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182919 Responseshttp://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/inequality-class-question-four/Inequality+Class%3A+Question+Four2010-02-20+12%3A20%3A30Sam+Richards to Inequality Class: Question Four
You practically took the words right out of my head as for a comment in which i was thinking of saying. The numbers of total arrests for dealers in the black community were higher, but i was thinking the same exact thing, how many of the poor black dealers were being supplied by white kingpins? Obviously the numbre of dealers arrested will be those who are out on the streets, and the dealers you get on the streets are from lower income communities with run down streets and i grew up in a city just like this. I grew up in an old steel mill town on the border of PA and Ohio, dominantly black to a point where i was a minority. (Part 1)
Growing up within this society, i have seen many failures and few successes with many people i knew and thought had a great chance of getting out of the streets and making it for themselves. However, i do also know that, for those who get into "the game" of selling drugs, 95% were black which means that they are going to have higher numbers among the dealers. The surrounding towns were middle/higher class neighborhoods whose drug users came to my city to pick up a deal. It was of no surprise to the local police where the drugs were coming from. But he big question, as the girl had stated, who is supplying these poor street dealers who put their neck on the line by walking the streets and selling their product? (Part 2)
I am not gonna say that all the big players in the drug game are white, but you never hear about a leader of a drug ring being busted, it is always those who run the streets. The chances of a white man selling drugs within these run down poverty cities are minimal unless he is known and is understood as an equal to the rest of the community. The white community tries to capitalize on the richer white communities and deal off the streets in more secure places, because they have the abillity to operate behind closed doors in communities in which there is very little suspicion. I have seen this all of my life growing up, knowing that so and so is dealing and there is no pressure on him due to his location, however anyone within my town gets heat just for looking like a person who may be a dealer. (Part 3)
This can also be used in reference to another comment that was made in a different video when the kid asked if the policing is different within the different cities, which is true. Those within the richer middle class cities, the only crime you see from there is a DUI or occasionally burglary, but within the lower income sities, you see constant drug related crimes being committed, which almost forces the police to stereotype and crack down and arrest all the dealers they can find to get them off the streets. So i think the numbers for arrests may be lopsided, but i do believe there are just the same amount of dealers black or white.(Part 4)
I was thinking the same exact thing. It is expensive to bring drugs from outside countries into our country. Therefore, where do the “poor black people” get the drugs that they then sell? I grew up in a very affluent town in New Jersey. These “rich” kids that I went to school with were always buying drugs. They had the money, and therefore, bought drugs whenever they had the opportunity to do so. For years, I wondered where these kids were getting their drugs from! Who was their source? Then, I realized their source was dealers from the surrounding, poorer cities such as Newark and Irvington. These drug dealers were smart for coming into my town for business. It was not until Sam Richard’s lecture that I started thinking about who the dealer’s dealers are. I saw how easy it is for wealthy white kids to get drugs. Is it just as easy for wealthy white adults to buy drugs from outside countries and then sell it to those dealers from poor areas?
You have a really valid point about how do the poor people on the corner get the drugs. I defiantly see your point as to that most of those people are not and do not have the means to transport the drugs from other countries. I totally understand you point and mean you no disrespect but drugs are often made or grown at home by the user or dealer, made or grown in domestic labs or greenhouses, diverted (stolen or sold on) from legitimate sources such as chemists. These people on the street corner (whatever color they may be) may not have even legally bought those drugs and it could be even possible that they have a basement with pot growing in it or even a math lab behind the dumpster. According to KCI.org, the processing required to make methamphetamine from precursor substances is easier and more accessible than ever. There are literally thousands of recipes and information about making meth on the Internet. An investment of a few hundred dollars in over-the-counter medications and chemicals can produce thousands of dollars worth of methamphetamine. The drug can be made in a makeshift "lab" that can fit into a suit case or behind a dumpster. KCI.org also states that over-the-counter cold and asthma medications containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, red phosphorous, hydrochloric acid, drain cleaner, battery acid, lye, lantern fuel, and antifreeze are among the ingredients most commonly used. As you can see making a drug like meth requires that “poor person” very little and they make a HUGE profit from it. In addition around seventy percent of all new drugs introduced in the United States in the past twenty years have been derived from natural products, reports a study published in the March 23 issue of the Journal of Natural Products. The findings show that despite increasingly sophisticated techniques to design medications in the lab, Mother Nature is still the best drug designer. It doesn’t take the once again “poor person” on the corner too much capital to go out into he woods and pick a few leaves that the can grind up and sell. Plus we haven’t even addressed the selling of prescription drugs. Medline Plus.com states that twenty percent of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons. This is prescription drug abuse. It is a serious and growing problem. And not only do people often use them when not prescribed, the “poor person” on the street corner can sell these as well and a few too many of one drug and you can be flying high. Plus a 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that among all youths aged twelve to seventeen; six percent had tried prescription drugs for recreational use in the last month. Yes some of the drugs are imported by rich people but some of them are easily attained or manufactured with very little cost.
