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OK ... I'm just going to jump in here at this point ...not to single you out particularly, but I swear, the level of cognitive dissonance demonstrated in these posts is astounding. Anyone remotely familiar with the reality inside poor communities, and the affects of drugs, ought not to even ask such stupid questions.
I would first qualify my following remarks with the caveat that in general principle, I am not in favor of drug laws, and particularly so when it comes to simple possession of such substances like marijuana, and cocaine. However, due to the nature and results of such addiction to drugs like heroin and crack cocaine and meth, there needs to be harsh laws discouraging both the distribution and use of these drugs, precisely because of the impact and consequences of the sale and use of these substances. The truth is, the vast majority of the users are low/no income which results in these addicts resorting to other criminal activity such as robbery and burglary to fund their habits. On the distribution side, there is a significant element of violence and murder associated with transportation and distribution of these drugs. That's just a reality, and it is preposterous to claim that black men are being unfairly targeted for prosecution based on racial bias. Those that are engaged in the trafficking and use of these very harmful substances are indeed engaging in criminal conduct, pure and simple, and should be prosecuted, regardless of the color of their skin.
The real underlying truth is, while it is true that this prosecution of drug law violations most often occur in economically disadvantaged inner city areas populated by a mostly black and hispanic majority, the decision to do so is NOT based on racial bias, but on actual impact of the drug culture within these poorer communities, where the aforementioned crime associated with the sale and purchase of these drugs are most prevalent, leading to this perception that minorities are being targeted unfairly based on race. By the same measure, it is true that less prosecution occurs involving upscale addicts in higher income communities who may be predominantly white (yes there is a significant amount of middle and upper middle class drug addicts) are not prosecuted to the same volume and extent as the poorer black and hispanic addicts. But this is not about white people receiving preferential treatment based on skin color, but about the overall impact and results of their cycle of addiction within their communities, compared to the poor addict. The functional addict in the upscale community generally have incomes generated in lawful ways to fund their addiction, so they are not out stealing cars and burglarizing homes and robbing convenience stores to fund their habits, consequently, they pose less of an impact and threat to their communities than the poorer addicts who DO resort to those other crimes to fund their addictions.
Of course, it is so much easier to simply claim racism, and so much more popular ... but in this particular case, the argument is just false. The choice to prosecute drug law violations is a response to the real impact of this illegal activity, which isn't just about someone getting high ... but about what these addicts do in order to facilitate their addiction. And it does everyone a disservice to misidentify the real problem by taking the easy way out. The only way we can hope to solve any problem is to first properly identify the underlying cause, rather than blame the symptom or the result on some ghost, or false culprit.
The real problem is economic in nature, both at the high end, where the global drug trade generates hundreds of Billions annually, and low end, where the target of exploitation is s vulnerable. These high crime/high drug abuse areas are economically disadvantaged, where the inhabitants are stuck in a cycle of poverty, with little hope of extricating themselves, and therefore resort to criminal activity for lack of lawful opportunities to generate livable incomes. This makes them the target of this exploitation. The associated culture of drug usage is both a psychological escape for the addict, and an economic opportunity for those low level distributors of the drugs to support the addiction. Prosecuting them and locking them up is treating the symptom rather than the disease .... nevertheless ... the police and prosecutors have no way of treating the real disease which will require a massive restructuring of economic policy that is unfortunately in the hands of high level criminals who have no desire or inclination to make such change ... so the police and courts continue the failed policy of which they have no other alternative. An analogy might be that while the fire department and firemen are totally consumed with the task of putting out raging fires, the only way to fix the problem is to discover the cause of these fires and to fix that. But due to the fact that the fire department can only put out the fires, someone else needs to address the cause of them.
Of course, the true nature of the problem is far more complex than most people can begin to understand, because few realize that the guilt rests at the very top who facilitate the flow of large volumes of drugs being pumped into these poor communities ... from the DEA & CIA, to the large banks who have been caught red handed laundering hundreds of Billions in drug money. Drugs are in fact a huge and very profitable enterprise for very powerful and wealthy people, who just so happen to also hold power over the the entities responsible for combating drug trafficking. In other words, criminal activity at the very top is ultimately responsible for facilitating the flow of these drugs which are devastating these affected communities. These entities also profit from the resource expenditures in law enforcement AND the massive incarceration rates associated. Private prisons make certain individuals very wealthy, which ensures that NO action will be taken to reduce the flow of new inmates fueling this secondary source of great wealth by a select powerful group affiliated.
As is true for almost everything ... follow the money ... that's where the problem lies. And I'm not talking about the average street pusher selling these drugs ... that's chump change compared to the hundreds of billions being made in the global drug trade, and it's associated industries in law enforcement, prosecution, and incarceration.
