Three Hemp-Huffing Presidents, and the New Jim Crow

[Ganjarden]

Anybody who ever reflected on the evidence for as much as a minute knows that Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush all smoked pot. Obama admitted it, Bush never really denied it, and Clinton (ha ha!) "didn't inhale."

So if smoking pot doesn't mess you up too much to be President, then what's the problem with pot?

The problem is shameles and hypocritical politicians sucking up to tight-assed low-IQ no-info hoodoos in Alabama and South Dakota, who fear that their little Barbies and Kens will end up in the gutter if they sample the demon weed, although...

Since 1992, your chance of getting elected President without a whole lotta preliminary tokin' has been zero.

But while Obama is prancing around the Oval Office and laughing at the net-roots because they made legalizing marijuana and ending the "War on Drugs" #1 and #2 on Obama's own bullshit website Ideas for Change in America...

While Obama is prancing around the Oval Office and enforcing even the very few drug-laws that he promised not to enforce...

Meanwhile the "War on Drugs" continues to decimate black communities, as described in a excellent new book by legal scholar Michelle Alexander...

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

AMY GOODMAN: Nearly half of America's young black men are behind bars or have been labeled felons for life? That's an astounding figure. Also, what does it mean in terms of their rights for the rest of their lives?

MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Yes, thanks largely to the war on drugs, a war that has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color, even though studies have consistently shown that people of color are no more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites. The war on drugs waged in these ghetto communities has managed to brand as felons millions of people of color for relatively minor, nonviolent drug offenses. And once branded a felon, they're ushered into a permanent second-class status, not unlike the one we supposedly left behind. Those labeled felons may be denied the right to vote, are automatically excluded from juries, and my be legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education, public benefits, much like their grandparents or great grandparents may have been discriminated against during the Jim Crow era.

In fact, in 2005, four out of five drug arrests were for possession. Only one out of five were for sales.

AMY GOODMAN: Yes, I just wanted to bring it up to President Obama, because this piece you wrote, very interesting, at tomdispatch.com called "The Age of Obama as Racial Nightmare." Explain.

MICHELLE ALEXANDER: What is the system designed to do? The system is designed to send you right back to prison, which is, in fact, what happens to the vast majority of people who are released. About 70 percent of former prisoners are returned within three years. And the majority of those who are returned are returned within three months, because the obstacles, the legal barriers to just surviving on the outside, are so great. I'm often–you know, people often say to me, "Well, I know somebody who is a felon and who managed to get a job. You know, it's possible to get a job," they say.

Well, it may be possible, but what kind of job? Why is it that, you know, our young kids, young black and brown kids, are expected to be locked into low-wage jobs for life, if they're lucky enough to get them, but kids in other communities are given the opportunity to go on to college, to compete for a full range of job opportunities? During the Jim Crow era, the problem wasn't that black people couldn't get jobs; it was that they were locked permanently in a lower tier of jobs. And that's the reality.

Considering the shameless hypocrisy and downright idiocy of politics in America, maybe it isn't surprising that after 40 years of failure, the "War on Drugs" is still fully funded and still destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of black Americans...

But how many people who voted for "Hope and Change" with Barack Obama foresaw that they were only electing a new Enforcer-in-Chief of the new Jim Crow?


NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: AlterNet
Author: Jacob Freeze
Contact: AlterNet
Copyright: 2010 AlterNet
Website: Three Hemp-Huffing Presidents, and the New Jim Crow

 

[Oddnonsmoker]

The problem is shameles and hypocritical politicians sucking up to tight-assed low-IQ no-info hoodoos in Alabama and South Dakota, who fear that their little Barbies and Kens will end up in the gutter if they sample the demon weed, although...

That's a pretty profound accusation there, but it's true nonetheless. The only reason the WoD still continues to have public support is that uninformed, unintellectual people still believe what their government and their preacher feeds them. Many near-fundamentalists will consider any new worldly pleasure a sin, and all they know is that sin causes people to turn deviant. Seriously, I have known people that will consider a children's cartoon a sin because their child enjoys it.

 

[Colum]

Convicted felons can't vote. If that many blacks convicted of a felony can't vote, which political party does that benefit? Which party is the most outspoken in favor of continuing these stupid, stupid laws? Hmmmm. . . .

