State of Black America

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by Ramo

The longer prison terms are because of racism on jurys and some judges. The LAW doesn't call for more sentencing for blacks.

See the disparity in crack vs. powdered cocaine sentencing.

Is that a race thing or a class thing?

[Ramo]

Probably both (edit: to clarify, the disparity in sentences is probably due to both factors).

[Odin]

One of the reasons blacks are stuck in a rut is that if you are a successful black you are ostracized for being "too white".

[Kidlicious]

Poor Whitey. What will become of him?

[DanS]

Originally posted by rah
GePap, while you bring up a lot of valid points, none of them have anything to do with what I said. I know there are current inequities, I don't deny it. I'm just saying that by continually making themselves appear to be different by using their skin color as a reason to be different, they may be hurting their cause more than it is helping, if it makes people that are trying to treat them the same, think that maybe they don't want to be.
While there is still much racial hatred, there are many whites that are truely past it. These people should not be ignored or alianated.

I view this as a receding problem. As long as blacks believe they are not being discriminated against, they will not try to accentuate the differences that exist.

Of course, some might continue down that path. My brother thinks he's got some special connection to Germany because part of the family heritage is German from 170 years ago.

[Ramo]

So you are saying only black people use crack?

I'm saying that black people are more likely to use crack rather than powdered cocaine. Yeah I know, a crazy concept that - probabilities.

[Dis]

Originally posted by DanS


I view this as a receding problem. As long as blacks believe they are not being discriminated against, they will not try to accentuate the differences that exist.

Of course, some might continue down that path. My brother thinks he's got some special connection to Germany because part of the family heritage is German from 170 years ago.

hehe, I'm part native american, that's why I'm against you capitalists polluting my land

actually I'm an environmentalist for other reasons.

[Ramo]

Poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses didn't explicitly disenfranchise blacks. In fact, these laws were intended to, and had the effect of, disenfranchising poor whites as well. I suppose that means that there was no hint of racism in those laws.

[Elok]

When people talk about different penalties for crack, do these different penalties exceed even the natural considerations for crack as more intense, more short-lived, and more quickly addictive than garden-variety coke? Just for those I would consider crack more worthy of punishment.

While latinos and native americans are still discriminated against, they don't have anywhere near the cultural edginess that blacks and whites have going on. It's a lot more common for a hispanic person to just be though of as a person and get by, or fail to get by, on their own merits, without the constant awareness of differences that comes with black people. J. Lo and Salma Hayek can be thought of as just hot chicks in general, and nobody gives a rat's rear what their ethnicity is, at least around here in MD; you will never hear Halle Berry described as anything but "a talented black actress," kind of like senators have to refer to each other as "my distinguished colleague." It's not precisely racism, just this constant awareness that there's an old wound we're touching whenever there's black-white interaction, and I think that the militant nature of groups like NoI probably contributes at least a little bit to that atmosphere. Part of what made Martin Luther King so appealing, at least to me, is that he wasn't hung up on race. He didn't have a dream that one day black children would walk around in Kente cloth and spout facts about Benjamin Banneker, though I suppose he wouldn't have objected to that in principle, he had a dream that one day we could just be together and forget what race we are, as though it doesn't even exist. That's real equality.

[Ramo]

The mandatory minimums that Congress passed imposes a 100-times harsher penalty for crack. Are you trying to argue that crack is 100 times worse than powder cocaine?

[Tassadar500]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Yeah, American Indians sure have caught up. :roleyes: And Latinos too.

The Jews have.

[Sprayber]

I wonder how the attitudes between blacks in America and blacks in Africa would differ.

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by Elok
you will never hear Halle Berry described as anything but "a talented black actress,

This is a bit off-topic, but I wonder why Halle is considered a "black actress" She is half black, half white. Why isn't she referred to as bi-racial? Afterall, she's just as white as she is black. If she can legitimately be called black, couldn't she just as legitimately be called white?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Lord Nuclear
The Jews have.

Jew were oppressed in the United States? When did this happen?

[Moral Hazard]

I think a fairer comparison would be crack vs. Meth sentencing (they should be similiar but I doubt they are). Both are used by the poorer groups of their respective race. Where as coke is waste of money and more likely to be used by wealthier users, hence the difference in sentencing. It's also similar to comparing opium to heroin sentencing, the degrees are closer to morphine - heroin, but morphine is still used medicinally hence a lighter sentence IIRC. Plus If I were living in the inner cities, I would support strict sentencing for crack dealers, and could care less about coke dealers.

(aside)
I would like to say though the moderate blacks in congress are the ones the Democratic party should be listening to, Ford and Obama spring to mind. Even Al Sharpton has more appeal to me than a Hillary Clinton. Who despite whatever repositioning she tries is already poisoned. I hope Dean sabotages her bid for the Presidency.