Sacramento News & Review, 27 Sep 2012 – Re "Jim Crow 2012" by Jeff vonKaenel (SN&R Greenlight, September 13): The drug war has been waged in a racist manner since its inception. The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 was preceded by a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment. Opium was identified with Chinese laborers, marijuana with Mexicans and cocaine with African-Americans. Racial profiling continues to be the norm, despite similar rates of drug use for minorities and whites. Support for the drug war would end overnight if whites were incarcerated for drugs at the same rate as minorities. The drug war is a cultural inquisition, not a public-health campaign.
posted on September 28, 2012 by
