I don't see a connection to race there. I'd prefer to follow the science on the effects of various drugs that are criminalized or de-criminalized.

It's the disparate impact connection. The folks arrested under drug laws, especially possession laws, are disproportionally brown or black. Therefore, enforcing those laws reinforces the prison pipeline and the carceral state, saddling a disproportional number of brown/black defendants and their communities with criminal records and missing members.

I'm talking about things like refusing to rent apartments to blacks simply because they're black. Or calling the police because a black man is walking along the street. Or calling ICE to report two people conversing in Spanish.

I think most Trump voters fully agree the first is racist and have no trouble with it being illegal. Or that the other two are probably racist, and agree that shouldn't be done - that if literally the only thing going on is that a black man is walking on a street, or that two people are talking in Spanish, that calling the authorities is not okay. But I think they'd dispute whether any of the folks they vote for believe that it's okay.

US Policy FAQ

---

Contact Shrewd'm
Contact the developer of these message boards.