I’ll be starting a series on racism tomorrow. Entries will come sporadically and will be found in the “Kingdom Living” and “Politics” categories. Just a quick note to build the need for the series, and to illustrate once again why it’s too difficult for me to flat-out say, “Dr. Paul stopped paying attention to his newsletter while racist comments went out in 16 of the issues between 1989-1993, and he’s taken full moral responsibility but won’t name the writer, so I’m certainly not voting for him.” Because from where I stand, he’s the only Republican candidate who will actually do anything about racism. Here’s a key point (from a 2005 study on drug use and prison population):
Recent data indicates that African Americans make up 15% of the country’s drug users, yet they comprise 37% of those arrested for drug violations, 59% of those convicted, and 74% of those sentenced to prison for a drug offense.
If that’s not evidence that racism is still a normal part of American life, I don’t know what is.
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Pauli 01.22.08 at 11:11 am
I won’t argue that racism exists, but here’s a possible explanation for more drug arrests. Basically it has to do with poverty which is caused primarily by fatherlessness and the breakdown of the family. Here’s my example.
In my old nabe in Cleveland I went to these “Crimewatch” meetings. The primary problem was drug dealing. Most of the customers were compariatively rich white guys driving in from the suburbs to buy. (I used to harrass these cats, but that’s another story.) When the dealers — pushers really, all black, many users — would get picked up there wasn’t also enough evidence to prove they were trying to make a deal. So these would get nailed on possession.
Ergo, my point: the pushers were pushing because they were poor, unskilled and needed a job. They were poor because they were from fatherless households, most lived in the horrible projects. The white addicts didn’t need to push and expose themselves that way, hence less arrests. Liberal Cleveland politics ironically kept the cops from getting aggressive enough on the white guys (undercover ops, etc.). Else they could have dried up that pocket.