4 ms·

> do you think Obama was in on it? i find it fascinating how to some folks, pointing at obama's ethnic background is apparently some kind of knockdown argument

by abiox 8y ago

> do you think Obama was in on it? i find it fascinating how to some folks, pointing at obama's ethnic background is apparently some kind of knockdown argument.

Lionsion 8y ago
> i find it fascinating how to some folks, pointing at obama's ethnic background is apparently some kind of knockdown argument. It's pretty close to a knockdown argument against someone whose position is US government policy is to imprison black people on account of their ethnicity. The great-grandparent comment may have been suggesting that. However, she was too vague to be sure.
- creaghpatr 8y ago
  >against someone whose position is US government policy is to imprison black people on account of their ethnicity Can you provide a source for this wild claim?
  - Lionsion 8y ago
    > Can you provide a source for this wild claim? The commenter I responded to was so vague, that they could have been making that claim. After all, they were likely drawing parallels between the situation in the OP and the US. But who knows what they really thought; they never clarified. I called that out at the time and in every comment since.
  - Maybestring 8y ago
    That's not even a claim.
- chickenfries 8y ago
  So I think most people would describe mass incarceration as a systemic issue, not one that any individual president or administration is wholly responsible for. The President is not an absolute monarch who can impose their will all throughout the US government... That being said, it's just plain easy to find actual incidences where US policy was explicitly racist in it's intent and effect. https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-rich... > "You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities," Ehrlichman said. "We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
- abiox 8y ago
  > It's pretty close to a knockdown argument against someone whose position is US government policy is to imprison black people on account of their ethnicity. it's not, not even slightly, as far as i can tell. what makes you feel this is the case?
  - Lionsion 8y ago
    > it's not, not even slightly, as far as i can tell. what makes you feel this is the case? If there was a high level policy to explicitly imprison African Americans (rather than one that disproportionately imprisons blacks because of complicated circumstances), it's hard to believe a black president would support it or allow it to continue.

by abiox 8y ago

> do you think Obama was in on it? i find it fascinating how to some folks, pointing at obama's ethnic background is apparently some kind of knockdown argument.

Lionsion 8y ago

> i find it fascinating how to some folks, pointing at obama's ethnic background is apparently some kind of knockdown argument. It's pretty close to a knockdown argument against someone whose position is US government policy is to imprison black people on account of their ethnicity. The great-grandparent comment may have been suggesting that. However, she was too vague to be sure.

creaghpatr 8y ago
>against someone whose position is US government policy is to imprison black people on account of their ethnicity Can you provide a source for this wild claim?
- Lionsion 8y ago
  > Can you provide a source for this wild claim? The commenter I responded to was so vague, that they could have been making that claim. After all, they were likely drawing parallels between the situation in the OP and the US. But who knows what they really thought; they never clarified. I called that out at the time and in every comment since.
- Maybestring 8y ago
  That's not even a claim.
chickenfries 8y ago
So I think most people would describe mass incarceration as a systemic issue, not one that any individual president or administration is wholly responsible for. The President is not an absolute monarch who can impose their will all throughout the US government... That being said, it's just plain easy to find actual incidences where US policy was explicitly racist in it's intent and effect. https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-rich... > "You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities," Ehrlichman said. "We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
abiox 8y ago
> It's pretty close to a knockdown argument against someone whose position is US government policy is to imprison black people on account of their ethnicity. it's not, not even slightly, as far as i can tell. what makes you feel this is the case?
- Lionsion 8y ago
  > it's not, not even slightly, as far as i can tell. what makes you feel this is the case? If there was a high level policy to explicitly imprison African Americans (rather than one that disproportionately imprisons blacks because of complicated circumstances), it's hard to believe a black president would support it or allow it to continue.