RACIAL PROFILING: LAW ENFORCEMENT'S SELECTIVE DRUG WAR

It is not surprising that African-American women are disproportionately
singled out for strip searches at airports. Nor is it remarkable that these
searches are not justified by higher rates of contraband seizures.

The drug war is arguably waged in a racist manner, with blacks bearing the
brunt of zero-tolerance law enforcement efforts. Although only 11 percent of
the nation's drug users are black, blacks account for 37 percent of those
arrested for drug violations, more than 42 percent of those in federal
prisons for drug violations, and almost 60 percent of those in state prisons
for drug felonies. Minorities are fueling the burgeoning for-profit prison
system.

Support for the failed drug war would end overnight if whites were subjected
to airport strip searches and imprisoned at the same rates as their
African-American counterparts.

Sharpe is a graduate student at George Washington University in Washington.