The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved a bill to reduce the disparities in sentences handed down for people convicted of crack and powder cocaine charges, but some question whether the legislation goes deep enough in addressing the problem.
“What we have is progress, it’s not justice,” said Jennifer Bellamy, criminal justice legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Text continues after gallery …
“There still is no reason to say that crack and cocaine are different,” Bellamy told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
Under the Fair Sentencing Act of 2009, a person convicted of crack possession gets the same mandatory jail sentence as someone with 100 times the quantity of powder cocaine. Because crack is prevalent in black communities, this 100-to-one ratio has sent large numbers of black men to jail for longer periods.
Under the measure, approved by a voice vote, the ratio would be reduced to 18-to-one.
RELATED STORIES
CALL TO ACTION: Change The Crack Vs. Cocaine Sentencing Guidelines
Man Tried To Buy Crack With A Credit Card
at 8:48 pm
The notion of crack cocaine having uniquely addictive properties that powder cocaine doesn’t is an absolute fallacy. It’s a cheaper, more fleeting high. Simple as that. The metabolic reaction caused by any substance is particular to each individual. Most, but surely not all, crack users happen to be poor, marginalized, ill-educated, despondent, and poorly fed, among other things. So, having this particular personal profile would cause a user to have an addictive relationship to ANY substance.. including fat and sugar. Who here can say that they don’t fiend for a Big Mac RIGHT AFTER eating one? Those who say that the so-called war on drugs hasn’t worked, fail to read between the lies and see the actual purpose of this government program. The goal is the perpetual incarceration of poor Black and Brown youth, whose disillusionment with the educational system and narrowing economic opportunities causes them to make irresponsible choices fraught with the potential of long-term consequence in hopes of short-term gain, which turns them into fodder for the machine. Slavery and Jim Crow segregation didn’t so much end as much as they were merely transmuted into a different institution altogether: the tracking of Black people into prisons, where they become property of the state. When free, they lose almost all rights of citizenship, voting, employment opportunities, and dignity as men and women, leading them into the recidivist cycle. When examined with a critical eye, the link between the educational system and the prison-industrial complex cannot be discounted. Simply put, the better the student, the better the life choices. A steady diet of Wacka Flocka and the ignorant “swag” mentality, diminishing hope, pride, self love, and the continued dumbing down of our culture only serves to pave a yellow brick road from our classrooms to the penitentiary.
at 12:11 pm
nanastroker put down that glass dick beyatchhhhh lmao!
at 11:16 am
BOUT PHUCCIN TIME! And I’m co-singin _A_ on understanding addiction, because WE ARE ALL addicted to some form of emotion. We just go thru different avenues of securing that emotional state for our selves, from working out to taking drugs or your favorite food. Addiction is a humans nature… that’s why they call us creatures of habit!
& MR_NANASTROKER on “this is still an unbalanced LAW (18-1)??? the fuk is that
they always want 2 GIVE YOU what they feel is fair and just…..but justice has never been fair nor just so I hope people will catch the “here nlgger!” reference they offer…notice it comes in very small percentages or in A menial form”
Well put!
at 3:31 pm
Got to remember many of our so called leaders hailed the tougher drug sentences as great tools in the war on drugs. Mr. Cosby himself said ” if you are not selling drugs then you don’t have to worry about it”. Our so called leadership and so called rich and famous are a joke.
at 10:05 am
@MR_NANASTROKER, yeah, I can’t say I was disappointed with the way it turned out because it was exactly as I expected. I was glad to see and hear from the brother (name escapes me now) who authored the book “brainwashed.” I heard him interviewed on another show and his book sounds real interesting. Really just a new spin and insight on an old issue.
Mr_Nanastroker, you know you my boy, but we definitely disagree on the Malcolm X thing though and I just leave that right there. Farrakhan wasted his time being there though, those others are not talking about self sufficiency, or doing for self, so I’m just not sure what the purpose of him showing up is, other than adding to the minstrel effect of this gathering.
@Daup06. I personally am NOT in favor of legalizing drugs. In fact, I differ with the Libertarian party on MANY issues that have to do with freedom of choice. I’m not in favor of Freedom of choice, I’m in favor of Freedom of an INFORMED choice. I will only explain to you what I mean if you ask. The fact of the matter is, the only issues I agree with Ron Paul on is, Fed Transparency, eliminating the IRS, decentralizing Government, less Government intervention around the world. This is why, I technically don’t consider myself a Lib. I also agree with some positions of the Democrats and Republicans, but not enough of either, to support them and thus, I don’t get into politics, because politics dictates you choose one or the other, and to me that’s non productive.
at 6:18 am
_A_
Also did you notice that the Womben of the panel sit that hot shlt as best as could be told…..Tavis SMILEY went around the table and spoke 2 the “men” but when he got 2 the first womban Mauvee she shltted on them….next was Tillman the Hatwoman she spit that fire……I mean all the womben(xcept the one that came on her own recognance and works in the W.H.) spit that shlt even the young sister full of fire…..that is why the white womben get them weak azz nlggers because that fire right there you can only xtinguish with wisdom of how 2 love the Womban….the TRUE WOMBAN!
