A common talking point among leftist politicians and commentators is that harsh criminal penalties for controlled substances were crafted to incarcerate large numbers of racial minorities, thus separating them from the mainstream society. Former Socialist US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders parroted the view that strong drug policy was racially motivated during debates, and he was by no means the only one saying this.
“Fusion,” a far-left outlet that releases easy-to-digest videos of the horrible atrocities of US culture and government, released a video saying that drug-free school zones were racist. For context, these drug-free school zones make it illegal for the consumption of any controlled substance, even decriminalized ones, to be consumed within a certain radius of a school on public or private property. Watch the video below:
https://www.facebook.com/attn/videos/1636294026406050/?t=0
The issue here is that, wherever you stand on the effectiveness or necessity for stringent drug policy, to say that they are racist laws assumes an inherent predisposition on behalf of black and brown people to consume drugs, and that a crackdown on the consumption of rugs is a crackdown on minority communities at large. This, I believe, is the definition of a racist assertion.
We know by most statistics that, at least when it comes to soft drugs like marijuana, black, Latino, and white people seem to consume it in similar amounts, though arrests due to drug-related offenses are far higher among minorities. This is a nuanced issue with a lot of moving pieces, but essentially have more to do with policing, poverty, and crime than racial animus. However, in the eyes of leftists, the laws themselves are inherently racist.
This means leftists believe that people of colour are not capable of the intellectual or moral integrity to stay away from controlled substances, making them a vulnerable, incapable, drug-addicted group that can be put in jail cells by criminalizing an activity inherent to their nature. This is a despicable assertion to make, especially by a group who calls racism for even the most pedestrian incidents, and there should be no place for it in the political arena.
Emilio Garcia
Deputy Editor, The Unshackled
Host of the Front and Center Podcast
www.frontandcenter.net.au
@FrntAndCenter