69 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
69 lines
3.1 KiB
Plaintext
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Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
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THE GOVERNMENT AND THE 'WAR ON DRUGS'
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By Manuel Davidson
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In the current struggle against drugs, the U.S. government claims it's
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conducting a war on drugs. But a recent USA Today series called "Is The Drug
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War Racist?" (July 23-27) exposed the federal government's so-called "war" as
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a racist assault on people of color.
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In other words, the government is carrying out a drug war against the
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oppressed community.
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USA Today pointed out that African Americans are four times more likely to be
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arrested on drug charges than whites. In at least 30 major cities--from Little
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Rock, Ark., to Yonkers, N.Y., Peoria, Ill., and Lubbock, Texas--African
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Americans are 10 times more likely to be arrested on drug charges than whites,
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despite the fact that drug use is the same for both groups.
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"It just shows how deep racism is institutionalized in American criminal
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justice," said Sen. Jesse Jackson of Washington. Rep. Charles Rangel, who
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heads the House Narcotic Abuse Caucus, said, "It's racist, that's the bottom
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line."
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Drug use is a serious problem crossing socio-economic lines. But the federal
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government's "policy" for the past decade has been based on a lock-em-up
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mentality with little emphasis on treatment or prevention.
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Federal "anti-drug" spending soared from $1.2 billion in 1981 to $12 billion
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by 1992. However, only one-third was used for treatment and prevention.
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Most funding was used for elite paramilitary operations such as Operation
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Pressure Point in New York City, Operation Thunderbolt in Memphis, Tenn.,
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Operation Hammer in Los Angeles, and Operation Caribbean Cruise in Washington.
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Police brass contend it's much cheaper to target people in poor communities
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than in the suburbs. They claim drug use is much "easier" to spot there.
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Former Attorney General Edwin Meese, a leading architect of the "war on drugs"
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program under Ronald Reagan, cynically denied racism is a factor in most drug
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arrests. But he admitted, "The disparity is something nobody likes to see."
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"It's just astonishing," says Allen Webster, president of the National Bar
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Association, an African American legal group. "Basically it's a war against
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minorities."
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"I guarantee you I can get arrested for driving in certain neighborhoods in
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this city at certain times of the day," says civil rights lawyer Steven Belton
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of Minneapolis. "They're not stopping expensive luxury cars with white male
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drivers over 40."
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In Seattle three African American youths were harassed by the city's
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"anti-drug jump-out squad" after being involved in a minor traffic accident. A
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Latino construction worker in Utah was repeatedly pulled over in the past
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three years just for driving a Cadillac.
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What's really needed to fight drug abuse and crime is a program for creating
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good-paying jobs with decent benefits for the millions who are unemployed,
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especially oppressed youths.
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-30-
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(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is
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cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 West 17 St., New York,
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NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@blythe.org.)
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