back 2 it tho, know after the womben incited the fire within know these weak azz BOULE nlggas wanna try 2 one-up them for issuing that type of fire within the discussion….additionally Farrakhan offered much 2 the panel but the public was disenfranchised
1 more thing
Farrakhan spoke of how the Media is inciting a rage within Amerykah that an assassination attempt MAY BE in the works towards OBAMA
he said that he didn’t want Michelle and the girls 2 become fatherless like Martin L King’s wife…..but never said the same of Malcolm’s wife
and the whole melodramatic gathering was about MONEY nothing of SocioEconomic Value was spoken just bail US out like you did Wall Street
but Minister Farrakhan was trying 2 get them moneyhungry nlggas 2 see that AMERICA IS BANKRUPT! man shared this view 3times but they still continued 2 BEG for MONEY….AMAZING
and the only thing I could hear from JJacksons mouth was “we should cut that nlggers balls off” and a whole lotta weak azz BOULE agenda he was promoting
at 6:01 am
Deyanju1
2 just simply “SAY” what another man/womban should do is easy, now the action and the ADEQUATE means of growth that one’s life may deal with will either choose that person 2 take a path that was not one of choosing, but one INFLICTED upon him/her
now I dont want 2 engage in A battle of witless rhetoric versus common sense and the REAL DEAL of the development and rearing of our children within ZERO SocioEconomical communities that are so deep in dispair that the PARENTS cannot FOCUS ENOUGH WISDOM from a lifetime of TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS 2 spend the next 21Years showing their child(ren) the ILL A/Effects of substandard living conditions within a SYSTEMATIC WHITE SUPREMACIST NATION that continues 2 try 2 keep us in bondage…..through the Educational System, Menial Career choices, Housing, Telievision, Mass Media & last but not least your HOUSEHOLD
so 2 read you say how EASY IT IS 2 steer away from choosing 2 starve or engage within a sub-lucrative venture 2 maintain A livable status and the search for employment…even the most MINUTE(m-eye-noot) of labor/Job is miserably DIFFICULT 2 come by…..the disparity of choosing 2 go 2 School versus the embodiment of what they step outside of their front door and witness that this is EVIDENT! because this is proven in ACTION the transfer of product and Money!….which will one choose?
the eye can ONLY see aS far as it has been tested 2 see
-MR_NS
P.S.
please dont post anymore weak azz comments on these sites I kno many are here 2 cause discourse and slander the debate by offering braindead comments but you yourself claim 2 go get an education…well, I want U 2 EAT what you are FEEDING! go get an education, I HIGHLY doubt that you have any
at 9:44 pm
Get an Education, go to college….and you wont have to sell drugs brother…its that SIMPLE.
at 8:27 pm
It’s about time law makers fix that.
at 7:14 pm
@_A_
Can you tell me what the positive benefits would be to the African American community if drugs were legalized. And do you believe there would be any negative residual effects
at 4:02 pm
_A_
If you wasn’t someone of importance(politician/minister) you didn’t get in or involved because they just wanted 2 spew more rhetoric
nlggers talking but aint saying nothing as usual
just everyone there letting it be known that 2 keep us quiet send that package and we will dispell this loud noise we are making
the CHOSEN public that was there was most likely family memebrs or associates of the BOULE that filled the room but not one speck of any people that can ADD ON or comment 2 further the agenda……because its not an agenda……it is more of the Jesse Jackson syndrome than anything
at 1:10 pm
What is this Brotha’s Bashing Day,did someone take a brain roid stimulant shot and decided now it’s time to insult people,our ideology may not be the same but we all have the right to opinion,This bill is a little late and irrelevant,all the Drug Cartel is going to do is sell different Drugs now.
at 8:53 am
@slit-Lcka005. Education ALWAYS has something to do with it. Drug/alcohol addicts are just not made that way. People just don’t get up one day and decide to smoke crack because they have nothing better to do. MANY do so, because of an inability to cope with an issue that they are finding difficulties dealing with naturally. There were many dudes who became addicts in vietnam for instance because they couldn’t cope with seeing dudes they just had breakfast with, have their head or legs blown off hours later. Same is going on in BOTH Iraq wars. Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here, I’m in no way justifying their behavior, and neither would they. It gets to a point where your body gets physically reliant on the object of choice (meaning there are millions of things people get addicted to) and you start to need it more than you want it. There isn’t one crack, drug or alcohol addict out here, that if given the “choice” wouldn’t stop today. But it’s just not as simple as that, and this is why I say proper education is needed when it comes to dealing with that.
Yeah, I’m not sure how someone says, “100:1 is unfair, but 18:1 is” That is laughable, and gives the observer a clear insight into what type of minds we have as elected officials.
