The War on Color

America's War on Color

Since the end of the Jim Crow laws back in the 60's, punitive drug laws have been put into place that often target communities of color. African Americans comprise only about 13% of the population and the same percentage of drug users. However, 1 out of 3 African American men can plan on being involved with the criminal justice system. Philosophies and attitudes, such as "Broken Windows" and racial profiling have allowed law enforcement to target inner city areas where drug use is more likely to happen out in the open. Drug use by the affluent doesn't happen on a street corner, it happens safely at home...behind locked doors.

After people of color have been identified by the system, they are treated far more harshly than white people. The best example in obvious disparity is the sentencing laws that follow crack cocaine vs. powder cocaine use. They are the same drug, but crack cocaine is generally found in the inner-city, while powder cocaine is generally used by people in more affluent circles. Since federal mandatory minimum sentencing went into effect the average federal drug sentence for African Americans was 49 percent higher than for Anglos.

It's no different for Colorado, based on statistics from the Department of Corrections, Latino/as account for 17.1 % of the population in Colorado, but make up 29.9% of the prison population. Similarly, African-Americans make up 3.8% of Colorado’s population, but represent 20.7% of the state’s prison population. Anglos, however, are 74.5% of the state’s population, but only 46.4% of the prison population.

This weekend celebrates the birthday of Martin Luther King. One has to wonder; if he would have lived, would we have the same disparities.

Ira Glasser wrote a wonderful piece called DRUG BUSTS=JIM CROW

Since 1980 drug arrests have tripled, to 1.6 million annually--nearly half for marijuana, 88 percent of those for possession, not sale or manufacture. Since 1980 the proportion of all state prisoners who are in for drug offenses increased from 6 percent to 21 percent. Since 1980 the proportion of all federal prisoners who are in for drug offenses increased from 25 percent to 57 percent.

At the same time, the racial disparity of arrests, convictions and imprisonment for these offenses has become pronounced. According to federal statistics gathered by the Sentencing Project, only 13 percent of monthly drug users of all illegal drugs--defined as those who use a drug at least once a month on a regular basis--are black, about their proportion of the population. But 37 percent of drug-offense arrests are black; 53 percent of convictions are black; and 67 percent of all people imprisoned for drug offenses are black. Adding in Latinos, about 22 percent of all monthly drug users are black or Latino, but 80 percent of people in prison for drug offenses are black or Latino. Even in presumptively liberal New York State, 92 percent of all inmates who are there for drug offenses are black or Latino....

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