PS: I think you are probably right and was mostly “playing Devil’s advocate” but it is interesting to think of from another perspective.
Wow, that was really insightful of you. I actually have never even thought about that or ever realized that there is a rich white businessman behind the people we look at as “thugs”. It is quite sad. This reminds me of the rich businessmen who are sponsoring brothels in Thailand. It is terrible that I can look at someone who is selling drugs and say you are a bad person, when meanwhile there is someone of the white superior race bringing this illegal drugs into our country. I can understand why someone who is poor would sell drugs to make money, but these drugs, drugs that ruin children’s’ lives, are sponsored by wealthy men who should not be promoting something like this in our country.
oldslugger11 Reply: February 25th, 2010 at 12:09 am
I agree with you that this is a very valid point that there are often wealthy white men behind the large scale drug trafficking in our country. However, I feel like you never thought of this and now that you have, you're putting all the blame on this particular scapegoat. Also, there are typically way more than just two dealers involved in the process of importing the drugs and the drugs finding their way onto the streets. Many street dealers buy from other middlemen, that commonly can be any race. From where I come from, suburb of Philadelphia, everyone I have ever bought marijuana from was white so to say only black people are street level dealers is totally incorrect, and I’m referring to twenty plus people. Also, your comment about how it’s okay for poor people to sell drugs to make money, but not wealthy men- it’s really the same thing on different scales. Both are illegal and the people are only doing it to make money. I suggest watching the movie “Blow” to see the story of a street drug dealer rise to the top, which ironically is played by a white male. I guess that really doesn’t have much to do with this, but it’s a great movie.
I'm definitely not putting all of the blame on that "particular scapegoat". I am saying it is ironic that when I look at someone's life who is poor and selling drugs to make a living, there is someone who knows better and could be investing their money elsewhere for a more ethical business deal. I understand there are obviously more than just two dealers involved in the process of smuggling drugs. I'm from New York and I've experienced people buying drugs from all different races, I never once said there are only black level street dealers. I also never said the word black. To rephrase, I think it is interesting that I have never thought that any wealthy person of any color, religion, sex, is sponsoring something that is illegal and morally wrong. On top of that, I never said it is okay for poor people to sell drugs to make a living but not okay for someone who is wealthier. What I did say is that I can understand why someone who is living day by day would sell drugs, but I find it unbelievable that someone who is wealthy would sponsor something so terrible.
The drug empire that exists in this country is crazy. Everybody has a connection. It’s one huge web of people who know people in other towns to other states and then eventually to other countries. And yes, that’s how most black drug dealers are supplied- by white rich and powerful drug lords. I grew up in a small town in New Jersey that was pretty “ghetto” you can say. There were a lot of minorities in my town- mostly blacks, Mexicans, and brasilians. Most of these minorities had connections in an adjoining town, the richer part of town, where a lot of white kids who had a lot of money supplied drugs. The biggest business was cocaine in that part of town because a lot of people did it and it was easy to sell and make money off of. That was just in my town. That cocaine basically came from Mexico but it ended up in my town. It’s just crazy what goes on in the world.