One question Slit. You’re a Libertarian, how do you reconcile the fact that Libertarians believe that ALL drugs should be legal, and the individual should be free to use if he wants to?
@Mr_NanaSTROKER, did you get to make it over to Tavis Smiley’s gathering yesterday? I watched damn near the whole thing. Once again, LONG on speeches, and short on implementable ideas, moving forward. It’s crazy, but it’s nothing more than an intellectual concert (pardon the loose use of the word intellectual) I was watching it on Ustream, and they had a chat board, and every other person couldn’t wait to hear from Farrakhan. It was insane. Everytime Tavis went to another speaker and it wasn’t LF, the people in the chat room were going crazy. I was go in on most of them, then I got kicked out the chat room…lol..anyway, what did he have to say, that these people haven’t heard millions of times before? He wasted his time, because while he was talking about doing for self, every body else was talking about begging/demanding Obama to do more…What a joke.
at 1:12 am
^5 dat
at 12:13 am
_A_
you are trying 2 reason with A guy/girl that has the mentality of a 5 year old
nlggers will always spew ingorant comments but have nothin positive, motivational nor offer any form of solvable methods…just nlggerish rhetoric that the kkracka love 2 read
lowlife bastards
Additionally
this is still an unbalanced LAW (18-1)??? the fuk is that
they always want 2 GIVE YOU what they feel is fair and just…..but justice has never been fair nor just so I hope people will catch the “here nlgger!” reference they offer…notice it comes in very small percentages or in A menial form
at 9:38 pm
_A_ You and I usually see eye to eye, but not on this one. Addicts arte addicts because they wnat to be. No drug dealer on Earth ever forced anyone to ruin their lives, by smoking, shooting up, sniffing or whatever. I also despise alcoholics. Unlike you and I who had no choice in the gender we were born, or the race we came from, we however have a f**king choice on whether, we suck on that glass dick, or shoot s**t in our arms that make us steal DVD players, and sell our bodies. Education has ss**t to do with it.
at 8:27 pm
Any fool talking about putting addicts on an island and blowing up, probably deserves to be there himself. People shouldn’t open their mouth if they don’t understand the power of addiction. I worked with them for 4 years, and although, I was never as ignorant as the commenter 4 down from me, I definitely went in with no real understanding of what addiction was all about. That has definitely changed. Funny how education dispels ignorance. You should try it sometime!
at 8:19 pm
Its easy to blame the person who is using and dealin, even tho they was caught up in the trap. No one wanna point at who is behind the operation.
In the 70’s coke prices was at $100 a gram, today its $50-$60 a gram depending how much its been cut.
Crack hit the scene in the late 70’s- early 80’s. With coke prices at $100 a gram at the time, who came up with the idea to user boiling water, coke, and baking soda to turn coke into crack? Whoever came up with the idea knew it was addictive, so why did they flood he black neighborhoods with it?
Since you need coke to make crack, then why did they give more time to people who was in possesion of crack than coke?
at 6:45 pm
@ slit
how dare you make sense! they going to to assasinate you on here for telling the truth!
at 4:31 pm
I think we need to lock up the criminals who put this s**t in this f**ked up ass country….i dont kno one black man that owns a boat
at 3:58 pm
Awwww F**k tha crackheads! I hate them and junkies with a passion! No one forced these f**ks to take crack and heroin, and become complete f**king losers! Putem all on an island and blow it the f**k up!
at 10:44 am
@Casey
Can you please address the residual effects of, this highly addictive drug, crack cocaine? All of these “poor unfairly treated non violent offenders”. Give me a break. How are they getting the money to buy the crack? Casey, have you thought about that? What are the residual effects of crack cocaine? Let me give you a few; More baby momma’s, crack babies, baby momma’s leaving their kids alone to go and get high (for days), baby momma’s selling their little girls and boys into prostitution, kids stealing from their parents and families, increased amounts of homeless families and young adults, increased petty crime in the community by crack heads to fund their addiction, ie house break-ins, car break-ins, shop lifting ect…. Don’t give me that well if they are caught for those crimes bs…. There are not enough police to catch every crime a petty criminal commits. For every crime a criminal gets convicted of he or she probably has committed at least 10 or more additional crimes
Casey, I’ve been reading your columns for the last couple of months. Your thought process is so basic, simplistic and idealistic. I have asked you numerous times how old you were and you have not answered. Why? Your age is relevant because I don’t see any real world wisdom in your columns. Wisdom one get’s from people who have a lot of life experiences nor do I see any depth of intellectual thought that comes from a young FREE thinker. The only thing I have seen is a bunch of ultra liberal talking points. It’s not your opinions, it’s the lack of a depth and understanding of an issue that you express in your opinion articles. I’m really disappointed that this is the #1 black NEWS website and this is the best that they can put out in daily opinion pieces. It’s insulting. I fell like I’m reading a 15 minute high school essay on an issue. I’m done. I will have more to say in the future.