You probably thought Oprah was one of the “good ones” until she endorsed Obama, since he tried teh drugs back in his youth and lived up to your stereotypes.

It’s interesting that you need statistics to prove that many blacks in prison are there for non-violent, victimless offenses while you are able to discern, ostensibly sans statistics, that blacks are criminals because of Ludacris and Tupac.

2) I think the reason that those predominantly black cities have so much problem is a cultural issue. Black pop culture is particularly degenerate. It glorifies crime and anti-social behavior. Imagine if white communities were such that people looked up to criminal, sociopathic white trash, while saying “you actin’ asian/jewish” to any white person who tries to make something of themselves.

Now, how many people are in jail for the non-violent offense of drug use - mere possession, etc? That’s the difference to me - impact. Far more blacks are in jail solely for having some dope in their coat pocket at the wrong time, compared to white people who beat up blacks and got tagged with the hate crime charge on top of it.

I agree that both laws are asinine. That doesn’t mean that something shouldn’t be done. And in terms of priorities, if whites that are prone to violence sit in jail for a while as we advocate for non-violent black offenders to be released, I’m okay with that.

Finally, you seemed to agree with chiuninho’s assessment that the American cities with the highest crime rates have entrenched democratic administrations and one other factor. You don’t seem to believe that the second factor is urban poverty or any genetic issues associated with minorities. So, what do you think it is?

Come join us, as a guest speaker who never served and a bunch of College Republicans who aren’t serving now, get together to discuss why we need to send more U.S. troops off to die.

The Chickenhawk slur? Really?

That’s all you’ve got?

Both laws are asinine, but what are you going to do?

How about not acting like only one group is getting screwed by the system when the system has stamina to go for a round with every group?

MikeT and Chiuninho, if you’re implying that there’s something inherently or genetically savage or criminal about black people, this really isn’t the site for you. Go someplace else, please.

The fact that you got a genetic argument out of what I wrote is pretty depressing too.

Now, if I were going to twist your words, the way you did mine, I would say the very fact that you were so quick to suggest that blacks might be inferior would mean that you’ve thought an awful lot about “black inferiority.” It’d be a stupid logical conclusion… kind of like taking my words here and twisting them into David Duke talking points.

You answered your own question about black crime issues when you pointed out the effects that the welfare state has had on the black family. 70% of black kids are born to fatherless homes, and lo and behold, black teens (especially young men) have real crime problems. Big surprise.

Now, since you accused me of circular thinking, much of it pertaining to the War on Drugs, take out the War on Drugs issues from black crime. How much more often are blacks sentenced to harsh prison sentences, that other races typically wouldn’t get for the same offense, with the same history?

There’s an old post on the Volokh Conspiracy about it.
http://volokh.com/posts/chain_1177998929.shtml

I don’t know if it has been discussed here before, so apologies if this is repetitious.

this attitude differs from the hillaryesque statists you pretend to agitate against … how, exactly?

“a guest speaker who never served and a bunch of College Republicans who aren’t serving now, get together to discuss why we need to send more U.S. troops off to die.”

I understand that your complaint is about people who will never be at risk blithely putting others’ lives at risk, but I don’t buy the implications here. They may be right, wrong, brilliant, foolish, naive, or diabolical, but as long as civilian control of the military is important in this country, there will be people who have not served in uniform influencing or deciding military matters.

This reminds me of the argument that men can’t have an opinion on abortion because they can’t get pregnant.

Either their arguments have merit, or they don’t.

Finally, anyone who thinks blacks are more inclined towards crime needs to up their meds, but almost as bad are the people who justify crime because of anything other than free will. You find me a 355 year old black man who is in prison, then you’ve got a point.

Blacks were systematically abused for about 325 years in this country. For about another 30 more, they were hit with well-intentioned but devastatingly poorly-incentivized welfare programs that shred the family structure. For the last 25, they’ve been incarcerated at rates greater than apartheid-era South Africa with racist, targeted drug laws that punish “black cocaine” at rates 50 times greater than “white cocaine.” A quarter century of locking nonviolent offenders up with rapists and murderers, then releasing them back into society with no prospects and a felony criminal record–that too will take its toll on a community.

And of course attitudes like those expressed in this thread only make the problem worse. The logic’s also circular. “The fact that there are disproportionately more black people in prison doesn’t mean there’s racism in the criminal justice system. It just means black people commit more crimes. How do I know? Because look at how disproportionately more black people are in prison.”

MikeT and Chiuninho, if you’re implying that there’s something inherently or genetically savage or criminal about black people, this really isn’t the site for you. Go someplace else, please.

Plus, they’re arrested at much higher rates for drugs than whites even though they use drugs at about the same rate. I’d hazard a guess that the stats for other crimes are roughly the same… that is, blacks are probably much more likely to be sent to prison, and will probably get a longer sentence, than whites who commit the same offense.

As I said, it got out pretty quick that the prosecution and “victim” might be lying.

Might I remind you that the woman in question raised suspicions pretty early on that she was lying, and that the case started unraveling pretty quickly once it started getting broader scrutiny? Do you really think it would have been the same, if the woman had never contradicted herself, and done things like implicated a man who wasn’t even at the party the whole night?

chiuninho - I’ll name the other. Lots of urban poverty. If it were white people that were mired in urban poverty and black people who made up the bulk of the middle and upper class, you’d be hearing about “white crime.” Race has nothing to do with it, so come off it already and address the real problem - urban poverty breeds crime.

That old leftist canard…

Maybe they wouldn’t have the poverty if they didn’t have the crime. It’s a little hard to get businesses to start and flourish in areas where there is little social cohesion and rule of law.

chiuninho - I’ll name the other. Lots of urban poverty. If it were white people that were mired in urban poverty and black people who made up the bulk of the middle and upper class, you’d be hearing about “white crime.” Race has nothing to do with it, so come off it already and address the real problem - urban poverty breeds crime.

I almost pointed out that if you took out blacks from crime statistics, that America would strongly resemble Europe in many categories, but you beat me to it in a way.

One of the things I’ve never seen mentioned here (maybe it has been, but I haven’t seen it) is the way that many blacks stick up for black criminals. It is appalling the way that many blacks will defend blacks for committing crime against other races, but God help those involved, if the roles are reversed.

Just look at cases like the Jena 6. If the races were reversed, you wouldn’t see a single respectable person coming forward trying to defend the actions and motives of six white thugs who beat up a black teen.

True.

they recently announced the 10 most dangerous and crime-infested cities in america, did they not? i don’t remember the list verbatim, but detroit was far and away the worst. followed by other the garden spots of newark, st. louis, gary, ind., oakland, and - i seem to recall - baltimore, atlanta, philadelphia, new orleans …..

now for the uncomfortable question: those are cities spread all across the country, in multiple states with a wide range of climates, economic conditions, and schools. in fact, any reasonably close examination of that list shows - really - just *2* things that they have in common.

1 of those things is that they’re all controlled by long-established hugely-corrupt *democrat* political machines.

anyone care to mention the other?