I remember when my 11th grade sociology teacher pointed this fact out to me. I felt so confused and in disbelief. He said these exact words. He asked us who we thought were bringing in the drugs and the guns in to the United States, because it sure was not black people. Black people do not own boats guns planes, and they do not have money. We did not and still do not have the resources to make the drug business as big as it is. I say it is all a conspiracy. It is a conspiracy to keep rich white men at the top of the “mountain” as Sam discussed in class; because in all reality black people are not bringing these things in to our society. And being a person who is directly affected by things like these it pisses me off for people to think this was just a way of like young men and women fell into. In order to be in the drug game and be on the top you need to be smart, so for people to think that oh these dumb black people just happen to all into this lifestyle WRONG. I know it the choice of young men and women to distribute drugs, and guns, but who is making that an option for them… the government is. I honestly think that in the government wanted to stop drug trafficking and the distribution and sale of illegal narcotics and guns they could. But since our country was built on the disbelief and exploitation of others; the truth is they the (GOVERNMENT) DO NOT CARE. I guess they figure black people are the easiest to exploit, it is just like they took out the Native Americans, they want to stop illegal immigrant (mostly Hispanics more specifically Mexicans) from coming into the united states. It is all a part of a conspiracy to keep big brother with one foot on our necks and a shade over our eyes. Some people in the United States are so naïve not to be aware of some of the things that the government thinks are best for us or, they are doing for us. This drug problem is just over of them, and it is taking a devastating blow of the black community. In addition to those point in the 80’s the government also made mandatory minimum sentences to combat the sales or distributing of drugs in the United States And as we all know or heard in class this affected the black community more than it did anyone else.
I do not know, maybe I am a left wing extremist who has no idea what I am talking about. But then again maybe I do. I know I have only been on this earth for only twenty-one years but I do know for sure that some things do not add up. And at the end of the day I know black people who sale drugs choose that lifestyle, and we should not hold anyone responsible but them, but we have to think about the deeper cause why. We have to question these things, because black people are everyone’s people and we all need to help each other out. Because this is wrong and we need to understand why it is wrong and help fix the problem.
I live in a very wealthy town where drugs are very accessible. And it’s not like the kids in my town are buying their drugs from “thugs” off the street. They are buying them from wealthy white kids just like themselves. For the most part, people never get arrested in my town for buying or selling drugs. I don’t know if it is because they don’t stand on street corners selling/ buying or if the cops in my town just aren’t too concerned with it, but it rarely happens that someone is arrested for selling/ buying drugs. I don’t think the kids in my town don’t get arrested because they are white, i just think they choose to sell drugs in a more discrete way. they aren’t standing on street corners, they are selling out of their houses or cars. I’m not saying that white people don’t get arrested for dealing drugs because they are white, I’m just saying that it is easier to know someone is selling drugs in a city off a street corner oppose to a kid selling drugs out of a house. and more black people tend to live in inner cities than white people, therefore more black people get arrested than white people for dealing drugs.
I think there is a lack of coverage of those supplying the drugs since they are hard to track and take down. There are those that run the drugs and sell the drugs that will always be the center of the conversation. Since it takes great amounts of money to sneak drugs into the country there is definitely a system that has had to be improved over the years and that authorities are having trouble keeping an eye out for suppliers. It is obvious that there is a higher power that is working behind the dealers. But who is to say that these dealers have no choice? I understand they have their backs against the wall, but we all have a choice.
I will be completely honest, when i hear this question, it to me sounds like the black community is trying to put blame, on the white community or at least alleviate some of the responsibility from them. It sounds like oh lets not blame the dealers on the street it is not their fault, lets blame who ever they are getting it from. Maybe thats not what she is trying to say but that is what i first think of when i hear it. Firstly how many drug king pins have any of us met? I do not know if she is the exception, but i myself have never met any, and most certainly could not tell you of the race or ethnicity so to me it sounds ignorant to assume that every drug king pin is a white guy. I feel like 90 percent of the reason that people think most drug kingpins are white are simply because of the movie "Blow" with Johhny Depp. In the movie Johnny Depp, who as we all know is clearly a white man, rises to prominence first selling marijuana, then hits the big time become the biggest suppler of coke in the USA, in one line of the movie he says 80% of the coke in the entire US market comes from him and as insane as it sounds this is why i believe most people thing the king pins are white. None of us have every met, will never meet, and have no idea who the drug kingpins are so we go back to what we do know, what we do trust, which is movies. Now i clearly do not know who the king pins are either but i am not naive enough to say that they are all a single race. But i do know my fair share of drug dealers. One of my best friends, who i have gone to school with since kindergarten just got busted dealing last week, he had over 100 perks, 6 ounces of pot and $2000 on him, and what i do know is that his supplier is black so does that man i should say its the black guys fault? No. also maybe the reason their are a lot of black dealers is because there are a lot of black users. The product will go to who demands it so its more the black users are the one causing the black sellers and also there are many drug dealers from where i am from, but not a single one of them is dumb enough to stand on a corner for 10 hours a day when every one in town knows damn well what he is doing, none of the drug dealers i know also will not sell to some random person that do not know. i think all these drug dealers that are getting caught are the dumb shits who do not have any idea what they are doing.
