Finally a positive. . .

I've been spending most of my time on this blog complaining about the U.S. government while seeking positive resolutions. It seems one of the biggest in-house problems in the U.S.- disparity in the execution of law- is being resolved. . .by those in power! Wow!

Read this!.

So first, let's talk about the problem.

Where to begin. . .

Okay.

Here we go!

A while back (2001) I was given a book through a friend of mine Sara Zia. The book was titled No More Prisons written by William Upski Wimsatt. This book spawned a whole movement, really. William was the founder of the Self Education Foundation in NYC. Focusing on philanthropy, the group sought o help individuals take responsibility for their education- personal education- outside of the academic arena! Nice, right!

So, the book, No More Prisons, talked about the disparity written into the Legal System. One of the examples in the book was the sentencing of Crack users and Cocaine users. It turns out that crack users were more likely to go to prison longer for using smaller amounts of crack than their cocaine-using counterparts with larger amounts. That means if I were caught with a gram of cocaine, I'd go to Jail for say, (for example) 6 months while a person caught with 1/2 a gram of crack would go to prison for say, a year. Weird, right?

So, due to other Social disparities in America (i.e. distribution of wealth), it turns out that the people going to jail for crack were poor black people while those going to jail for cocaine were white middle to upper class people. Mmmhmm. Racism inherent in the system is icky people! Icky!

So, now, we have more black people in Jail for drugs than white people and for longer time than white people! Ugh, fucked up!

Finally, people are waking up to this issue and are decreasing prison sentences for crack users/addicts. Yes! Finally people are waking up to the issue and doing something about it! Hooray!

If only now we can help the crack users recover and destroy the social disparities that drive disenfranchised brothers and sisters to turn to drugs in the first place!

One step at a time, sweet Jesus!