This is the reality that exists which supports the idea that legalizing all drugs may be the only solution. Not that one believes that these drugs aren't dangerous or leads to lots of unwanted misery ... but because it is the prohibition of these drugs that allow for this powerful black market to exist and flourish. By removing the massive profits this huge black market enjoys by means of legalization would no doubt have unwanted consequences of it's own, but the destruction of this black market has to be the first step in any possible solution. The head of this snake must be cut off first, rather than continuing to chase the snake's tail as we are doing now. There is no possible hope of fixing the drug problem, until you stop the flow at the source, and address the economic issues which facilitate this drug market at both the high end source and low end distribution and usage.
Wanted to say that I agree with the majority of your post except the bolded portion. The majority of drug users in this country are white and do not live in black and Hispanic neighborhoods, yet those white people will come to black and Hispanic neighborhoods to buy these drugs. Why is it that drugs are in primarily black and Hispanic neighborhoods when we aren't the primary users? I have always wondered this and there is evidence of the CIA sending drugs into black communities and evidence that police in particular areas place less of a priority on black or Hispanic neighborhoods than white, middle and upper income neighborhoods.
I am black and I actually do live in a neighborhood known in my metro to be the destination to score heroine. We have many white people come over here and get high and walk around like zombies. One even got in his car and totaled my husband's car when his car was parked in front of our house. Luckily a lot of people on the street ran the guy down, as he tried to do a hit and run but he was obviously high, he was nodding off. When my husband asked if the police officer was going to do a sobriety test, the officer got testy with my husband - a homeowner in a black, lower income neighborhood whose car (his dream car BTW) had been destroyed. The officer threatened to arrest my husband for telling him "how to do his job." He let the white guy (whose address was an upper income suburban address) drive off, still nodding off on heroine. The guy was driving his mom's car, she paid everything to take care of the accident and this guy did not have to have a scratch on his criminal record over this even though he was obviously high.
This sort of situation would not have occurred in that guy's neighborhood with a black guy nodding off after totaling a parked car. The black guy would have been arrested. Plenty of white people contribute to the crime in black/Hispanic neighborhoods. And plenty of the white people who buy drugs in my neighborhood go home and cause a ruckus in their own neighborhoods. It is just that a lot of family/friends of white drug addicts will cover for them and more importantly, they have the money to pay off someone or pay a lawyer to get them off or Mommy and Daddy will send them again and again to drug rehab in order to get them to start acting right.
Heroine is an expensive drug. Many poor black and Hispanic drug addicts cannot afford it so use other drugs to get high. Upper and middle income white people are more likely to be hooked on it. They are also more likely to be treated favorably by police and our criminal justice system.
In my neighborhood, the people committing crimes are usually not drug addicts. Usually it is random teenagers or drug dealers fighting over corners and customers. Most drug addicts steal from their own family moreso than other people if they steal and this is true of white drug addicts from middle class homes as well.
Some may think it is crazy, but I truly do think that white people are less likely to call the police on a relative when that relative steals from them, especially if it is a child of theirs. Black people are more likely to report that crime even though, for some reason, others think that black people don't call the police. I have known black moms and grandmas call the police on their children/grandchildren. I have also worked in the financial sector and have counseled white families, dealing with drug addict children, to make police reports after the kids have cleaned out their bank accounts and was told on many occasions that they would just have to borrow some money (quite of few of these families were severely in the red after this happened and in tears with me about not having any money, owing thousands of dollars in overdrafts fees to our bank, and not wanting to get their kid in trouble with the law) and make do because they didn't want their kid to go to jail, even if it meant that the bank would refund all of their money and take away all of the associated overdraft fees. So white people cover it up more IMO.
Also the police do not stop the white addicts as often and find something to arrest them for as was the case of the guy who totaled my husband's car. I have seen black drug addicts arrested after walking down the street, minding their own business just because the police "suspects" them of something and then pats them down and finds some drugs. If the police wanted to arrest white addicts, they could just pull them over and state they suspect them of a crime and find the drugs on them in higher numbers. They don't because whites aren't "suspicious" enough unless they are tatted up, or goth looking, or are missing teeth, or are driving a beat up car, or exhibit some characteristic as a drug addict. And the police are also afraid that they will incur the wrath of the drug addicts family if they are in an expensive car or have an address on their license in an upscale neighborhood. Black people are not as educated on their rights and are much more afraid of the police due to the history of police brutality in our country. Similar to what occurred with my husband, if we speak up, we are threatened with arrest and most of the time are arrested for "being mouthy." This has happened to many people I know, including my husband, which is why he shut up and just stewed in his anger at that moment because he didn't want to go to jail and then file complaints, which is what we have done in similar situations at least 5 times that I remember.
Even though you don't want to admit it, blacks are always viewed as being suspects. I have been pulled over and asked if I had drugs even though I have never used drugs in my life and black people are less likely overall to be drug addicts. It would make sense to target white users. If they weren't buying, the black and Hispanic neighborhoods wouldn't have drug dealers to deal with and the crime that they bring. Getting the police to pull over white addicts is something that many people in my neighborhood push our local police to do. Take away the clients and the dealers will go away too.
