The Obama administration recently released expanded profiling restrictions for federal law enforcement agencies. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

A useful tool

Profiling has been an effective law enforcement tool. Ask the Italians or Irish what they went through when authorities were trying to bring down mobs.

People are not being profiled because of their race. They are being profiled because their race has an unusually high incidence of committing crimes in a geographic area.

— Rich Farrell

There has to be a middle ground between law enforcers who are blinded by prejudice and those who ignore observations and experience.

— WRay Tew

Stop police bias

When the police and so-called good Americans stop dehumanizing their fellow man, the protests sparked by the grand jury decisions in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y., such as the Justice for All march on Saturday, will cease.

— Jo White

Many uninformed and privileged Americans refuse to open their eyes. Guess what? This issue isn't going away. I hope people protest every day until we see justice. All life matters.

— Shad Fred-Hampton El-Savor

Work to solve problem

The protests are about standing up against wrongful use of force. Replace Eric Garner with your sister or brother and ask yourself how you would feel. So many people are more concerned about the color of someone's skin than coming together on issues that we all share.

— Rayna Jeniece Epps

Don't protest, then go home and do nothing. Vote. Communicate with elected officials. Help locals join law enforcement.

— Dave Cawdell

Letters to the editor:

I fear that as members of the human race who are subject to our evolutionary past, an innate mistrust, suspicion and even fear of those who seem different from us will prevail.

In the early days of humanity, existential threats abounded, and paying attention to those not part of one's immediate clan was life preserving. Yes, these ancient threats are gone, but the trace of them on our brains remains. These instincts drive prejudicial feelings toward those who look different from us.

The solution is education and allowing ourselves to make friends with these other people. However, I'm afraid instincts will stubbornly remain for many generations.

Ken Derow; Swarthmore, Pa.

There seems to be a great deal of finger-pointing insofar as the interactions between the police and the people with whom they seek to have a dialogue.

The simple fact is that none of these deaths would have occurred if the individuals had merely followed the normal, common-sense procedure of complying with police requests.

Ultimately, we are responsible for our own actions. Do as a proper authority requests, and no one dies.

Jim Murphy; Germantown, Tenn.