[excon]

Ex ,you have not until your last comment suggested that the problem was sentencing disparity .

Hello again, tom:

The problem is NOT sentencing disparity. The problem is racism. The sentencing disparity TUT pointed out is simply the most glaring manifestation of that racism.

excon

[tomder55]

No I think the problem for you is that you want illegal drugs legal. I think this racism argument is just the latest grasp at straws attempt to justify it.

[excon]

No I think the problem for you is that you want illegal drugs legal. I think this racism argument is just the latest grasp at straws attempt to justify it.

Hello again, tom:

Given that you're NOT going to take my challenge to educate yourself about the subject, I think it's fair to say you just want to keep drugs illegal, and don't want to be bothered with facts..

excon

[talaniman]

Making marijuana legal will do nothing for the publicly defended poor guy caught with two rocks, who gets 3 years, while the lawyered up suburban kid who has a lawyer, and gets probation for a year, and community service for a .25 grams of powder cocaine. One goes home under bail, or bond the other can't pay bail so they sit in jail.

For 3 dots guess who sits in jail?

Kid gets picked up and lives in the good part of town for smoking a joint, another kid gets picked up for having a joint after a traffic stop.

For 5 dots who goes home, who goes to jail?

We haven't even started on the race disparity, not even warmed up yet.

Originally Posted by tomder55
Ex ,you have not until your last comment suggested that the problem was sentencing disparity .

You missed that dot, it is in the book.

[tomder55]

And don't possess crack or cocaine... no jail time.

So this has really been about reforming sentencing and not about making illegal drugs legal. I thought so... All those dots I've lead you down has finally got you to admit what the real issue was.

[paraclete]

Hello again, clete:

Somehow I missed the "they're marginalized" part, and only got the "they're uppity" part... Makes a substantial difference.

excon

I would have thought Ex that someone who has contributed here for so long would have learned to read between the lines and understand that attitude has a cause. I notice this thread has taken a turn to suggest there is racism in sentencing. I can't speak for your country but in mine being black is likely to get you a lighter sentence on account of that mitigating circumstance "marginalisation" but eventually it won't keep you out of jail because if you go to the court house on any day guess who most of the people you find there are? Seems some people can't take the hint

[TUT317]

and don't possess crack or cocaine ... no jail time.

So this has really been about reforming sentencing and not about making illegal drugs legal. I thought so ...All those dots I've lead you down has finally got you to admit what the real issue was.

Hi Tom,

Ex claimed that the drug war was racist and he made reference to a book by Professor Alexander as evidence.

I hadn't read Alexander's book but I made reference to a Wikipedia section. It was then I realized there was a link between 'disparity in sentencing' and the 'separate but equal' claim also being made here.

Separate but equal means that two recognised racial groups in a society have equal opportunity to go about their lives living apart where practiable. History has shown this to be a very bad idea for a number of reasons. One of the important reasons being that one group usually holds the social, economic, and legal tools to favour their group at the expense of the other.

It thought it was rather obvious that one of the tools being employed here was the legal tool. This was done by way of differentiated sentencing as per the Wiki article.

I think this is what Tal picked up on. Sentencing per se is not the issue.

Tut

[tomder55]

I am not unfamiliar with the disparity of sentencing issue ,and have stated already here and in other postings that they need reform .

Again... that at best leads to justification of sentencing reform... not making illegal drugs legal .

By the way ;both drug laws were passed in Democrat dominant Congresses. So the OP claims of "intensified by Ronald Reagan" are not quite accurate . The sentencing was perhaps an over reaction to designer drugs . The bill was passed after the death of basketball star Len Bias ;and the Dems ,looking to outflank the Republicans on the law and order issue passed the sentencing bill .
But I would not accuse the Dems of racism . They were reacting to the best most accurate information they had ;which was that crack was a much more dangerous drug form than cocaine.

[talaniman]

Is it a stretch then if racism is not the criteria for control, and marginalism of people then maybe its social, and economic motives behind this inequality?

[tomder55]

Yes a big stretch .The fact that the result has been that more Blacks are incarcerated because of the law is an unintended consequence that is on it's way to being corrected or have you not noticed that the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 was signed into law ?

Again... no possession of illegal drugs... no crime committed.. no jail time .

[tomder55]

Tut ,your definition of separate but equal does not work for me.Historically in this country it meant that a White could do something legally that a Black couldn't do... eat in certain establishments ,use certain public facilities ,ride in the front of the bus etc.

In this case ;the sentencing for crack was the same for all races and the different sentencing for coke applied to all races .

[paraclete]

This issue of sentencing is a beatup, judges have discretion in sentencing and exercise it. The community generally thinks sentences are too light and the criminals think sentencing is too heavy, thus claims of racism. As far as drugs are concerned criminalisation has not solved the problem, but the violence and corruption associated with drug distribution must be dealt with

[paraclete]

Again... no possession of illegal drugs... no crime committed.. no jail time .

This is a point that seems to be lost in all the arguments. Do the crime.. Do the time. Yes it does infringe upon your liberty, but then you were at liberty not to do the crime. You could even say it is a failure of the education system that people don't get the point early enough in life. So how about you take a vote, all those who want to do drugs could be given a democratic opportunity to voice their opposition to existing laws or is allowing democracy to operate too dangerous a concept. You might even get a 100% voter turnout

[talaniman]

Or we could re examine how the law is applied and make better adjustments. But of course the laws are never voted on because there is no equal and fair representation, Not even where you are Clete, and since influence is regional, there is no one law that fits all but the majority over the minority.