See, that's offensive to me. You assume that all white people bash black people. And why do some black people think you're acting white if you speak properly? I see people like James Earl Jones, Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashad, and Debbie Allen speaking very proper English, and no one thinks they're acting white. Is it just the younger generation?
Umm.....I was not assuming anything. I don't really see how you got that I was assuming that all white people bash black people from my post. I was saying the "you act white" or "you are the whitest black guy" I've seen comes across as offensive to me b/c to me it's like you are saying "you want to be white" or "you don't like your own race". I was saying the only time comments such as that should be used is when a black person really IS self-hating or bashing their own race (I put the "acting white" in quotes to emphasize", b/c I hardly consider myself someone that "acts white" (i.e. I'm not trying to be white). My post had nothing to do w/ whites bashing blacks.
Last edited by pandorafan5687; 08-22-2013 at 09:37 PM..
What is it about laws prohibiting the sale of crack cocaine that you find "unjust and immoral"?
Just the part where the same amount of powder cocaine gets you considerably less time. Only in the American Judical system where you can add something legal to an illegal drug and get more time than not doing it at all
I think this quote needs to be looked at in a different way. As a teacher, when a child fails my class, I can say to that child "You failed this class" or I can say to them "You are a failure". The two things seem to say the same thing, yet they really don't. One implies a bad act, the other implies a bad person. And that is an issue in our society. At what point do we label a person a criminal? Too often with young black males it is when they make their first mistake. Instead of them being viewed as a kid, who made a mistake that needs to be worked with, we label them as a hoodrat destined to be a criminal - and then they live up to that label.
Actually you have some of it correct but you missed the part where the actions of a few blacks represent all blacks and white criminality is considered to be an individual situation
Actually, most people buy drugs in their own communities. The drug selling rate is equivalent across groups. There is no rash of white people going to the hood to buy drugs. The problem is that law enforcement turns a blind eye to other groups.
Race has been and remains inextricably involved in drug law enforcement, shaping the public perception of and response to the drug problem.[16] A recent study in Seattle is illustrative. Although the majority of those who shared, sold, or transferred serious drugs[17] in Seattle are white (indeed seventy percent of the general Seattle population is white), almost two-thirds (64.2%) of drug arrestees are black. The racially disproportionate drug arrests result from the police department's emphasis on the outdoor drug market in the racially diverse downtown area of the city, its lack of attention to other outdoor markets that are predominantly white, and its emphasis on crack. Three-quarters of the drug arrests were crack-related even though only an estimated one-third of the city's drug transactions involved crack.[18] Whites constitute the majority of those who deliver methamphetamine, ecstasy, powder cocaine, and heroin in Seattle; blacks are the majority of those who deliver crack. Not surprisingly then, seventy-nine percent of those arrested on crack charges were black.[19] The researchers could not find a "racially neutral" explanation for the police prioritization of the downtown drug markets and crack. The focus on crack offenders, for example, did not appear to be a function of the frequency of crack transactions compared to other drugs, public safety or public health concerns, crime rates, or citizen complaints. The researchers ultimately concluded that the Seattle Police Department's drug law enforcement efforts reflect implicit racial bias: the unconscious impact of race on official perceptions of who and what constitutes Seattle's drug problem
blacks are 17% of the population but they do 70% of the crime so how is racial profile a bad thing, they are doing all the crime. But i don't blame blackness for it, I blame lack of education. everything they have complained about they have brought on to themselves.
as far as war on drugs, we all know its a federal fund to put more people on the government payroll. if they actual won the war we would have to lay off cops. can't have that
as far as drug users, don't have no use for them, lock them up for life, even the saturday night wacky weed smoker
Whites commit crimes but blacks are criminals?
Tell that to the mom who saw her baby shot in the head by a black person.
Tell her the person who murdered her baby in cold blood in front of her eyes was not a criminal.
blacks are 17% of the population but they do 70% of the crime so how is racial profile a bad thing, they are doing all the crime. But i don't blame blackness for it, I blame lack of education. everything they have complained about they have brought on to themselves.
as far as war on drugs, we all know its a federal fund to put more people on the government payroll. if they actual won the war we would have to lay off cops. can't have that
as far as drug users, don't have no use for them, lock them up for life, even the saturday night wacky weed smoker
You do realize violent crime in the US has been dropping and as at its lowest levels in decades. And about 65% if people in jail and the criminal justice system have not committed violent crimes at all. Most crimes are low level drug crimes.
And lets not forget that a white felon has better job prospects than a non-felon black man.
"Whites Commit Crimes, but Black Males are Crimminals."
Only social justice can distort logic and statistics and come up with that statement. Spoken like a true disciple of a community organizer.
Keep the divide alive and growing as your main focus, while you use those, you pretend to help, to further your agenda.
You are so right.
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