ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, LOS ANGELES TIMES - According to a 2006 report by
the American Civil Liberties Union, African Americans make up an
estimated 15% of drug users, but they account for 37% of those arrested
on drug charges, 59% of those convicted and 74% of all drug offenders
sentenced to prison. Or consider this: The U.S. has 260,000 people in
state prisons on nonviolent drug charges; 183,200 (more than 70%) of
them are black or Latino. . .
Unfortunately, a quick search of the top Democratic hopefuls' websites
reveals that not one of them -- not Hillary Clinton, not Barack Obama,
not John Edwards, not Joe Biden, not Chris Dodd, not Bill Richardson --
even mentions the drug war, let alone offers any solutions.
The silence coming from Clinton and Obama is particularly deafening.
Obama has written eloquently about his own struggle with drugs but has
not addressed the tragic effect the war on drugs is having on African
American communities. As for Clinton, she flew into Selma, Ala., to
reinforce her image as the wife of the black community's most beloved
politician and has made much of her plan to attract female voters, but
she has ignored the suffering of poor, black women right in her own
backyard.
Located down the road from her Chappaqua, N.Y., home are two prisons
housing female inmates, Taconic and Bedford. Forty-eight percent of the
women in Taconic are there for nonviolent drug offenses; 78% of those in
the prison are African American or Latino. . .
A 2000 study found that 1.4 million African American men -- 13% of the
total black male population -- were unable to vote in the 2000 election
because of state laws barring felons access to the polls. In Florida,
one in three black men is permanently disqualified from voting. Think
that might have made a difference in the 2000 race? Our shortsighted
drug laws have become the 21st century manifestation of Jim Crow.
Shouldn't this be an issue Democratic presidential candidates deem
worthy of their attention?
http://www.alternet.org/rights/49782/
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the American Civil Liberties Union, African Americans make up an
estimated 15% of drug users, but they account for 37% of those arrested
on drug charges, 59% of those convicted and 74% of all drug offenders
sentenced to prison. Or consider this: The U.S. has 260,000 people in
state prisons on nonviolent drug charges; 183,200 (more than 70%) of
them are black or Latino. . .
Unfortunately, a quick search of the top Democratic hopefuls' websites
reveals that not one of them -- not Hillary Clinton, not Barack Obama,
not John Edwards, not Joe Biden, not Chris Dodd, not Bill Richardson --
even mentions the drug war, let alone offers any solutions.
The silence coming from Clinton and Obama is particularly deafening.
Obama has written eloquently about his own struggle with drugs but has
not addressed the tragic effect the war on drugs is having on African
American communities. As for Clinton, she flew into Selma, Ala., to
reinforce her image as the wife of the black community's most beloved
politician and has made much of her plan to attract female voters, but
she has ignored the suffering of poor, black women right in her own
backyard.
Located down the road from her Chappaqua, N.Y., home are two prisons
housing female inmates, Taconic and Bedford. Forty-eight percent of the
women in Taconic are there for nonviolent drug offenses; 78% of those in
the prison are African American or Latino. . .
A 2000 study found that 1.4 million African American men -- 13% of the
total black male population -- were unable to vote in the 2000 election
because of state laws barring felons access to the polls. In Florida,
one in three black men is permanently disqualified from voting. Think
that might have made a difference in the 2000 race? Our shortsighted
drug laws have become the 21st century manifestation of Jim Crow.
Shouldn't this be an issue Democratic presidential candidates deem
worthy of their attention?
http://www.alternet.org/rights/49782/
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