I asked this question. No I personally do not know any drug kingpins. I do however have a brother who did two years in prison for drug traffiking and possession(cocaine). And yes he gets his drugs from an extremley rich white, respected member of our community. This is no isolated incident. I live on an island so all the drugs come in on private yachts and planes, which little to no black people own. When small time suppliers are caught and they "rat" on their suppliers, they are usually white and manage to buy their way out of being convicted. I have not seen the movie "Blow" with Johhny Depp but I dont really think that would influence my decisions. I did however see the movie "American Gangster" with Denzel Washington and that didnt make me think that drug kingpins were all black. That movie acutally oultlined how rare it was for a black man to accomplish such a feat. I also didn't say that all drug kinpins were white, i said most of them are which only makes sense because whites make up the majority of this country and are some of the richest people in this country.
I also didn't make this statement to turn any of the blame away from African Americans. People who deal drugs should be punished for it. EVVERYONE who deals drugs should be punished for it and I was just emphasizing the fact that it think most whites are not punished for it. Also, just because Sam showed us that one clip of the man getting busted on the corner that doesnt mean that's how everyone is caught. It might be something as simple as catching a person doing drugs and that person will give up their drug dealer to avoid prison time or just because they cracked under questioning or police can raid "crack houses" and other well known drug areas. You really need to check yourself and what your saying because it seem to me that you are the one who doesnt know your facts or what is really going on. Open up your eyes and pay attention.
Though i was not present at the lecture on this day, I question that these drugs come from “Rich white kids” or even “rich white suppliers.” I believe that this idea has little to no base and makes, for the most part, ridiculous accusations. To begin with, you should be clearer and have a better understanding about where drugs originate from. The origins of most of the drugs used in urban communities, Cocaine, marijuana, and Heroin, are countries such as Colombia, Mexico or Afghanistan, none of which are “rich” or white nations. With this being said, what still holds to be true in regard to rich white people supplying these drugs? Furthermore, I do not see where the “facts” are present that rich whites are still trafficking drugs through boats and airplanes through port cities. Yes, in previous decades this may hold to be true, but boat smuggling, the form of smuggling that was mentioned that whites would be most predisposed to because they apparently have money to buy boats, is also not a popular or simple way to smuggle drugs anymore because of ease of access and better police work. I believe that the majority of these drugs are smuggled in throughout cities where access to the border is fairly free and generally easy to smuggle, and that the majority of these drugs are being brought over through immigrants rather than white people. The efforts of Border Patrol have been stepped up within these recent years, and it would not be simple for an American citizen to be frequently crossing the borders with drugs as such, whereas it would be not be difficult to find immigrants who want to go to America or ones that are familiar with methods of getting past Border Patrol Agents or whose only fear may be being deported. Additionally, to blame these individuals solely for the continuation of black arrests and convictions is something that I can in no way agree with.
The last thing that I believe you should consider when thinking about this topic is that the statistics provided in the power point indicate that whites are 67% of drug users and distributors. This information is piled together, and in no way indicates that whites would be more apt to being suppliers than drug users. Also, it is obvious that there is discrimination when it comes to black arrests and convictions, but I believe that something that makes up for part of this discrepancy is that there are more policemen in urban areas than there are in rural areas, which is where the concentration of most white drug users is. If there are more individuals in a certain area, which is true for urban areas, there will automatically be more police assigned there.
I am the person who asked this question. I never said anything about "rich white kids" supplying drugs. Although I do not have any official statistics if you think about it you'll definitely understand. As we saw in class white people in the united state are on average richer than black and brown people. A lot of money is required to bring drugs into the United States. Most African Americans, especially those selling drugs do not have the means to do so. Also think about it the few large drug kingpins that we know of are mostly white. Secondly, yes I do know that the countries supplying the drugs are not rich white nations. When I referred to rich Spanish people in my question those were the people I were referring to. The richer brown people in those countries that supply the massive amounts of drugs to the US do not supply them directly to the "ghetto" they go through a middle person who is almost always white or Spanish.
