Most of the blame to racial profiling can be put on the so-called "war on drugs". This war on drugs gave police a pretext to target people who they think fit the description of a drug courier or gang member. This war was officially declared in 1982 when President Ronald Reagan established the Task Force on Crime in South Florida. The mission of the task force was to intensify air and sea operations against drug smuggling in the South Florida area, but it was not long before the Florida Highway Patrol got involved. In 1985 they issued guidelines for the police on the common characteristics of drug couriers. The guide

I feel the same way. I can't trust a police officer no matter what the situation calls for. Its attitudes like the one I have, that make our country unfair. I shouldn't view the police as the enemy but I do. Maybe if they treated me as an equal person I would look at them differently. Since they don't, I will never get the feeling of being safe.

Since police look for drugs primarily among Blacks and Latinos, they find a disproportionate amount of them with contraband. Therefore, more minorities are arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and jailed, reinforcing the perception that drug trafficking is primarily a minority activity. This perception creates the profile that results in more stops of minority drivers. At the same time, white drivers receive far less police attention and many of the drug dealers and possessors among them go unnoticed. That furthers the perception that whites commit fewer drug offenses than minorities. This is completely unfair and is why we need to stop racial profiling. No one should have to drive with fears of being stopped by the police. If this country is ever going to fulfill its goal of being equal, racial profiling is going to have to stop. I want to be able to go about my life without having the fears of being violated. There aren't many minorities that I know that don't have some sort of story about how they thought their life was on the line when dealing with the police.

Perhaps the personal cost taken from racially biased traffic stops is clearest in the instructions given by minority parents to their children on how to behave if they are stopped by police, regardless of economic background.

"When I see cops today, I don't feel like I'm protected. I'm thinking, 'Oh shoot, are they gonna pull me over, are they gonna stop me?' That's my reaction. I don't feel safe around cops." (Emmanuel)

I myself have been a victim of racial profiling. I can't remember an another time when I felt more humiliated. The impact of this incident changed me forever. This disturbing act occurred when I lived in New Orleans. I was only fifteen years old. I was in a basketball league with my brother and two black friends. We played every Sunday afternoon, always took the same route, and ate at Popeye's afterwards. That would change soon enough after this disturbing event.

In the spring of 1986, exaggerated press accounts of inner-city crack use brought a period of intense public concern about illegal drugs and helped reinforce the impression that drug use was primarily a minority problem. Enforcement of the nation's drug laws at the street level focused more and more on poor minority communities of color. Many cities initiated major law enforcement programs to deal with street level drug dealing. Operation Pressure Point in New York, Operation Invincible in Memphis, Operation Clean Sweep in Chicago, Operation Hammer in Los Angeles, and Operation Red Dog in Atlanta all targeted poor, minority, urban neighborhoods. This shows that our country believes that most of the drug use in America is done by poor minoriti

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Approximate Word count = 2084
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