"Unlike most other criminal or legal requirements or laws in this country, [traffic stops] are totally discretionary," Wilkerson said.

Cochran said he believes the problem of racial profiling has become engrained in society, lowering the quality of life for many African Americans.

"If you are a person of color, you know exactly what I am talking about," he said. "What it means to go into a department store, and have someone follow you around, what it means to go into a neighborhood and to be treated differently because of the color of your skin."

Cochran said blacks find it difficult to trust police officers out of fear.

"If you live in the black community, you don't know whether to fear the cops or the robbers, or both," he said.

He cited many cases of racial profiling, including the case of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant who was shot at 41 times in the vestibule of his own apartment building in February 1999.

"He was in the vestibule of his own home…but because he was black, he was profiled," Cochran said. "So they stop him and they shoot first and ask questions later."