“Why would Democrats support a program that has such a deleterious effect on their most loyal constituencies? It is, in part, callous political calculus. It’s an easy and relatively cheap way for them to buy a tough-on-crime badge while simultaneously pleasing police unions. The fact that they are ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of black and Hispanic men and, by extension, the communities they belong to barely seems to register.
This is outrageous and immoral and the Democrat’s complicity is unconscionable, particularly for a party that likes to promote its social justice bona fides.
No one knows all the repercussions of legalizing marijuana, but it is clear that criminalizing it has made it a life-ruining racial weapon. As Ms. (Michelle) Alexander told me, ‘Our failed war on drugs has done incalculable damage.’ “
I was never very impressed with New York Times columnist Charles Blow. He analyzed statistics and then reached what always seemed to me to be some obvious conclusion. Big deal.
In his column published today, Blow did an excellent job of exposing how the democratic party has advocated for increased drug enforcement and therefore increased mass incarceration of black Americans.
On election day Californians will vote on Proposition 19, which if passed will decriminalize marijuana possession. Attorney General Eric Holder has already announced that the justice department will continue federal enforcement of drug laws even if states decide to move in this more humane direction.
Once again we see how damaging the first black presidential administration has been to black people. When Obama leaves office, black people will have nothing to show for their adulation. If seeing a black first couple disembark from Air Force One is enough to float your boat then you still have reason to be happy. If you are looking for substance you see that Obama’s term in office is the absolute nadir in the lives of black people. We have a president who has every disincentive to help us, but who gains support if he ignores or harms us.
Hopefully after he has left the white house more of us will have the courage to talk openly about what his presence really meant.
