4 ms·

As an African-Canadian, it appears to the rest of the world that you have two different justice systems, and the one for people of colour and allegations of “dr

As an African-Canadian, it appears to the rest of the world that you have two different justice systems, and the one for people of colour and allegations of “drugs” works completely differently than the one for white Americans. I am skeptical that Americans of color will not be charged for drug crimes that cannot be proven by any reasonable standard, and I am also very much afraid that if someone is brought to the police's attention like this, they will be at risk of a wrongful prosecution, or worse. Just bringing a person of color’s name to the attention of their local law enforcement’s attention can create a risk of death in a traffic stop or no-knock search coupled with an itchy trigger finger. It shouldn’t be like this, but as long as it is, outing drug users to the police in any way contributes to the injustice in the American “justice” system.

mieseratte 8y ago
> As an African-Canadian, it appears to the rest of the world that you have two different justice systems, and the one for people of colour and allegations of “drugs” works completely differently than the one for white Americans. As an American, and one who grew up among the poor, and criminal elements of society in the "racist" deep south, I do believe you read a bit too much sensationalized news leading you to a wrong conclusion. However, you're right, there is a dual system. A system for the rich and a system for the poor.
- scarejunba 8y ago
  Interesting. That’s a testable hypothesis. If after controlling for income there is a difference in sentencing between races, then that’s evidence to reject the hypothesis that there is no racial disparity. I believe I once read something that makes me believe that we should indeed believe there is racial disparity but I can’t find it now. Pity.
  - mieseratte 8y ago
    > If after controlling for income there is a difference in sentencing between races, then that’s evidence to reject the hypothesis that there is no racial disparity. Well, logically speaking, you can't draw that conclusion.
    - scarejunba 8y ago
      I implicitly meant for similar severity of crime. Different distribution of crimes is a different discussion. Still testable, and I believe rejectable that race has no impact on sentencing.
  - crankylinuxuser 8y ago
    I've always liked this map to show the composition of prisons. https://demographics.virginia.edu/DotMap/ https://demographics.virginia.edu/DotMap/ As an aside: I'm a tall 30-something white male. I'm safe I'm not going to have the cops called on me with "$Action while black", and the assumption is that if I'm somewhere, I'm supposed to be there.
- s73v3r_ 8y ago
  As it turns out, that system is also pretty racist toward rich black people as well.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - mieseratte 8y ago
    > As it turns out, that system is also pretty racist toward rich black people as well. Which is exactly why OJ is in prison for murder.
    - s73v3r_ 8y ago
      One anecdote does not a trend make.
EpicEng 8y ago
>one for people of colour and allegations of “drugs” works completely differently than the one for white Americans. This is far more about social class ($$$) than color. I'm not saying there aren't racial injustices at play, but I promise you that whites (and anyone else) without means are treated similarly when they get busted. Don't completely buy into the picture painted by the media.
spraak 8y ago
I just wanted to make a kind of empty comment to say that I agree with you. Most of the replies to your comment say you're distorting the picture, and that it's only about wealth inequalities. However, even wealthy people of color experience these injustices, they most often though just have enough money to pay their way free.
- braythwayt 8y ago
  Americans want to believe that it’s about wealth disparity, because that allows moderates to believe that at some level, people are responsible for their own poverty, and if poverty is something people have control over, then they bear personal responsibility for being too poor to afford justice. Compound that with people disingenuousy promoting this narrative for their own political reasons, such as wanting to promote the idea that the inhumanly high incarceration rates are evidence of an inherent criminality, laziness, or both on the part of people of colour, and you get an oft-repeated explanation that should not be accepted without evidence. It might feel like it ought to be true, but it’s not.

mieseratte 8y ago

> As an African-Canadian, it appears to the rest of the world that you have two different justice systems, and the one for people of colour and allegations of “drugs” works completely differently than the one for white Americans. As an American, and one who grew up among the poor, and criminal elements of society in the "racist" deep south, I do believe you read a bit too much sensationalized news leading you to a wrong conclusion. However, you're right, there is a dual system. A system for the rich and a system for the poor.

scarejunba 8y ago
Interesting. That’s a testable hypothesis. If after controlling for income there is a difference in sentencing between races, then that’s evidence to reject the hypothesis that there is no racial disparity. I believe I once read something that makes me believe that we should indeed believe there is racial disparity but I can’t find it now. Pity.
- mieseratte 8y ago
  > If after controlling for income there is a difference in sentencing between races, then that’s evidence to reject the hypothesis that there is no racial disparity. Well, logically speaking, you can't draw that conclusion.
  - scarejunba 8y ago
    I implicitly meant for similar severity of crime. Different distribution of crimes is a different discussion. Still testable, and I believe rejectable that race has no impact on sentencing.
- crankylinuxuser 8y ago
  I've always liked this map to show the composition of prisons. https://demographics.virginia.edu/DotMap/ https://demographics.virginia.edu/DotMap/ As an aside: I'm a tall 30-something white male. I'm safe I'm not going to have the cops called on me with "$Action while black", and the assumption is that if I'm somewhere, I'm supposed to be there.
s73v3r_ 8y ago
As it turns out, that system is also pretty racist toward rich black people as well.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- mieseratte 8y ago
  > As it turns out, that system is also pretty racist toward rich black people as well. Which is exactly why OJ is in prison for murder.
  - s73v3r_ 8y ago
    One anecdote does not a trend make.

EpicEng 8y ago

>one for people of colour and allegations of “drugs” works completely differently than the one for white Americans. This is far more about social class ($$$) than color. I'm not saying there aren't racial injustices at play, but I promise you that whites (and anyone else) without means are treated similarly when they get busted. Don't completely buy into the picture painted by the media.

spraak 8y ago

I just wanted to make a kind of empty comment to say that I agree with you. Most of the replies to your comment say you're distorting the picture, and that it's only about wealth inequalities. However, even wealthy people of color experience these injustices, they most often though just have enough money to pay their way free.

braythwayt 8y ago
Americans want to believe that it’s about wealth disparity, because that allows moderates to believe that at some level, people are responsible for their own poverty, and if poverty is something people have control over, then they bear personal responsibility for being too poor to afford justice. Compound that with people disingenuousy promoting this narrative for their own political reasons, such as wanting to promote the idea that the inhumanly high incarceration rates are evidence of an inherent criminality, laziness, or both on the part of people of colour, and you get an oft-repeated explanation that should not be accepted without evidence. It might feel like it ought to be true, but it’s not.