Drugs and Alcohol
Environmental justice has to happen all around the world, because Environmental justice is the justice of the environment that you live in, and these environments aren't in good conditions. This justice is so that everyone can live in an environment that isn't bad for one's health. This justice has to do with environmental racism because it isn't fair just too blame certain people. For example, the people of color are more likely to live in a polluted area than a person who is white. This is racist because the people of color are put in a bad area just because they are of color. The subject that will be connected to this is the drug war which is mostly based of of environmental racism. The drug war is a war on drugs
The targets of the drug war are certain racial groups just because they are of color, they are targets because the law enforcements have bias opinions about the people of color rather than those who are white.The people of color and whites are both as likely to use and sell drugs, but the people of color have a bigger probability to get arrested, searched, prosecuted, convicted or sent to jail for the violation of drug laws. The drug war isn't only about people of color, it is about every races including white. The enforcement does not look for the increasing of drug activity because But the law enforcement doesn’t focus on the high income neighborhoods in search for drugs, what they do is focus on the poor low income neighborhoods because that is where they think drugs are being abused. The drug policies are very discriminatory and attack those that are non white, or those who live in a neighborhood where everyone thinks drugs are abused there. According to the article “Race, Drugs, and Law Enforcement in the United States” it uses statistics from seattle that shows a clear example of the discrimination of the supposed war on drugs.“A recent study in Seattle is illustrative. Although the majority of those who shared, sold, or transferred serious drugs[17]in Seattle are white (indeed seventy percent of the general Seattle population is white), almost two-thirds (64.2%) of drug arrestees are black”(hrw.org 1). This quote shows what a study found in seattle, that the population in seattle is seventy percent but most of the people in jail are blacks. Seattle has a problem where cocaine and crack are the main drug being abused and sold, but the people who sell it the most is whites but the majority who end up in jail for cocaine or crack charges are african americans. Well this happens because black people do drugs but also white people, but the ones who are the victims of incarceration are
Human rights experts have reported that in the 70s, African Americans in the U.S were already being overrepresented in drug arrests, with twice as many arrests as Caucasians (Fellner, 2009). Since the war on drugs began, African
Alexander begins to state that mass incarceration is what everyone presumes it to be. That black people are more likely to commit crimes and the way they look is another factor that plays into a stereotype. The media is no help to emphasizing the stereotype and ones who aren’t criminals or even look it suffer from it just because of their race. She then goes on to talk about how the life of crime can be seductive but whether you’re white or black there isn’t any evidence to suggest that a person of color would more likely chose the life of crime. She then explains the reality where whites are more likely to at some point in their lives chose to participate in illegal drug activity. This is because they are more likely to have the resources to support drug habits while blacks are less likely to be able to do
stated his hope that "the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities" (King 980-981). Unfortunately, upon analysis of the drug war, it is found that those dark clouds remain suspended above America,and that fog is as blinding as ever. Research into drug usage and selling has found that "drug use and selling are comparable across racial lines" (DPA). In light of this fact, it logically follows that arrest rates would be fairly even across racial lines, however, this is not the case. In fact, "African Americans represent 12% of the total population of drug users, but 38% of those arrested for drug offenses, and 59% of those in state prison for a drug offense" (NAACP).
In reality, the war had little to do with drug crime and a lot to do with racial politics. The drug war was part of a strategy used by the government. The President identified drug abuse as a national threat. Therefore, they called for a national anti-drug policy, the policy began pushing for the involvement of the police force and military in drug prohibition efforts. The government did believe that blacks or minorities were a cause of the drug problem.
Bobo and Thompson stated that blacks are almost 34% involved in drug-related arrests, though only 14% of those are among regular illegal drug users. Among drug-related convictions, African Americans make up half of the cases, whereas only 26% of the white population is convicted. As Bobo and Thompson stated, “Illegal drug consumption seems to be a race. Incarceration for drug-related charges, however, is something visited in a heavily biased manner on African Americans.” The war on drugs is greatly concentrated on cocaine and even more so on crack cocaine.
The drug war is the New Jim Crow because it empowers the state with the tools to target, and denies African Americans civil rights, citizenship, and justice in the pretext of elaborate criminal changes that serve as a mean to furthermore disenfranchise African Americans.
