Words from an amazon review of the book "The New Jim Crow," by Michelle Alexander ("Jim Crow laws were state and local statutes that legalized racial segregation.") In major US cities up to 80% of all young African American males now have a criminal record. Racial segregation is, by law, no longer legal. How do we then "keep them away" out of our lives? Criminalize the. In major US cities, eight out of ten black people have a criminal record, which means lifetime bans on voting and jury service as well as restrictions on access to public housing, employment, education and welfare benefits. For a minor offense" you can be subjected to discrimination, scorn, and exclusion for the rest of your life." Mass incarceration, she argues, has created a caste system whose members are "permanently barred by law and custom from mainstream society" on a scale "unparalleled in world history". The new segregation: permanently barred from mainstream society? How? Make them criminals. Society creates the crime the criminal then commits. over 31 million people have been arrested for drugs offences since the War on Drugs began. in 15 US states imprisonment of blacks on drugs charges is 20 to 50 times higher than that of whites After such figures, one must stop, think. If you are black, you are fifty times more likely to go to prison on drug charges. White guy & drugs? They let him go. Black guy. Fifty times more likely to go to prison The savage sentencing powers of judges are difficult to comprehend. a 10-year prison sentence can be imposed for possession of a small quantity of marijuana; a 5-year minimum sentence is mandatory for simple possession of cocaine life sentences regarded "perfectly appropriate" for first-time drug offenders. Even the death penalty is allowed for certain drugs-related crimes. Every movie I've seen depicts upper class white people using cocaine. They ask Robin Williams about the benefits of being rich and famous. His reply: "Better Drugs." We know rich white people use drugs. Can you see police raid a rich white guy's party knowing they will find cocaine -- and the rich white guys & gals will get mandatory 5-year minimum sentences? U.S. has highest rate of imprisonment in the world, imprisoning a much higher proportion of its population than, say, Russia, China, Iran or even apartheid South Africa. Or, "The New Jim Crow.," by Michelle Alexander
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I did not know that the US is top of the league. What a league to top!