Do you think this is why more Blacks are in prison for drugs???

[wndycty]

They set up the cameras in a Black community and bust people for drug crimes. I wonder how many whites they would catch doing drugs if these cameras were in their communities. I am really bothered by this. . .I thought the cameras were to make us safer, not just catch Black drug users. Just an FYI . . .I looked at his mugshot in the paper and yes he is Black.

Camera's first catch gets felony drug charge

August 12, 2003

BY FRANK MAIN Crime Reporter

As Marcus D. Jackson smoked dope in a blue Chevy Caprice, he had no idea anyone was watching, police say.

But about a block away, officers were monitoring his every move on a surveillance camera set up at Augusta and Pulaski to target crimes both serious and minor that bring down the neighborhood's quality of life.

When they swooped in and arrested Jackson, the officers allegedly found $20 worth of pot and Ecstasy, a so-called "club drug," valued at $60.
-snip-

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-camera12.html

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. one down...

45 million to go...

:eyes:

[Randi_Listener]

2. Blacks and drugs

One reason is that crack cocaine carries a stiffer sentance than powder cocaine. Another is that poverty usually means a person is more likely to commit criminal activity. I'm sure others can add more reasons. I don't think cameras will add a tremendous amount of covicts to the prison systems.

[wndycty]

3. Think about it. . .

Drugs are illegal, both Blacks and whites use them, it is even believe more whites than Blacks, but Black people go to jail for them.

I actually have no problems with this arrest per se, but I do have a problem that when people of both races break the law, Blacks are more likely to get caught. If law enforcement was fair then more whites would be arrested for drug crimes.

[cjbuchanan]

4. I think this is one of the reasons

What an ugly truth this story unveils.

[chiburb]

5. See this thread from LBN this morning...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=62682

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

6. the point of the drug war is to keep black people from voting

As soon as they can get a black man convicted of a felony for a drug crime, he loses his right to vote. Isn't this the same reason that black neighborhoods were flooded with high powered weapons during the 1980s as well? The drug war is just another variation of Jim Crow.

[Bandit]

16. You are exactly right

And that is why crack was invented by the Reagan Bush Administration and flooded into Watts during early eighties. It was to fund the Contra war and disenfranchise Blacks. It was Very successful if I may say so myself. Drug War is in reality a war on Blacks.

[JVS]

7. Wealth allows you to hide your drug consumption

In a poor neighborhood on a hot night people will sit and have some cold ones on the front stoop or porch. In a wealthier suburb they'll stay in the airconditioned TV room or go out on the back deck. Or if you are really rich you go on a 35 day bender in Crawford Texas. Money buys privacy.

[wndycty]

8. I actually heard someone once say. . .

That Blacks are engaging in criminal behavior when they engage in drug use. WTF?? What is it when whites use drugs?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. A couple of links for a well rounded discussion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=19864&forum=DCForumID60&archive=

Class, Race, Gender & Crime: Social Realities of Justice in America
http://www.paulsjusticepage.com/reality-of-justice/ch3-race.htm

[greekspeak]

10. I cannot imagine why there is not MORE violence

in predominantly african american neighborhoods. If I had to put up with a system blatently skewed against me, I would want to riot all the time. How long is it going to take to get parity for all Americans? Its nothing but shameful. We hear spiffy statements like "united we stand" and "one nation under God." Unity and oneness is meaningless when there are double standards under which people are forced to live.

[tom_paine]

11. United we Stand -- Yeah, like in 1861!

This is a disgrace.

I agree with most, if not all, of what you say, wndycty.

ON EDIT: and I am as white as they come...

[wndycty]

12. Thanks Tom Paine. . .

. . .nothing gets me angrier than seeing laws not fairly applied. If they got caught smoking dope, then make him pay the price. But just make sure you go after white drug users just as aggressively.

[yella_dawg]

13. Not at all...

Blacks are imprisoned at an insane rate because the powers that be can get away with it. The prison system is little more than state subsidised slavery. I used to keep up with the trend until I became so disgusted and ashamed that I had to turn away from the subject.

The cameras are in predominately minority neighborhoods because the majority will put up with it until the cameras become so accepted that they can be extended into good old middle class white neighborhoods. "OOh! Just the thing for Neighborhood Watch!"

As for the drugs, let's do the math. Assume 1 in 25 Americans smokes a quarter ounce a week. That's probably a low number for an average, but whatever. So, an ounce a month. One in twenty-five means 9 million smokers or 9 million ounces a month. Two hundred and thirty tons. A month. If a tractor trailer will hold 10 tons (any hay haulers out there?), thats about 23 truckloads a month coming across from Mexico or Canada. These numbers are right off the top of my head. But they stand about as much chance of being understated as overstated. There's a shitload of weed moving on the highways.

As a South Texas native, I remember maybe I truckload a year busted coming up I35. I also remember comments from friends who had relatives in the border patrol talking about regular alerts that would pull every single officer off the entire Texas border for days, to concentrate on a single crossing. One must wonder if the "intelligence" that triggered the alert worked for or against the drug haulers. Call me cynical.

The reason I mention this is because I sincerely believe that too many blacks are in prison because the same people who call off the border patrol get to decide where the trucks unload. Whether they carry weed, coke, or whatever. And primarily, they offload the trucks in black neighborhoods in an effort to bring back the heady days of black slavery (prison labor) in the U.S.

[wndycty]

14. Kick

:kick:

[sendero]

15. racism...

... was the prime motivation for the passing of laws against drugs to begin with. It is no surprise that racism in enforcement exists.

We're not settling the karma we incurred over slavery, we are still heaping the bad karma on.