The point you made about border patrol only serves to emphasize the fact that drugs are coming in trough white hands. It is extremely hard for any ordinary American citizen to bring drugs into the US. It is much more difficult now. People have to be payed off, have to be bought, a "front" business has to be set up lots of private planes need to be bought to help smuggle drugs in easier, and of course everyone needs to be paid, police, pilots etc.. It is clearly lots of money to set this thing up and keep it running smoothly.
Finally, I was not asserting that whites are more apt at suppliers than users. I was stating that since whites make up the majority of users AND big time suppliers, the inequality in the numbers are even more distorted and disturbing than Sam presented.
Great point, and my guess is most people do not think about who is supplying drugs in the U.S. I mean look at the stats of incarceration rates among races. The powerful people involved in drug sales aren’t getting arrested; it’s the people who are on the front lines and dealing on the streets. It’s all about money and power, the people who are profiting most from drug sales aren’t even making contact with the drugs, they are simply funding the operations and making all the profit. The people who are dealing drugs put their futures on the line for a little more than the minimum wage jobs available in their communities, but they are still making minimal wages compared to the profits of the drug lords.
Depends on the drug. Heroin, cocaine, and other narcotics like that usually come from countries in South America, Southeast Asia, Afghanistan, etc. Increasingly these days it comes from the U.S in the south and rural areas. (most marijuana is now domestic, as is, unfortunately, meth.)
For the boys in the hood selling heroin on the corner, yeah, it's more often than not being made somewhere else. The guys on the corner, by the way, call it "work". Imagine that. When heavy industry left the inner cities of the Northeast and Midwest, the "work" that they talk about is all that's left. Most guys I've met, actually, who do that sort of thing are just trying to have a livelihood and don't do the drugs themselves. It's not their fault. Usually the profit margins for the lowly corner boys is only a couple of bucks per bag of dope; this is pretty meager considering the risk of getting spotted by the five-oh.
The TRAFFICKERS aren't necessarily white, and they run a big risk of getting in trouble. However, the FINANCIERS (those who provide capital for boats and other investments) are more often than not white with high up connections in financial services and the likes of the CIA, and they never get in trouble. Of course the corner guys are the ones taking the heat from the cops 99% of the time as well as subjecting themselves to the crazy junkies coming from the burbs trying to buy dope day in and day out. I don't think it's a race thing so much as a class thing, but then again I may be wrong. But judging by the millions of white Americans being laid off across the U.S., working class whites are increasingly being shoved into the poor category with the blacks and Latinos by offshoring and other factors.
I also think suburban sprawl is another factor. In the burbs, where more white people live, everything is so much more spread out that cops can't possibly hope to cover every block during their day. In the city, the cops can cover tens of thousands of people over the much shorter blocks and row houses. And in the burbs, dealing is more concealed and done behind closed doors whereas in the city, it's mostly open-air (you either walk up to a corner or call a guy and sit in your car. Very risky by the way.)
I come from Philly, just so we're clear and we can put it into perspective. I am speaking for what I know about certain parts of North Philly and the Northeast. I don't know South or West very well, and apparently, it's more concealed than it is in the "badlands".
