4 ms·

> We keep a large percentage of reproductive-age black males locked up where they can't father or raise children. To tie this into eugenics I think you'd have

> We keep a large percentage of reproductive-age black males locked up where they can't father or raise children. To tie this into eugenics I think you'd have to make the case that black people who aren't criminals are being unfairly targeted for imprisonment. Otherwise it's just a side effect of criminal behaviour, and criminals end up in prison regardless of ethnicity. I'm not suggesting it would be difficult to make that case. But some people tend to disregard systemic bias, so it would seem that everything is fine. If you don't want to be imprisoned, all you have to do is stop acting like a criminal.

mjburgess 3y ago
you'd only need to make the case that laws were created to systematically target black people and hence rope them into prison slavery this is a fairly easy case to make, see, for example the reason for the current distribution of race in us prisons
- lupusreal 3y ago
  A racial discrepancy exists in the demographics of those convicted of murder. Furthermore, most of the black men in prison for murder were convicted of killing another black person (most murders are intraracial). Do you mean to suggest that the laws against murder, which put black murderers away for killing other black people, were created to systematically target black men?
  - mjburgess 3y ago
    nope. you would indeed need more evidence than mere racial disparity in the distribution of inmates. thankfully such evidence exists, not least in the base rates of crimes in both populations compared to their prison populations -- but even such things arent needed, we have legislators on record explaining the motivations of the drug laws (et al.) there are people alive today whose grandparents were born slaves, we need not pretend we live in some world where society operates on egalitarian principles. The last slaves died in the 40s, 50s; institutional racism as an explicit policy of the state and of core economic and political institutions carried on until at least the 90s. this isnt speculation
    - robertlagrant 3y ago
      > not least in the base rates of crimes in both populations compared to their prison populations Is this calibrated per severity of crime? The statement as it stands seems to general to support this case.

mjburgess 3y ago

you'd only need to make the case that laws were created to systematically target black people and hence rope them into prison slavery this is a fairly easy case to make, see, for example the reason for the current distribution of race in us prisons

lupusreal 3y ago
A racial discrepancy exists in the demographics of those convicted of murder. Furthermore, most of the black men in prison for murder were convicted of killing another black person (most murders are intraracial). Do you mean to suggest that the laws against murder, which put black murderers away for killing other black people, were created to systematically target black men?
- mjburgess 3y ago
  nope. you would indeed need more evidence than mere racial disparity in the distribution of inmates. thankfully such evidence exists, not least in the base rates of crimes in both populations compared to their prison populations -- but even such things arent needed, we have legislators on record explaining the motivations of the drug laws (et al.) there are people alive today whose grandparents were born slaves, we need not pretend we live in some world where society operates on egalitarian principles. The last slaves died in the 40s, 50s; institutional racism as an explicit policy of the state and of core economic and political institutions carried on until at least the 90s. this isnt speculation
  - robertlagrant 3y ago
    > not least in the base rates of crimes in both populations compared to their prison populations Is this calibrated per severity of crime? The statement as it stands seems to general to support this case.