A fundamental question has gone mostly unasked and unanswered in the current debate in New Jersey over the practice of racial profiling: how did it begin? While racism has historically been a problem in law enforcement, it's insufficient as an explanation for the breadth and depth of this police practice.
Racial profiling is a direct outgrowth of the government's failed and unconstitutional War on Drugs. The pretext for stopping motorists is to search for drugs. The pretext for stopping African-Americans is because they supposedly fit a profile of drug users and dealers.
Motorists are not stopped because of something they did, such as careless driving, but for the mere possibility they might be engaging in something the government has banned. It's encouraged by the economic windfall the government receives through equally bad practices such as asset forfeiture. There literally is an economic incentive for the police to harass peaceful citizens going about their private business.
The War on Drugs has spawned a massive bureaucracy that devours our tax dollars. Constitutional rights and individual freedom are of no concern to those who profit from this latter-day form of Prohibition. And giving the government draconian powers to fight drugs has created a grave danger. How will these powers be applied next? Against pornography? Alcohol? Tobacco? Guns? Free speech? Perhaps these powers are currently being used to fight something you dislike. But tomorrow they can be used against something you do like, or against you directly.
There is no security in a government grown fat on tax dollars and armed with the power to abuse citizens who may have not even made an improper lane change while driving down the highway. To truly end the offensive practice of racial profiling we must end the truly illegal War on Drugs.
To learn more about the War on drugs contact the Libertarian Party.