The War on Drugs is believed to help with many problems in today’s society such as realizing the rise of crime rates and the uprooting of violent offenders and drug kingpin. Michelle Alexander explains that the War on Drugs is a new way to control society much like how Jim Crow did after the Civil War. There are many misconceptions about the War on Drugs; commonly people believe that it’s helping society with getting rid of those who are dangerous to the general public. The War on Drugs is similar to Jim Crow by hiding the real intention behind Mass Incarceration of people of color. The War on Drugs is used to take away rights of those who get incarcerated. When they plead guilty, they will lose their right to vote and have to check application
Many would argue that the reason why the incarceration rate for African Americans is sustainably higher compared to white American is because of economic situations, and because of past arrest patterns. While it is true that the economic opportunity someone has will affect their decisions, this argument doesn’t fully explain the real reason of why the rates are higher. To fully understand the reason why one must look back on America’s history and how African Americans were treated. The past arrest patterns do not explain why the gap continues to increase, however it is clear that the past arrest patterns is more an indicator of institutional racism that exists in this country. One study found that African Americans believe the reason for the high incarceration rates is becau...
Racial disparity in drug-related convictions has been a widespread problem in the United States since the War on Drugs in the early 1980s. It was prevalent before that time, but minorities became the target of drug-related crimes in startling numbers at this time. There are several hypotheses for this alarming situation, but the bottom line remains that racism is the leading cause of racial disparity in drug-related convictions. Minorities from inner cities, with low-incomes and socioeconomic statuses who get caught in a downward spiral, are the easiest targets for the government to point the finger at for drug problems in the United States. The statistics show that while more White people use illicit drugs in the United States, more African Americans and other minorities will be convicted, and more harshly than their White counterparts, for the same crimes.
Drug use has been an ongoing problem in our country for decades. The use of drugs has been the topic of many political controversies throughout many years. There has been arguments that are for legalizing drugs and the benefits associated with legalization. Also, there are some who are opposed to legalizing drugs and fear that it will create more problems than solve them. Conservatives and liberals often have different opinions for controversial topics such as “the war on drugs,” but it is necessary to analyze both sides in order to gain a full understanding of their beliefs and to decide in a change in policy is in order.
Black youths arrested for drug possession are 48 times more likely to wind up in prison than white youths arrested for the same crime under the same circumstances. Many people are unaware how constant racism has been throughout the years. It is important to understand the problems of racism because it is relevant to society. Racism in America is very real and Americans need to know it.
These stories were riddled with stereotypes and bias and because of these stories there has been a government lead war on drugs that is racially fueled towards Black Americans. In 1971 President Nixon declared War on Drugs in the United States of America. With the War on Drugs cam e hefty prison sentences and a racial bias towards the Black American public. Black Americans were coming off the tail end of the Civil Rights movements, only to be segregated again in the statistics that were coming out about drugs and the fallacy of highest population of
When it comes to the topic of war on drugs,most of us will readily agree that the war on drugs is not about the drugs But about the people. Many Politicians and law enforcement will argue that the war on drugs is about our nation's wealth and safety.however they don't see the destruction the war on drugs has caused; The war on drugs has recreated this new system of discrimination among the minority community, individuals and communities are being profiled,their rights as citizen are being seized ,individuals being stripped away from their families. They’re being locked up with no hope to live the American dream in their our country.
environmental racism? environmental racism is a neighborhood or an environment with people that are racist to one another. environmental racism is everyone in the environment having racism problems. the most population that are affected by this crisis are poor/black/hispanic people. environmental racism is something that affects poor and black this affects them on how their being treated in their own environment such as: the rich being separated from the poor, and long ago when blacks were also separated from whites but that is also happening in today’s society.
Not only has the drug war failed to reduce violent and property crime, but, by shifting criminal justice resources (the police, courts, prisons, probation officers, etc.) away from directly fighting such crime, the drug war has put citizens’ lives and property at greater risk, Benson and Rasmussen contend. “Getting tough on drugs inevitably translates into getting soft on nondrug crime,” they write. “When a decision is made to wage a ‘war on drugs,’ other things that criminal justice resources might have to be sacrificed.” To support this conclusion, Benson and Rasmussen compare data on drug law enforcement and crime trends between states, and debunk numerous misconceptions about drug use and criminality.