The man claimed that he had not met either of the two landlords in person that he had been attempting to contact for application. Thus, the man began his pursuit into legal action under the terms of racial discrimination. The case, Johnson v. Jensen, one of the first documented arguments of linguistic profiling was brought forth for consideration (Erard, 2002).
As in the case of Johnson v. Jensen, the defendants - the accused, often play the part of an ignorant or unaware innocent victim of wrongful accusations. It is easy for one to "play-stupid" when there has been nothing more than a phone conversation as compared to a face-to-face communication. Little can be held concrete as evidence against the defendants claim to be unaware of the ethnicity of the accuser, therefore the dangers of linguistic profiling can then extend to the oppressed. When accusations that incur legalities, there is a level of credit that lies in the balance. This pertains to the credit of either the accused or the accuser.
In the end, the means will only be justified by whoever prevails in their account against the other. This can create a level of apprehensiveness among those who are most commonly linguistically profiled. The strain, loss and painstaking efforts in legal battles can prove detrimental to many a considered and likely necessary lawsuit. Accusations of such discrimination accompany a difficult task of backing or proving, unless it is unquestionably blatant.
According to a columnists report on the issue of linguistic profiling, there have been several documented cases of wrongful racial identification. In 1999, the identification of race was used to convict a black man convicted for drug trafficking during a sting operation.
Kentucky Supreme Court judge ruled that it was within the law for a white police officer to identify...
In this instance, the officer testified before the court that his experience with black males indicated an extreme likeness to that of the voice on the audio transmissions. The conviction was upheld by the judge who substantiated the claim of racial identification as nothing different from identifying a female's voice over a male (Johnson, 2007).
In sum, the occurrence of linguistic profiling can be utterly seen in many instances of assumption and stereotyping, and its ramifications can prove damagingly expansive. The awareness and affirmative regulation of such provocation is likely to ensue with as much publicity as the concepts of racial profiling altogether.
Bibliography
Paul McFedries and Logophilia Limited, Word Spy (June, 2002). Retrieved April 27, 2007, from the World Wide Web: http://www.wordspy.com/words/linguisticprofiling.asp
Rice, P. (2006). Linguistic profiling: The sound of your voice may determine if you get that apartment or not, Washington Univ. In St. Louis, News and Information, 18, 29-30.
Baugh Ph. D., J. (2007). Educational Address, retrieved April 27th, 2007, from the World Wide Web: http://artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/blurb/b_baugh.html
Purtell, J. (2005). The Race for the American Dream, (pp. 90-107) Wipf and Stock
Publications; Eugene, or.
Erard, Michael (2002). Language Matters; Michael Erard on the latest form of racial profiling: Can you be discriminated against because of the way you speak?, archive, July/August 2002.
Johnson, Patrice D. (2007). Guest commentator: The Black Commentator, retrieved April
28 th, 2007, from the World Wide Web: http://www.blackcommentator.com/linguistic_profiling.html
