Drug War or Race War?
by Melinda Tuhus
March 13, 2006

It's been 10 years since Sheldon Tucker saw the inside of a prison. Tucker and others at a local forum on the drug war spoke about why so many young people of color have followed in his footsteps -- and what to do about it.

“How many people here think the drug war is about drugs?” Barbara Fair asked the couple dozen people who turned out for the Saturday forum, the latest event sponsored by People Against Injustice. Nobody answered in the affirmative.

read whole article (http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2006/03/drug_war_or_rac.html)

To be honest about this, I must say I don't really know if it all has to do with just drugs or race. I know my Wife is of Native American heritage, I know a lot of other people of Native American heritage who are also subjected to this War. I also have Native American blood in me and in the past have been quite active in Native American issues. So I don't really know the true answer to this, except to say that yes the War is on the races....... cops against anyone else not wearing a badge. Badge against, white, black, brown, red or yellow!

God Bless

JR:angry:

Here is Canada it is quite obvious. The native population in prisons in Canada is extremely high in comparison to non-natives. Most of them are in there for crimes relating to abuse of some sort of substance or doing a crime while under the influence. The statistics proving this is really coming to light now in Canada and natives are very involved in getting Canada on board the 'resorative justice' bandwagon which is a good thing. Getting communities to start making changes and making sure the resources are there for those addicted. Its still in early times however and unfortunately our newly elected Prime Minister may go against this change. So far he is only pumping more money into putting more people in prison for longer periods of time. I hope he puts money into those trying to make a change before someone becomes a prisoner because of drugs. It is very alarming how many natives populate Canadian prisons.

The answer to this is a difficult one....its both!...drug & race war!.....2 people i know that are inn are black!...one didnt do the crime, the other did it!..so its both .

After all that I've read and seen it is most definitely a race war. Statistically there is no denying it, although it affects all races and is just as painful if you're green, blue, black, yellow or white. I'm a cultured white girl from a pretty uptight town, fortunately I've been exposed to worlds other than that one. Many people I grew up with have not...I feel sorry for their ignorance...too bad it isn't as painful as going through the trauma afflicted by our countries silly war on drugs. I see it when I visit my b/f and the stats are obvious...it most certainly cannot be denied. What to do about it...I wish I knew...well maybe I know but it all comes down to that mighty dollar and that I'm somewhat short on. It makes me sad and angry that the country I live in is so pathetically ignorant...I could go on, but then I just get myself worked up.

I think they make the punishment harsher for crimes that occur more in one race than another. For example, a crack charge carries a harsher sentence than a cocaine charge (in SC). I mean crack IS cocaine!! It is just that cocaine is a "white collar" drug and crack is thought of as something that poor black people use. My fiance got charged with PWID Cocaine & PWID Crack - the cocaine sentence was carried out as "non-violent" and the crack was carried out as "violent and serious". He has to do 85% of his 3 year sentence because of the "violent" crack charge. That don't make any sense to me.

Normally the severity of the crime involving drugs and distribution varies between the lesser severity of discreet indoor dealing as opposed to dealing/distribution on the streets and/or distribution and dealing in so called 'established crack houses'.Granted, all forms of distribution of cocaine in any form are equally serious, but with the discreet indoor dealing in various locations it causes less of an impact on neighborhoods. In my lifetime I have seen all races involved with all forms of cocaine, ( crack included) , meth, heroin, you name it. I am still under the opinion that rehabiliatation is the best answer all around for everyone. In todays society no drug discriminates and all are used by every race, and more rehab is the answer to begin to solve this drug epidemic/war in our country.

I believe the drug war is a "GREEN WAR". It is all about the "MONEY".

Our economy is in such bad shape one way to create jobs is to expand the courts, drug programs, jails, prisons etc....

I believe persons of low soci-economic means are the victims. I do believe that the problem is that minorities tend to end up in that social class.

Therefore, it the age old war that has raged for centuries around the world the social class war.

I think I have to agree with J.R. Davis, that the war is cops against everyone else, only I have to also add the lawmakers (have power) against the population (have no power).

I know this word has been thrown around often, and is over used however, I feel that the government is not waging a drug war or a race war it is waging a terrorist war against it's own people.

How do we stop them when obviously they do not pay attention to us - their true rulers? I don't know I am beginning to believe there is only one way - and that is to follow the example of our Founding Fathers.

The Founding Father that I admire the most said it best:

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Thomas Jefferson - 1787

Patti

I don't know if it's drug or race war. Since the majority of Fed inmates are first time drug offender non-violent and black or minority men....I don't know if the numbers say it all or not. I am still torn. I think that income plays a huge role and since the majority of the welfare recipients and poverty victims are minorities it is understandable that there would be more incarcarated. I just don't know. No money for lawyers to fight their convictions, no appeal money and no family who cares. Interesting question. I see I've come to the party late....but I'm here nonetheless :)

I believe more minorities get caught up in the game, but to hear the stories on the inside it was fast money, a fast life, and not many regretted what they had done. True, I believe government wants drugs n the streets...it does provide good jobs, revenue, etc. I truly don't believe government wants to solve crime problems anyways. If you look at the state agencies, the DOC (s) are usually the largest agencies...if crime disipates, then they have no jobs.

I helped work on a few books since I have been out on government, etc. and there is a good book out called "Lies Washington Tells Us" by james T. Bennett, and there is a whole section on the "drug war"...very interesting to say the least. I think people fall inot the temptation of selling drugs because our society states that without money you are nothing...I feel into that, but I cracked open safes for a living before prison.

right on Brian!