 

[PatrizioD]

Convicted felons can't vote. If that many blacks convicted of a felony can't vote, which political party does that benefit? Which party is the most outspoken in favor of continuing these stupid, stupid laws? Hmmmm. . . .

Laws in most states say that after completion of sentence, felons CAN reassert their voting rights. There is no federal law that bars convicted felons from voting, although there are aspects in the Voting Rights Act that can be interpreted for such purposes. Certain states even allow inmates to vote from jail.

 

[Slowpuffer]

Anybody who ever reflected on the evidence for as much as a minute knows that Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush all smoked pot. Obama admitted it, Bush never really denied it, and Clinton (ha ha!) "didn't inhale."

So if smoking pot doesn't mess you up too much to be President, then what's the problem with pot?

The problem is shameles and hypocritical politicians sucking up to tight-assed low-IQ no-info hoodoos in Alabama and South Dakota, who fear that their little Barbies and Kens will end up in the gutter if they sample the demon weed, although...

Since 1992, your chance of getting elected President without a whole lotta preliminary tokin' has been zero.

But while Obama is prancing around the Oval Office and laughing at the net-roots because they made legalizing marijuana and ending the "War on Drugs" #1 and #2 on Obama's own bullshit website Ideas for Change in America...

While Obama is prancing around the Oval Office and enforcing even the very few drug-laws that he promised not to enforce...

Meanwhile the "War on Drugs" continues to decimate black communities, as described in a excellent new book by legal scholar Michelle Alexander...

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

AMY GOODMAN: Nearly half of America's young black men are behind bars or have been labeled felons for life? That's an astounding figure. Also, what does it mean in terms of their rights for the rest of their lives?

MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Yes, thanks largely to the war on drugs, a war that has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color, even though studies have consistently shown that people of color are no more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites. The war on drugs waged in these ghetto communities has managed to brand as felons millions of people of color for relatively minor, nonviolent drug offenses. And once branded a felon, they're ushered into a permanent second-class status, not unlike the one we supposedly left behind. Those labeled felons may be denied the right to vote, are automatically excluded from juries, and my be legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education, public benefits, much like their grandparents or great grandparents may have been discriminated against during the Jim Crow era.

In fact, in 2005, four out of five drug arrests were for possession. Only one out of five were for sales.

AMY GOODMAN: Yes, I just wanted to bring it up to President Obama, because this piece you wrote, very interesting, at tomdispatch.com called "The Age of Obama as Racial Nightmare." Explain.

MICHELLE ALEXANDER: What is the system designed to do? The system is designed to send you right back to prison, which is, in fact, what happens to the vast majority of people who are released. About 70 percent of former prisoners are returned within three years. And the majority of those who are returned are returned within three months, because the obstacles, the legal barriers to just surviving on the outside, are so great. I'm often–you know, people often say to me, "Well, I know somebody who is a felon and who managed to get a job. You know, it's possible to get a job," they say.

Well, it may be possible, but what kind of job? Why is it that, you know, our young kids, young black and brown kids, are expected to be locked into low-wage jobs for life, if they're lucky enough to get them, but kids in other communities are given the opportunity to go on to college, to compete for a full range of job opportunities? During the Jim Crow era, the problem wasn't that black people couldn't get jobs; it was that they were locked permanently in a lower tier of jobs. And that's the reality.

Considering the shameless hypocrisy and downright idiocy of politics in America, maybe it isn't surprising that after 40 years of failure, the "War on Drugs" is still fully funded and still destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of black Americans...

But how many people who voted for "Hope and Change" with Barack Obama foresaw that they were only electing a new Enforcer-in-Chief of the new Jim Crow?


NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 Magazine - Cannabis Culture News & Reviews
Source: AlterNet
Author: Jacob Freeze
Contact: AlterNet
Copyright: 2010 AlterNet
Website: Three Hemp-Huffing Presidents, and the New Jim Crow

A big old amen to that !! And i'm a white boy !!

 

[Nicademus]

I think it more discrimination of poor people, not really a racial issue, though it turns into one in practice.

Poor people can't defend themselves in the legal system. Cops and DA's know this and that is why they target minority's. They know that if you are brown,black or yellow you likely don't have the means to defend yourself and therefore you are an easy conviction. That's why richer people don't get targeted by law enforcement. They can afford a lawyer. If they do target a rich person, the first thing they do is steal there assets and property so they don't have the means to defend themselves. Government is a racket!!