Racism is alive and well in our judicial system

[marym625]

Although blacks and whites do the same amount of illegal drugs, blacks are convicted 4x more often. And once convicted, their sentences are 20% longer than whites convicted of the same crime.

What boggles my mind is that anyone can pretend we are not a racists society. This isn't something that just happens in the South. Doesn't matter where you are, racism is alive and well in the good old US of A.

This is most obvious and certainly most provable, in law enforcement and judicial systems. Law and order my ass.

How is it that anyone defends this? How do we keep having to deal with such blatant racism? Do some people not understand that this effects them all of us? And even if it didn't, how can people not care how fellow human beings are treated?

Part of the problem is the privatization of prisons. Why is it that people can actually make money off of people in prison? How did we allow this to happen?

A little clip from Lee Camp's Redacted Tonight

What The Prison Industrial Complex Can Do For YOU!:

[etherealtruth]

1. k and R

[marym625]

2. Thanks!

[jwirr]

3. Part of this is the stop and frisk that cops do with black people. If you are going to be stopped

more then you will probably have a higher rate of arrests. If they bothered to stop the whites or stop the number of black stops they do it would probably all be even.

[marym625]

4. Not when you factor in sentence length

Once convicted, frisked or not, the sentence is longer for blacks than whites.

I assume you are talking about just being arrested? I don't know that would be true. I believe (have no statistics) that whites with smaller amounts of drugs would be more likely to get off with a warning.

[jwirr]

5. I did not see that angle.

[etherealtruth]

6. When It Comes To Illegal Drug Use, White America Does The Crime, Black America Gets The Time

When It Comes To Illegal Drug Use, White America Does The Crime, Black America Gets The Time

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/17/racial-disparity-drug-use_n_3941346.html
White Americans are more likely than black Americans to have used most kinds of illegal drugs, including cocaine, marijuana and LSD. Yet blacks are far more likely to go to prison for drug offenses.

This discrepancy forms the backdrop of a new legislative proposal in California, which aims to reduce the disproportionate incarceration of black people in the state. Supporters of the bill, SB 649, point to some striking national data.

Nearly 20 percent of whites have used cocaine, compared with 10 percent of blacks and Latinos, according to a 2011 survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration -- the most recent data available.

[marym625]

7. Thanks for the link

Wasn't aware of the California bill.

There doesn't seem to be any level of any action in this country that isn't filled with racism. It is becoming more blatant and the acceptance and excuses for it are astounding.

The fact we have so very much wrong with this country at this moment and choose to fight things outside this country, instead of dealing with our own demons, amazes me. And it will be our downfall.