You practically took the words right out of my head as for a comment in which i was thinking of saying. The numbers of total arrests for dealers in the black community were higher, but i was thinking the same exact thing, how many of the poor black dealers were being supplied by white kingpins? Obviously the numbre of dealers arrested will be those who are out on the streets, and the dealers you get on the streets are from lower income communities with run down streets and i grew up in a city just like this. I grew up in an old steel mill town on the border of PA and Ohio, dominantly black to a point where i was a minority. (Part 1)
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Growing up within this society, i have seen many failures and few successes with many people i knew and thought had a great chance of getting out of the streets and making it for themselves. However, i do also know that, for those who get into "the game" of selling drugs, 95% were black which means that they are going to have higher numbers among the dealers. The surrounding towns were middle/higher class neighborhoods whose drug users came to my city to pick up a deal. It was of no surprise to the local police where the drugs were coming from. But he big question, as the girl had stated, who is supplying these poor street dealers who put their neck on the line by walking the streets and selling their product? (Part 2)
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I am not gonna say that all the big players in the drug game are white, but you never hear about a leader of a drug ring being busted, it is always those who run the streets. The chances of a white man selling drugs within these run down poverty cities are minimal unless he is known and is understood as an equal to the rest of the community. The white community tries to capitalize on the richer white communities and deal off the streets in more secure places, because they have the abillity to operate behind closed doors in communities in which there is very little suspicion. I have seen this all of my life growing up, knowing that so and so is dealing and there is no pressure on him due to his location, however anyone within my town gets heat just for looking like a person who may be a dealer. (Part 3)
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This can also be used in reference to another comment that was made in a different video when the kid asked if the policing is different within the different cities, which is true. Those within the richer middle class cities, the only crime you see from there is a DUI or occasionally burglary, but within the lower income sities, you see constant drug related crimes being committed, which almost forces the police to stereotype and crack down and arrest all the dealers they can find to get them off the streets. So i think the numbers for arrests may be lopsided, but i do believe there are just the same amount of dealers black or white.(Part 4)
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I was thinking the same exact thing. It is expensive to bring drugs from outside countries into our country. Therefore, where do the “poor black people” get the drugs that they then sell? I grew up in a very affluent town in New Jersey. These “rich” kids that I went to school with were always buying drugs. They had the money, and therefore, bought drugs whenever they had the opportunity to do so. For years, I wondered where these kids were getting their drugs from! Who was their source? Then, I realized their source was dealers from the surrounding, poorer cities such as Newark and Irvington. These drug dealers were smart for coming into my town for business. It was not until Sam Richard’s lecture that I started thinking about who the dealer’s dealers are. I saw how easy it is for wealthy white kids to get drugs. Is it just as easy for wealthy white adults to buy drugs from outside countries and then sell it to those dealers from poor areas?
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You have a really valid point about how do the poor people on the corner get the drugs. I defiantly see your point as to that most of those people are not and do not have the means to transport the drugs from other countries. I totally understand you point and mean you no disrespect but drugs are often made or grown at home by the user or dealer, made or grown in domestic labs or greenhouses, diverted (stolen or sold on) from legitimate sources such as chemists. These people on the street corner (whatever color they may be) may not have even legally bought those drugs and it could be even possible that they have a basement with pot growing in it or even a math lab behind the dumpster. According to KCI.org, the processing required to make methamphetamine from precursor substances is easier and more accessible than ever. There are literally thousands of recipes and information about making meth on the Internet. An investment of a few hundred dollars in over-the-counter medications and chemicals can produce thousands of dollars worth of methamphetamine. The drug can be made in a makeshift "lab" that can fit into a suit case or behind a dumpster. KCI.org also states that over-the-counter cold and asthma medications containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, red phosphorous, hydrochloric acid, drain cleaner, battery acid, lye, lantern fuel, and antifreeze are among the ingredients most commonly used. As you can see making a drug like meth requires that “poor person” very little and they make a HUGE profit from it. In addition around seventy percent of all new drugs introduced in the United States in the past twenty years have been derived from natural products, reports a study published in the March 23 issue of the Journal of Natural Products. The findings show that despite increasingly sophisticated techniques to design medications in the lab, Mother Nature is still the best drug designer. It doesn’t take the once again “poor person” on the corner too much capital to go out into he woods and pick a few leaves that the can grind up and sell. Plus we haven’t even addressed the selling of prescription drugs. Medline Plus.com states that twenty percent of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons. This is prescription drug abuse. It is a serious and growing problem. And not only do people often use them when not prescribed, the “poor person” on the street corner can sell these as well and a few too many of one drug and you can be flying high. Plus a 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that among all youths aged twelve to seventeen; six percent had tried prescription drugs for recreational use in the last month. Yes some of the drugs are imported by rich people but some of them are easily attained or manufactured with very little cost.
PS: I think you are probably right and was mostly “playing Devil’s advocate” but it is interesting to think of from another perspective.
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Wow, that was really insightful of you. I actually have never even thought about that or ever realized that there is a rich white businessman behind the people we look at as “thugs”. It is quite sad. This reminds me of the rich businessmen who are sponsoring brothels in Thailand. It is terrible that I can look at someone who is selling drugs and say you are a bad person, when meanwhile there is someone of the white superior race bringing this illegal drugs into our country. I can understand why someone who is poor would sell drugs to make money, but these drugs, drugs that ruin children’s’ lives, are sponsored by wealthy men who should not be promoting something like this in our country.
