lyman@eos.UUCP (Lyman Taylor) (04/28/89)
In article <Apr.19.01.52.19.1989.7936@pilot.njin.net> limonce@pilot.njin.net (Tom Limoncelli) writes: > >the sad answer is no. We don't care. We just want to fight a war on >drugs in white suburbia when the real drug problem is in the ghetto. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >-- > Tom Limoncelli -- tlimonce@drunivac.Bitnet -- limonce@pilot.njin.net > Drew University -- Madison, NJ -- 201-408-5389 I don't know whether to attribute this quote to ignorance or racism ( although the two are often not mutually exclusive ). The "ghetto" is NOT the source of the drug problem in America. However, it is a highly visible symptom of a prevasive problem. I'm sorry but Mr. Bennett is correctly when he aludes to the fact that there is a drup problem in "white suburbia". Just look at the economics of the drug trade in this country. It is a MULTI-BILLION dollar industry. So my rhetorical question to you is where do you think all those ghetto people get those BILLIONS of dollars to pay for all those drugs. Yes, there are plenty of "junkies" in the ghetto. However, they are a minority NOT the majority. ( and let's leave the bullsh*t behind about people on welfare having mink coats and Caddys. People in the "ghetto" are poor; not lacking in character, values, or anything else, other than wealth ). This leaves BILLIONS of dollars of drug purchases unaccounted for. So who in America has lots of disposible income ( comparatively so)?? That's right "white suburbia". It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to find drug use on Wall Street, big business, etc. ( locales not dominated by low incomed peoples ). This is further evidenced by the Bloods and the Crips, on the West Coast, expanding into such ghetto bastions of Portand, Seattle, etc. where they sell lots of crack/cocaine to finance themselves. These gangs are franchasing themselves like McDonald's ( I don't think that McDonald's is a ghetto problem, do you? ). There is a demand for drugs THROUGHOUT America and the gangs and other drugs merchants from the "ghetto" are just rising to meet the demand. Their motivation is very similar to your average corporate raider, MONEY! I will agree that the "ghetto" is highly visible for several reasons: 1) Historically, America has pervaded racist imagery. The result being that almost all Americans associate "drug, violence, crime" with the word ghetto and lower socioeconomic groups. The propoganda campaign continues to exist. 2) The journalism in this country is largely based on sensationalism. Americans want to see someone else's problems not there own. Therefore, "I don't want to hear about problems like the ones on T.V shows. " i.e. I want to be entertained not informed. Which brings me to a related point. 3) Washington D.C. is getting alot of press because of all of the shootings taking place there. However, most of these shootings are taking place between drug DEALERS not users. This is a display of CAPTIALISM with no values constraining behavoir NOT of crazed drug users killing one another. Additionally, just because these dealers are primarily located in the "ghetto" does not mean that this is where the majority (dollar wise, i.e. the people they make the most money off of ) of their clients are located here also and there are good reasons why they wouldn't want these "pushers" to live in their nieghborhoods. The ONLY way the government is going gain some remblance of a control over the drug problem this country faces is to take measures to reduce the demand for this stuff. Until it does, you can fill up all the jails you can build but there will always someone else to take that drug dealers place ( as long a this country persists in trying to regulate certain peoples to an underclass citizenship, it makes sense, in a twisted way, for these people to enter the drug trade ). It basic economics, if you reduce demand the the supply curve will drop as well. This is magnitudes easier to say than do. Drugs are not the ghetto's problem, they are AMERICA's problem. [ If you have noticed the drug rehab programs in the suburbs seem to doing a lot of business nowadays ] Perpetration of racist ignorance will not solve anything! Lyman S. Taylor lyman@eos.arc.nasa.gov NASA Ames Research Center or more verbose ...{uunet,hplabs,decwrl}!ames!eos!lyman