War On Drugs Promotes Racism

All through the nineties, nothing had changed. There still was the high rates of incarcerations and drugs were still making their way into the streets. When George W. Bush arrived at the White House the war on drugs had diminished yet he distributed more money than before presidents. The era of Bush saw a rapid increase of domestic militarization of domestic law enforcements. For instance, there would be around 50,000 paramilitary-style SWAT raids on Americans every year during the his reign. However of that 50,000 at least 40,000 were people of color and of the 40,000 there was nearly a ninety to hundred percent chance of prison time for nonviolent drug offenses. While the law enforcement was getting militarized they would primarily target

To be honest, if a police officer or any law enforcement used the tactics used in the inner cities against minorities in a white middle class neighborhood would be fired. The war on drugs is another tool to enslave African American and ensured their continued oppression writes Deborah Small the author of the article “The War on drugs Promotes Racism”. She continues saying that drug laws are enforced in a way that is racially biased in midst stating that blacks make up thirteen percent of drug users, seventy four percent of drug users sent to prison are people of color. She also claims that sentences for using or possessing crack cocaine-typically used by blacks- are hundred percent more harsh than than those using powdered cocaine, most commonly used by whites. It is relevant to understand the current prison-industrial complex to know that slavery held a preeminent position in America’s colonial society. With nearly 2 million people behind bars, it is undisputed to that today the principal engine driving the criminal justice system and the high rates of incarcerations is the United States government’s relentless and racist pursuit of the “War on Drugs.” The drug war has replaced slavery and segregation as the main method of maintaining America’s long history of racial oppression. She then presents a metaphor explaining how today's criminal justice system is like a pipeline of a slave ship, transporting human cargo along the trade routes from black and brown communities; through the middle passage of the police precincts, holding pens, detention centers and courtrooms; to downstate and upstate prisons; back to communities as unrehabilitated escapees, and back to prison cells in a vicious cycle. All in the stance of preventing drugs from the streets. If the government wants to combat drugs they should educate the youth not imprisoned them for almost their whole life. As I