Darren Martin is a former Obama White House legislative affairs aide and Capitol Hill staffer, working on issues affecting black men and boys. Follow him @MartinDarrenD. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

(CNN) In recent weeks, Americans have read headline after headline chronicling near daily accounts of racism -- from a public figure's racist tweet toward a former Obama administration official to the profiling of black Americans as they engage in ordinary activities like barbecuing and napping.

Since this American problem is once again part of the national discourse, Congress has a responsibility to convene a formal hearing about profiling by private citizens and their prolific use of public resources like 911 against black Americans. It must then consider legislation that produces real solutions.

Darren Martin

As someone who has experienced this firsthand, I feel obligated to help lead that charge. I recently moved back to my hometown of New York after working in both the Obama White House and on Capitol Hill. Halfway through my move to the top of a fifth-floor walkup, I was confronted in the cramped lobby by half a dozen police officers searching for an armed burglar.

I, the "suspect," was interrogated and, unable to procure my license or lease on the spot, stood powerless -- my agency and estate snatched away from me. Of course, I wasn't armed, nor was I a burglar. But something about my presence in that space moved the caller to suspicion and dangerously beyond, with the egregious assertion that I was armed.

My only crime, however, is being a black man in America.

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