What if you thought of the war on drugs like this:

The poor and homeless who do not pay us any taxes, make no contributions to our society that we want them to make. So if we send them to prison for extended periods of time, in that time they will be forced to work for us, cheaply of course, so that at least for a few years we will be able to profit from their existence?

If you thought like that you would be just as much of a Machiavellian Capitalist as the people that run this country and our lives. The reason for the disparities for the incarcerated is perfectly logical under this school of thought--

If you think for a moment, the hardest hit are the easiest people among us to pick on. they uniformly have no money for their defense, they usually do not vote, are mostly uneducated (or minimally educated) and it is easy to make the rest of society hate them for what they have done, so there is justification for locking them up, and nobody will care.

It is easy to find trends and new laws that bear that reasoning out. Read any newspaper and see the contempt printed there about one "criminal" or another.

I asked myself one question---

Does that make it RIGHT? My answer has guided me and influenced how I perceive things every since.

Interesting point, sixpack--a similar question was often addressed to the large numbers of people who were once held for years in state hospitals, many of the required to work but receiving no wages, many of them sterilized under the premise of "improving the breed", etc. Having a baby out of wedlock was once enough to get a woman warehoused--so was wanting a divorce from an unwilling husband.

Of course, most of the state hospitals have now closed. The same people now end up in jail through a process that is far more social control than law enforcement.

I have to agree with FriscoLady that we have an "Us vs. Them" situation in progress here--"Them" being the police and "Us" being, well....us. Don't for a moment think that a police officer looks at you any differently than a drug dealer unless there's something for him/her to gain by doing so.

A story which may well get some national coverage is just beginning to emerge from my home area. It seems that a couple of sheriff's deputies, along with area Animal Control people, have been raiding various people's homes and property under phony claims of animal abuse. Without probable cause or a warrant they searched at least 70 homes, taking away valuable show animals, livestock, etc., most of which was sold at a considerable profit. Those who complained were threatened with animal abuse charges (despite the large number of cases, no one was ever actually charged with anything).

It became obvious that something was wrong when some of the people involved spoke with each other and learned how many had had similar experiences. So far, the victims have approached the county board, who told them to speak to the Sheriff's office and the state Legislature. None of the people responsible has been suspended from duty or charged with any wrongdoing.

As to the deputies involved, their current tune is that they had heard rumors of drug abuse on the properties in question and called in Animal Control when they found evidence of animal neglect or abuse. Presumably those who make enough noise in the hope of getting their animals back now run the risk of facing a drug rap on top of everything else.

I have no idea of the racial background of anyone involved and so may be leading this thread off-topic, but I felt the story a good example of what everyone may end up facing when dealing with law enforcement.

law enforcement here just claims that they have "reason to believe" that there is a meth lab or pot growing on the property in order to justify tearing the whole house apart and subduing and running ID checks on everyone there. It is obviously a "bummer" when they fail to turn up any evidence to support those claims, or any other crimes, but by then, they have destroyed computers and cameras, copied any hard drives for later examination, and copied any and all "useful" info they wanted, like phone books, passwords, interesting newsletters you may read and legal documents.

They have also used federal marshals and "operation TALON", in order to get in and bust anyone they can, even probation violators and others who they couldn't legally get a search warrant for. Meanwhile, they build files and hope to use Portland's "nuisance ordinance" to shut people (mainly elderly and the poor)" out of their own homes, for up to a year. They can force people to sell their homes, or lose them, by the city taking them away in a court proceeding.

Operation TALON is for busting abusers of food stamps, but if you google "operation talon", you will see that that is only a premise for what it is actually used for.

There must be some way to stop them from end-running around our search and seizure protections.

Suggestions, anyone?

When Ferdinand Marcos realized that Corazon Aquino was going to be elected and that he would lose power, he sent the army over to her office, intending to have her arrested on some phony premise. When the army got there, they found thousands of Phillippine citizens standing in a circle around the building. The army stopped, and Ms. Aquino took her proper place at the head of the government.

Perhaps a similar procedure could be employed here. It would require that people join together in advance and in sufficient numbers that there will be a decent turnout when the police decide to show up. Be prepared to notify each other via battery-powered radio (CB or FRS should be sufficient if your friends are nearby), as police often cut power and jam cell phone signals. Tell everyone to bring their cameras, especially video cameras. With any luck, the appearance of a sufficient number of witnesses on the scene of some funny business will mitigate circumstances somewhat. At the very least, the action will not take place out of sight and mind, which tends to deflate most police state tactics considerably.

Yes, and relevent too. The concept is sound, but we seldom have any more advance notice than a knock on the door. We did, however, catch officers in our fenced backyard and confronted them.

As I recall, the excuse for them being there had something to do with an invisible k-9 tracking a burglar into our house---or was it a k-9 tracked an invisible burglar into our house?

All I know is that we saw neither a k-9 nor a burglar, so possibly they were trying to stammer out that they couldn't come up with a better lie on such short notice.

Sometimes it pays to daydream out you window once in a while...

Thanks for the response, I enjoyed it immensely.

This is true--the time factor is a problem, especially as police will rarely hesitate to bash in an unopened door. Remember always though that unless they are in possession of a warrant, they have no right to enter and must leave if told to.

At the very least, get the video camera going if you've got one.

I agree, that the drug war is all about the money, what happens to the money when it is confiscated, your not gonna tell me it just sits in a room. First, they don't give it back so what happens to it? Answers anyone