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There's a book out by Michelle Alexander stating that the War On Drugs was in 1982 a political strategy by Republicans in general and the Ronald Reagan administration in particular to garner public support at he expense of blacks. Today the drug laws, and law enforcement's pursuit of primary black suspects, makes for what is essentially a new Jim Crow. YouTube - Michelle Alexander on "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness"
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,763,471 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GalileoSmith
There's a book out by Michelle Alexander stating that the War On Drugs was in 1982 a political strategy by Republicans in general and the Ronald Reagan administration in particular to garner public support at he expense of blacks. Today the drug laws, and law enforcement's pursuit of primary black suspects, makes for what is essentially a new Jim Crow. YouTube - Michelle Alexander on "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness"
This ought to be worth a few posts.
The War On Drugs has always been a war on poor blacks. Especially poor black males. White people almost never go to jail for drugs. Blacks almost alwaysdo go to jail for even the smallest amount of drugs. Watch the reality cop shows. You will see the cops pull over nice cars with whites in them who have marijuana or even meth and all the cop does is give them a summons to come to court and pay a fine. Then they pull some black guy over who has a marijuana butt in his car and the he is in cuffs and on his way to jail on a felony drug charge and his car is on the way to the Sheriff's auction. That is the way the system works and that is the way it was designed to work. It is designed to destroy the black male. Even if the black does not go to prison for the marijuana butt (and many do), he is forever branded with a felony record which means he cannot get most jobs, vote or go to college. So either way- prison or not- he is forever destroyed.
Statistically, blacks have a higher rate of murder. Is the War on Murder racist? This is what is wrong with America. Rather than search for real solutions (how to get people off drugs, building better communities by driving down crime) we cry "racism!" rather than try to solve the problem.
I don't know about this, a lot of it seems like speculation without any evidence to back it up. She acts like the crack epidemic was some sort of made up news story to scare white people into voting Republican. The truth is, it did happen, and it was pretty bad. The government had to do something about it. She also talks about felons losing the right to vote, but that's universal. You commit a felony, that's what happens, regardless of race.
Statistically, blacks have a higher rate of murder. Is the War on Murder racist? This is what is wrong with America. Rather than search for real solutions (how to get people off drugs, building better communities by driving down crime) we cry "racism!" rather than try to solve the problem.
Actually ive heard that claim, they only go after black murderers not white.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,763,471 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nva79
Statistically, blacks have a higher rate of murder. Is the War on Murder racist? This is what is wrong with America. Rather than search for real solutions (how to get people off drugs, building better communities by driving down crime) we cry "racism!" rather than try to solve the problem.
I don't cry racism unless there is compelling evidence of it. And in the case of the war on drugs there is compelling evidence of it. The huge disparity in sentences- especially for marijuana- cannot be explained any other way.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,763,471 times
Reputation: 3587
Quote:
Originally Posted by BX-ALBO
Actually ive heard that claim, they only go after black murderers not white.
Don't be silly. They go after BOTH but the fact is that white murders almost never get the death penalty while black ones do. And there is even greater disparity between "life with parole" and "life without parole" sentences. I can show you case after case. When I was a teenager we had a neighbour that killed 4 people in cold blood. He was mean as a snake. But because he is white he got "life with parole". I don't know if he has got or will ever get parole but the fact is that if James Edward Bell were a black man, he would not even be up for parole and probably in the death chamber by now.
I live in Ohio and she has been on the local NPR station twice within about a month. I thought, Now here's something that those clowns at City-Data can bat around.
Anyway, this War On Drugs is supposedly something that Reagan created for political purposes. That's what Michelle Alexander says. I gave it some initial thought and I thought that there might be something to it. Then I thought that there's been "war" on various other unpopular things in society. There's was once a war on booze that turned in to Prohibition. So I'm sort of back-and-forth on it as far as whether the War on Drugs has been intentionally aimed at blacks.
She has talked about how a felony conviction basically ruins a persons life. According to the author, felons can't get food stamps, or various types of public housing, and they can be rejected for employment based on their felony conviction. If this is true, and I'm going to assume her facts are correct, then the post-incarceration penalty for felons is too extreme. This is for all felons however, and not just those convicted for drug offenses. It reminds me somewhat of the debate about sexual predators getting labeled for life no matter what the specific wrongdoing might have been.
As for drug offenses, I have a tough time feeling sympathetic for a person who breaks the law while knowing the consequences that he might face. Whether the post-incarceration penalties are too severe or not. Sort of like a heavy smoker who gets cancer; he knew the possible consequences.
I'm always amazed by a demographic that complains because too many of their law-breakers are being arrested. Get this; I want cops to arrested more white drug offenders. As a law-abiding white guy who lives and travels in predominately white areas, I want the area drug offenders to be apprehended. Actually, I've been saying that for several years. When I go to the grocery store on a late night toilet paper run, I don't want to run into a drug deal taking place in a parking lot. And I don't want to be robbed for drug money. If that means arresting white guys, then by all means do it. If that means "my race" has a higher percentage of the prison population, so be it. I'm all for it.
Finally Michelle Alexander has stated that the drug problem is not a problem for law enforcement, it's a problem for health officials. The first thing that came to my mind was that if Michelle Alexander is right, then drunk driving has to be a health issue too. And I'm not sure I'd want to stand in front of the women of MADD and express that sentiment.
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