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oldslugger11 Reply:
February 25th, 2010 at 12:09 am
I agree with you that this is a very valid point that there are often wealthy white men behind the large scale drug trafficking in our country. However, I feel like you never thought of this and now that you have, you're putting all the blame on this particular scapegoat. Also, there are typically way more than just two dealers involved in the process of importing the drugs and the drugs finding their way onto the streets. Many street dealers buy from other middlemen, that commonly can be any race. From where I come from, suburb of Philadelphia, everyone I have ever bought marijuana from was white so to say only black people are street level dealers is totally incorrect, and I’m referring to twenty plus people. Also, your comment about how it’s okay for poor people to sell drugs to make money, but not wealthy men- it’s really the same thing on different scales. Both are illegal and the people are only doing it to make money. I suggest watching the movie “Blow” to see the story of a street drug dealer rise to the top, which ironically is played by a white male. I guess that really doesn’t have much to do with this, but it’s a great movie.
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igg5003 Reply:
February 25th, 2010 at 12:29 am
I'm definitely not putting all of the blame on that "particular scapegoat". I am saying it is ironic that when I look at someone's life who is poor and selling drugs to make a living, there is someone who knows better and could be investing their money elsewhere for a more ethical business deal. I understand there are obviously more than just two dealers involved in the process of smuggling drugs. I'm from New York and I've experienced people buying drugs from all different races, I never once said there are only black level street dealers. I also never said the word black. To rephrase, I think it is interesting that I have never thought that any wealthy person of any color, religion, sex, is sponsoring something that is illegal and morally wrong. On top of that, I never said it is okay for poor people to sell drugs to make a living but not okay for someone who is wealthier. What I did say is that I can understand why someone who is living day by day would sell drugs, but I find it unbelievable that someone who is wealthy would sponsor something so terrible.
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The drug empire that exists in this country is crazy. Everybody has a connection. It’s one huge web of people who know people in other towns to other states and then eventually to other countries. And yes, that’s how most black drug dealers are supplied- by white rich and powerful drug lords. I grew up in a small town in New Jersey that was pretty “ghetto” you can say. There were a lot of minorities in my town- mostly blacks, Mexicans, and brasilians. Most of these minorities had connections in an adjoining town, the richer part of town, where a lot of white kids who had a lot of money supplied drugs. The biggest business was cocaine in that part of town because a lot of people did it and it was easy to sell and make money off of. That was just in my town. That cocaine basically came from Mexico but it ended up in my town. It’s just crazy what goes on in the world.
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I remember when my 11th grade sociology teacher pointed this fact out to me. I felt so confused and in disbelief. He said these exact words. He asked us who we thought were bringing in the drugs and the guns in to the United States, because it sure was not black people. Black people do not own boats guns planes, and they do not have money. We did not and still do not have the resources to make the drug business as big as it is. I say it is all a conspiracy. It is a conspiracy to keep rich white men at the top of the “mountain” as Sam discussed in class; because in all reality black people are not bringing these things in to our society. And being a person who is directly affected by things like these it pisses me off for people to think this was just a way of like young men and women fell into. In order to be in the drug game and be on the top you need to be smart, so for people to think that oh these dumb black people just happen to all into this lifestyle WRONG. I know it the choice of young men and women to distribute drugs, and guns, but who is making that an option for them… the government is. I honestly think that in the government wanted to stop drug trafficking and the distribution and sale of illegal narcotics and guns they could. But since our country was built on the disbelief and exploitation of others; the truth is they the (GOVERNMENT) DO NOT CARE. I guess they figure black people are the easiest to exploit, it is just like they took out the Native Americans, they want to stop illegal immigrant (mostly Hispanics more specifically Mexicans) from coming into the united states. It is all a part of a conspiracy to keep big brother with one foot on our necks and a shade over our eyes. Some people in the United States are so naïve not to be aware of some of the things that the government thinks are best for us or, they are doing for us. This drug problem is just over of them, and it is taking a devastating blow of the black community. In addition to those point in the 80’s the government also made mandatory minimum sentences to combat the sales or distributing of drugs in the United States And as we all know or heard in class this affected the black community more than it did anyone else.
