Is there a better term?

[Duane Campbell]

Is there a more useful term for racial profiling?
There are certain phrases that shut down rational debate. Say Big
Business to a liberal or Socialist to a conservative and images are
dredged up in their minds that hampers rational discussion. "Racial
profiling" is one of those phrases, to a great extent because of excesses
of our law enforcement community which have nothing to do with our
present situation.
On the other hand, we know very well that there are people out to kill
Americans, and we know that these people are, almost without exception,
people in a small age range, of a certain religion, and from identifiable
countries. Isn't it just common sense to take more care with people
arriving in the United States who fit these parameters than, say, an
elderly woman from Norway?
There is a huge debate now, because of the words used, on what seems to
me to be a pretty straightforward matter . Might the careful
consideration of people in a small cohort better be called something else
that would not automatically call up memories of injustices to an
entirely different group of people.

D