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It sounds a little odd to me that people are objecting to enforcement of the law in "neighborhoods of color". Yes, enforcement of drug possession is probably ou
by ufmace 10y ago
It sounds a little odd to me that people are objecting to enforcement of the law in "neighborhoods of color". Yes, enforcement of drug possession is probably out of whack, but this isn't about that. We passed those laws, are we saying that the laws are bad, or that the laws are good, but "people of color" don't deserve to live under them? Do they not deserve to live in neighborhoods without broken windows and graffiti? Do they not deserve to not worry about getting robbed on the way home from work? Do they not deserve to live and work in buildings are properly maintained?
It seems like it's kind of a trap. If you agree with the frame of the article, then you have to conclude that either 1. We passed those laws to make our neighborhoods better, but minorities and the lower classes don't deserve that, so we should ignore some set of laws there, and that totally won't become apartheid or 2. Maybe all of these nanny-state laws made by wannabe social engineers aren't such a good idea after all, since they give the Government too much arbitrary power to be enforced on whoever they don't like this week, so we should repeal them and tell people to mind their own business when they come up with this stuff.
- jonathankoren 10y agoOr 3, you want the laws applied equally in all places and equally to all people. The problem isn't the law. The problem is the selective enforcement. It's the selective suspicion. It's the selective police state. Do you honestly believe that some cop in white suburbia is going to care about loose cigarettes? No way.
- ufmace 10y agoDo you honestly believe that anybody is selling loose cigarettes in suburbia? I wouldn't say that it's never happened, but I'd bet it's rare enough that even if cops made it a top priority, they'd have a tough time finding anybody doing it. But that doesn't really matter anyways. I thought we were talking about not throwing people in jail and giving them criminal records for petty crimes. If a black guy gets in trouble for, say, selling loose cigarettes, is he supposed to feel better knowing that if a white guy in a different neighborhood did the same thing, that guy would be getting in trouble too? Is that really the best we can do here? I'd rather try and find a way to not throw him in jail in the first place.
- jonathankoren 10y agoI knew white kids that sold loose cigarettes in school. Depends on where you look I guess. You're just upset you got called on a false dichotomy.