07-19-2022, 01:30 PM
(07-19-2022, 12:59 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I think one of the things we need to consider in this conversation is that immediately following the end to the majority of slavery in the 19th century, laws were put in place with the aim of charging the newly freed and voting black populous with crimes to enslave them again and get them off the voting rolls. This is the story of the post-Reconstruction South. There are, undoubtedly, many other factors involved as any issue that is this large in scope is highly complex and nuanced. However, we have to recognize that the criminal justice system has been weaponized from the very start to target our black communities to use their labor and keep them from exercising political power in this country.
I completely agree with all of this. The sentencing discrepancies between powder and rock cocaine is a recent example. As you say, there's a huge number of contributing factors to this problem, but to me the biggest issue is that this problem isn't even beginning to be addressed. If you're white and bring it up you're immediately labeled a racist. If you're black and bring it up you're an Uncle Tom or a House N-word. Literally nothing of substance to fix this issue can take place until we acknowledge the problem in the first place. To Hollo's question regarding our crime rate/incarceration numbers, if the crime rate for black people was even close to proportional we'd have crime rates very closely on par with large European cities. Think about the huge difference in homicide rates alone, instead of committing ~54% of the homicides it was only 13%. That's an enormous decrease in the overall rate, over a 40% decrease in homicides nationwide. What an enormous benefit to literally everyone this would be, but most especially to the black community, who suffer the most from these numbers as most homicides are intraracial.
But, it's a taboo subject and definitely one no person of prominence is going to dip their toe in. Hence it will continue as is with stop gap, band aid measures being taken that make little substantive difference.
