As a follow up to the announcment that the State Conference of the NAACP is support Prop 19, the Drug Policy Alliance issued a report which highlights a huge problem: while marijuana use is roughly equal across groups and locations, the vast majority of arrests are of young, African American males.
The Sacramento Bee cited the report, which stated
"in Sacramento and San Francisco Counties, black residents were arrested for marijuana possession four times as often as white residents. In Los Angeles County, the disparity was more than three to one, according to the analysis of California arrest data from 2004 through 2008."
While not at all condoning the illegal use of marijuana, people should be concerned about how this is used to disproportionately target young people of color. Should this be a wake up call to young black men that smoking pot can be dangerous to their futures as well as their health? Of course. But it should also be a wake up call to the general public that there is something smelling going on - and its not just the bud burning.
But don't take my word for it, please check out Michelle Alexander's book The New Jim Crow, which highlights the impact of felony disenfranchisement that is epidemic in our country, and how its swallowing up black men at a rate far worse than at any time in American history.
2 comments:
David,
Have you ever stopped to think that if these young men you are trying to protect, were not actually in possesion of illegal substances, they might not be charged with these drug crimes?
Blame the law. Blame the police. Blame the system. Blame everyone except the one who had the weed in his pocket...
That arguement is not flying here bro!!
Racial Differences in Marijuana-Users' Risk of Arrest in the United States http://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP20061001/
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