Laws and law enforcement officials have a totally different approach to public safety depending on the crime.
Many people sell marijuana, oxci pills, crack powder, and other controlled substances; this is primarily a preoccupation of the poor and blacks.
Among the affluent and whites, DWI, prescription opioids, marijuana, and powder cocaine are substance abuse problems.
Poor people are pursued by the local police with passion and labeled as criminals. Whether Black or white, the affluent are usually excused as being “ill” and can skirt prosecution by various compassionate means.
We recently saw a “_issy drunk assistant city attorney crash his car in a DWI incident. It was his second offense, but the city didn’t even blink or make a public response. The usual remedy for affluent drug and alcohol offenders is a month or less in a treatment facility, but for the poor, it’s jail and a criminal record that never goes away.
Generally, poor people and blacks use crack cocaine, and affluent and whites use powdered cocaine. There is no significant chemical difference—crack and powder cocaine are both forms of cocaine. The stark contrast in federal sentencing laws for possession of the two forms of the same drug has more to do with political pressure than public safety and health.
Crack is used more by the poor because it’s cheaper. Crack cocaine is made by dissolving powder cocaine and baking soda in boiling water and then cutting the resulting paste into small “rocks” after it dries. The rocks are usually sold in single doses to users who smoke them. Because baking soda is inexpensive, a rock of crack cocaine is cheaper than a similar “dose” of powder cocaine.
Powdered cocaine, served on a glass tray and snorted by the affluent, is the same as crack cocaine without the baking powder to cut it.
However, federal penalties for simple crack possession are 18 times higher than that for snorting powdered cocaine. The reason for the difference is not medical, it’s political. The poor and blacks use crack cocaine.
Driving While intoxicated is another public safety issue that affects both Blacks and Whites; both the laws and the manner of enforcement are different.
Thousands of public figures and affluent residents are arrested each year for DWI. Ironically, DWI offenders are treated with kid gloves.
First, while there are jail penalties for repeat DWI offenders, what the public does not know is that it’s possible for a second or third offense DWI offender to avoid prison because current Louisiana laws allow DWI offenses to drop off the books over time.
It’s almost routine to watch a person arrested for DWI second offense officially charged with a first offense if the right amount of time has passed.
Other criminals have to face three-strike laws that could give them life sentences in prison for their third criminal offense. Unlike the DWI charge, none of their prior offenses drop off the books over time.
Watch how carefully and politely the police enforce DWI enforcement. Since DWI may trap public officials and influentials, the police usually serve notice that there will be DWI checkpoints during a certain period. Sometimes they even tell the location. This way, DWI offenders can take different routes and avoid arrest.
DWI offenders are criminals. Some have killed or injured people, but they are treated with kid gloves.
If there was equity, the police would announce Marijuana and Crack checks in South Monroe during a specific period. That usually doesn’t happen. Among the poor are HEAT team raids in the middle of the night, unannounced pedestrian stops, and warranted home intrusions with guns drawn.
DWI offenders are criminals. People who possess marijuana and crack cocaine are criminals.
For some reason, law enforcement treats both sets of criminals differently.
If we say that class and race have a lot to do with the different treatments, would we be too far off the mark?
It’s called institutionalized racism and classism, and it’s alive and well.