In many parts of the world, tribal law is what's taught, and it often conflicts with national law, and we get a lot of poor and minorities caught up, and the ruling elites not subject to the same thing. It's a global issue to be fair, and ideology, and racism are a privilege not all enjoy.

[paraclete]

Or we could re examine how the law is applied and make better adjustments. But of course the laws are never voted on because there is no equal and fair representation, Not even where you are Clete, and since influence is regional, there is no one law that fits all but the majority over the minority.

In many parts of the world, tribal law is what's taught, and it often conflicts with national law, and we get a lot of poor and minorities caught up, and the ruling elites not subject to the same thing. It's a global issue to be fair, and ideology, and racism are a privilege not all enjoy.

From our observation Tal tribal law would be useless. It has been applied in parts of Australia but hasn't yielded results in lessening addiction, The tribal elders are often victims of addiction themselves. We were forced into a position of government intervention which of course was seen as racist because the people affected were under-privileged, indigenous persons with severe social problems in their communities. I am uncertain whether these measures actually led to any long term improvement but it certainly gave someone an excuse to say we are dealing with the problem

I don't understand something you have said

It's a global issue to be fair, and ideology, and racism are a privilege not all enjoy.[/

I don't see racism as a privilege but the inevietable result of certain ideology and it appears to be the norm in tribal societies. The negro races practiced racism in Africa when they participated in the slave trade and sold their neighbours and they were abetted by the white races who used racism for profit. This is where tribalism gets you. The Arabs still take negro slaves in Africa. The Chinese practice racism in Tibet.

I can't speak to regional influences in your country, but it is clear it has only recently emerged from racist practices with regional overtones. Such thinking takes many generations to be completely removed from society

[excon]

Again .....no possession of illegal drugs ...no crime committed ..no jail time .

Hello again, tom:

It all boils down to this. There's only a few ways to make cash when you live in the hood.

If you believe that the hood represents government POLICY, and NOT the choices of the residents, and I DO, then the drug war looks like ENTRAPMENT.

"Here, young black man... Live in this part of town where the schools suck, unemployment is HIGH, and most of the FATHER FIGURES are ALREADY in jail. But, don't sell drugs.."

Right...

excon

[talaniman]

To be a true racist you must have power. You cannot just hate and do nothing about it. You have to be able to actually suppress or victimize because of the hate. With no power, you are just another mother who is prejudice, and powerless. Power is reserved for the privileged.

Racism is always justified by saying its best for the heathens own good, that he be controlled, and reeducated in to the ways of the oppressor, whether he wants to or not. Slavery among tribes was a prejudice to keep the gene pool fresh, and not subjugation and free labor. Nor dehumanizing as practised by the self entitled races. They think they are more civilized than the tribes are. Only an excuse for what they do.

But your last sentence is dead on.

[paraclete]

To be a true racist you must have power. You cannot just hate and do nothing about it. You have to be able to actually suppress or victimize because of the hate. With no power, you are just another mother who is prejudice, and powerless. Power is reserved for the privileged.

Racism is always justified by saying its best for the heathens own good, that he be controlled, and reeducated in to the ways of the oppressor, whether he wants to or not. Slavery among tribes was a prejudice to keep the gene pool fresh, and not subjugation and free labor. Nor dehumanizing as practised by the self entitled races. They think they are more civilized than the tribes are. Only an excuse for what they do.

But your last sentence is dead on.

Tal you can't justify racism or slavery under any pretext, nor can it be said that one man's slavery or racism is purer than another. The fact is that some were more civilised than others but this obviously didn't prevent the profit motive from overcoming sensibility

[paraclete]

Hello again, tom:

It all boils down to this. There's only a few ways to make cash when you live in the hood.

If you believe that the hood represents government POLICY, and NOT the choices of the residents, and I DO, then the drug war looks like ENTRAPMENT.

"Here, young black man... Live in this part of town where the schools suck, unemployment is HIGH, and most of the FATHER FIGURES are ALREADY in jail. But, don't sell drugs.."

Right....

excon

What a copout, Ex, the hood is the result of government policy, like your nazi government set up these ghettos and forced people to live there, built a wall around them to keep them there. Where do you live? Look if this were true who would care if the inhabitants sold drugs to each other. As long as the problem was quaranteened who would care, but the reality is different

This nobody loves me crap so I've got to do drugs and shoot up my neighbours is just a copout fornot getting up and moving yourself. The reality is there are too many people in your country and parts of it are third world and those jobs you shipped offshore should have been moved into your ghettos but that takes social engineering and a nanny state and a removal of some of those freedoms you swark about.

You see ex and take a look at Mexico if you can't find a local example, wherever there are drugs and disadvantage there is violence so the real logic says drugs are a bad thing and to remove them is not to repress the black population but to liberate them. Now I've observed that this is a continuing theme with you. You ask the same question over and over again and argue the same bankrupt theories over and over again. Like, give it a rest man!

[talaniman]

Tal you can't justify racism or slavery under any pretext, nor can it be said that one man's slavery or racism is purer than another. The fact is that some were more civilised than others but this obviously didn't prevent the profit motive from overcoming sensibility

I justify NOTHING Clete, but should I paste the quotes from you justifying your own acceptance of institutional racism?

Originally Posted by paraclete
I think you might say black people are born with a chip on their shoulder and this gets them into trouble both in their own community and in the community at large.