the portrayed information into nerve impulses. As a result the nerve impulse away from the dendrites into the neuron then onto the cell body of the nerve. It then travels via the myelin sheath of the axon, to the nodes of Ranvier and lastly to the synaptic knob where the axon and another neuron mee t each other. The gap between one neuron and another is called the presynaptic membrane