Last month, the U.S. Embassy issued a warning to its citizens about suspected “racial profiling incidents.” However, there had already been heavy discussion of the subject in the international community for years.
In fact, Black Eye spoke to Baltimore native Jesse Freeman, a filmmaker and ikebana (flower arrangement) artist, of his experience being regularly stopped and frisked by police due to what he believed was his skin color. So what took the community by surprise was the fact the embassy issued a statement on such profiling, not that it was happening.
The Tokyo Bar Association’s Committee on Protection of Foreigners’ Human Rights wants to better understand the situation regarding racial profiling by police in Japan. It has launched a survey and is asking those who believe they have been the target of profiling — or their family or friends — to take a moment and fill out the survey in order to get a clearer picture of what is going on.