Discussion Post #6

   Since the mid-1980s, the United States has pursued aggressive law enforcement strategies to curtail the use and distribution of illegal drugs. The costs and benefits of this national “war on drugs” remain fiercely debated. What is not debatable, however, is that this ostensibly race-neutral effort has been waged primarily against black Americans. Relative to their numbers in the general population and among drug offenders, black Americans are disproportionately arrested, convicted, and incarcerated on drug charges.

Public officials have been relatively untroubled by the disproportionate arrest and incarceration of blacks for drug offenses. Their relative indifference-and that of the public at large-no doubt reflects, to varying degrees, partisan politics, “tough on crime” punitive philosophies, misinformation about drugs, an uncritical embrace of drug war logic, and misguided notions about the needs of poor urban communities. But to some extent it also reflects conscious and unconscious views about race. Indeed, those views have been woven into the very fabric of American anti-drug efforts, influencing the definition of the “drug problem” and the nature of the response to it.

Whites are using more, but Blacks are being arrested more. Thoughts? i need this done 150 words.

Homework #11

Go to the following site: https://www.innocenceproject.org/. You’ll need to really look around, click on the tabs, etc.

1. Discuss when the IP started, by whom, and the mission.

2. Pick a person and discuss his or her story. 

3. Find the information about the Innocence Project in Oklahoma. What is their address? What kind of cases (8 of them) do they accept?  i need this done 250 words.

Homework #12

Joe vs. José. Who Gets a Job? 

Watch this short Buzzfeed video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR7SG2C7IVU 

Then, answer the following questions: 

• Do you think José’s story provides evidence of racial/ethnic discrimination in employment? Why or why not? 

• José is just one person. Does his experience fit in with a broader trend? Is there other evidence to suggest that José’s experience is pervasive?  I need this done 250 words.