Modern Day Slavery: Racism and the Drug War

[AmericanDrugWar]

YouTube Video

Slavery is defined as the act of keeping a person as a piece of property. If you ask the average American if slavery still exists in America, their answer is likely to be no. After watching this video, many will change their minds.

As the crack epidemic flooded inner cities across the country, in 1986 Reagan's "Anti-Drug Abuse Act" makes the penalty for crack possession a hundred times harsher than that of powder cocaine. The following year new legislation is passed allowing private corporations to own and operate prisons. Twenty years later over a million non-violent drug offenders are imprisoned while corporate stocks are traded based on how many prisoners are in the cages.

A report released in 2008 by the International Center for Prison Studies at King's College London states that the United States has the highest incarceration rate and most people behind bars per capita in the world. Over 50% of these people are imprisoned for drug crimes. At the same time, prescription drug companies account for over 50% of Fortune 500 profits. All illegal drugs combined kill approx 11K per year while cigarettes, alcohol and pharmaceutical kill almost a million. What's wrong with this picture?

[JaJae]

I can't watch the video at work, but I believe it's a bit unfair to assume racism here. In fact, I find it a bit racist in and of itself to assume that by cracking down on certain crimes the intent is to punish black people.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

Originally Posted by JaJae

In fact, I find it a bit racist in and of itself to assume that by cracking down on certain crimes the intent is to punish black people.

Of course, because criminals that happen to be black don't represent the law-abiding black community.

[WickedLou9]

Originally Posted by Schrödinger's Cat

Of course, because criminals that happen to be black don't represent the law-abiding black community.

I also think people get cause and effect wrong. We observe that there are more blacks in prison than there are blacks in the general population. People then conclude that the justice system is predjudiced and is incarcerating blacks because of some deep rooted racism inherent to the system.
This is my opinion, but I say that's a false assumption. You have to trace it back farther than that. Lets say for a minute that the people who are in prison, for the most part, deserve to be there. They have actually comitted crimes... What do these people have in common? Poverty. They aren't in prison because they are black, they are in prison because they are poor. If you look at the ethnic breakdown of those living in poverty it is overwhelmingly minority. So the commonality seems to be not race, but rather economic status. If you want to do something about the disparities in racial composition of our prison populations, do something about poverty.

[Charles Martel]

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

So the commonality seems to be not race, but rather economic status. If you want to do something about the disparities in racial composition of our prison populations, do something about poverty.

Look to the common denominator of black men in prison, do you have a clue what it is? It's growing up with a father not in the home. And THAT leads to circular poverty. You need to dig deeper than lib talking points.

[WickedLou9]

Originally Posted by Charles Martel

Look to the common denominator of black men in prison, do you have a clue what it is? It's growing up with a father not in the home. And THAT leads to circular poverty. You need to dig deeper than lib talking points.

I'm sure that single parents who work all the time don't help the situation, but I know plenty of single parents who aren't poor and they don't live in the same conditions and they don't deal with crime like those who live in poverty. Single parents are not peculiar to poor and minority groups.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

Lou, I definitely think that economics are a factor, but so is culture, in my opinion. It is detrimental to the situation when you have a subculture that glorifies criminal activity and fosters willingness to engage in crime. It is not only blacks that fall victim to this.

[AmericanDrugWar]

Originally Posted by JaJae

I can't watch the video at work, but I believe it's a bit unfair to assume

Good call...

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by AmericanDrugWar

Good call...

I went off your opinions and summary. Since then I have watched the video and my opinion still stands. I think it's a bit absurd to assume that by cracking down on drugs it's somehow a racist act. There is a lot of crime in our society related to drugs. Since the War on Drugs has started our crime rates have declined significantly while crime in Europe has gone up.

[AmericanDrugWar]

Originally Posted by JaJae

Since the War on Drugs has started our crime rates have declined significantly while crime in Europe has gone up.

Yeah, and monkeys are flying out of my...

[WickedLou9]

Originally Posted by JaJae

I went off your opinions and summary. Since then I have watched the video and my opinion still stands. I think it's a bit absurd to assume that by cracking down on drugs it's somehow a racist act. There is a lot of crime in our society related to drugs. Since the War on Drugs has started our crime rates have declined significantly while crime in Europe has gone up.

I call shenanigans.

[Smull]

Crime has definitely dropped since the mid-late 80s when the drug war started, though i believe that the crime actually dropped off in the early-mid 90s. And its very much disputed as to exactly WHY crime rates dropped. (for example the book "Freakanomics" makes a case that the legalization of abortion about 20 years earlier contributed significantly to the drop in the crime wave)

I personally think the strongest argument for ending the drug war is just basic morality. The government simply shouldn't be able to tell you what you can and can't do to your own body. However I realize thats a very libertarian view point and wont be accepted by the general electorate anytime soon.

[AmericanDrugWar]

Originally Posted by Smull

Crime has definitely dropped since the mid-late 80s when the drug war started, though i believe that the crime actually dropped off in the early-mid 90s. And its very much disputed as to exactly WHY crime rates dropped.

The drug war was started by Nixon in 1971. According to the Department of Justice, crime rates began to drop in the early to mid 90's: Bureau of Justice Statistics Four Measures of Serious Violent Crime

However, those rates only cover violent crimes and not non-violent drug related crimes, which have been on a steady rise: Drug War Facts: Crime

Also according to the Department of Justice, incarceration rates have skyrocketed year after year for both violent and non-violent crimes: Bureau of Justice Statistics Correctional Population Trends by Offense

In fact, the US currently has the highest incarceration rate per capita of any country in the world: Prison Population Around the Globe - The New York Times

Since the War on Drugs began, the availability of illegal drugs has gone up while their cost has gone down and year after year there are more drugs and more people going to prison for using and selling them. Yet a legal drug company can run a commercial for their magic new pill that will make you happy - just tell your doctor you need it and he'll give it to you, ten more prescriptions and he gets a free cruise from the drug company. Don't worry if the drug hasn't had sufficient testing, we'll find out if there are any problems at some point.

Go to any bar across America any night of the week and you'll find people leaving and driving drunk - no one's about to ban alcohol. It's pure hypocrisy.

And yes, racism is rampant in the drug war:
Drug War Facts: Race, Prison, and the Drug Laws
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2000/06/08/usdom595.htm