I do not know, maybe I am a left wing extremist who has no idea what I am talking about. But then again maybe I do. I know I have only been on this earth for only twenty-one years but I do know for sure that some things do not add up. And at the end of the day I know black people who sale drugs choose that lifestyle, and we should not hold anyone responsible but them, but we have to think about the deeper cause why. We have to question these things, because black people are everyone’s people and we all need to help each other out. Because this is wrong and we need to understand why it is wrong and help fix the problem.
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I live in a very wealthy town where drugs are very accessible. And it’s not like the kids in my town are buying their drugs from “thugs” off the street. They are buying them from wealthy white kids just like themselves. For the most part, people never get arrested in my town for buying or selling drugs. I don’t know if it is because they don’t stand on street corners selling/ buying or if the cops in my town just aren’t too concerned with it, but it rarely happens that someone is arrested for selling/ buying drugs. I don’t think the kids in my town don’t get arrested because they are white, i just think they choose to sell drugs in a more discrete way. they aren’t standing on street corners, they are selling out of their houses or cars. I’m not saying that white people don’t get arrested for dealing drugs because they are white, I’m just saying that it is easier to know someone is selling drugs in a city off a street corner oppose to a kid selling drugs out of a house. and more black people tend to live in inner cities than white people, therefore more black people get arrested than white people for dealing drugs.
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I think there is a lack of coverage of those supplying the drugs since they are hard to track and take down. There are those that run the drugs and sell the drugs that will always be the center of the conversation. Since it takes great amounts of money to sneak drugs into the country there is definitely a system that has had to be improved over the years and that authorities are having trouble keeping an eye out for suppliers. It is obvious that there is a higher power that is working behind the dealers. But who is to say that these dealers have no choice? I understand they have their backs against the wall, but we all have a choice.
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I will be completely honest, when i hear this question, it to me sounds like the black community is trying to put blame, on the white community or at least alleviate some of the responsibility from them. It sounds like oh lets not blame the dealers on the street it is not their fault, lets blame who ever they are getting it from. Maybe thats not what she is trying to say but that is what i first think of when i hear it. Firstly how many drug king pins have any of us met? I do not know if she is the exception, but i myself have never met any, and most certainly could not tell you of the race or ethnicity so to me it sounds ignorant to assume that every drug king pin is a white guy. I feel like 90 percent of the reason that people think most drug kingpins are white are simply because of the movie "Blow" with Johhny Depp. In the movie Johnny Depp, who as we all know is clearly a white man, rises to prominence first selling marijuana, then hits the big time become the biggest suppler of coke in the USA, in one line of the movie he says 80% of the coke in the entire US market comes from him and as insane as it sounds this is why i believe most people thing the king pins are white. None of us have every met, will never meet, and have no idea who the drug kingpins are so we go back to what we do know, what we do trust, which is movies. Now i clearly do not know who the king pins are either but i am not naive enough to say that they are all a single race. But i do know my fair share of drug dealers. One of my best friends, who i have gone to school with since kindergarten just got busted dealing last week, he had over 100 perks, 6 ounces of pot and $2000 on him, and what i do know is that his supplier is black so does that man i should say its the black guys fault? No. also maybe the reason their are a lot of black dealers is because there are a lot of black users. The product will go to who demands it so its more the black users are the one causing the black sellers and also there are many drug dealers from where i am from, but not a single one of them is dumb enough to stand on a corner for 10 hours a day when every one in town knows damn well what he is doing, none of the drug dealers i know also will not sell to some random person that do not know. i think all these drug dealers that are getting caught are the dumb shits who do not have any idea what they are doing.
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KiaTNique Reply:
February 27th, 2010 at 2:30 am
I asked this question. No I personally do not know any drug kingpins. I do however have a brother who did two years in prison for drug traffiking and possession(cocaine). And yes he gets his drugs from an extremley rich white, respected member of our community. This is no isolated incident. I live on an island so all the drugs come in on private yachts and planes, which little to no black people own. When small time suppliers are caught and they "rat" on their suppliers, they are usually white and manage to buy their way out of being convicted. I have not seen the movie "Blow" with Johhny Depp but I dont really think that would influence my decisions. I did however see the movie "American Gangster" with Denzel Washington and that didnt make me think that drug kingpins were all black. That movie acutally oultlined how rare it was for a black man to accomplish such a feat. I also didn't say that all drug kinpins were white, i said most of them are which only makes sense because whites make up the majority of this country and are some of the richest people in this country.
I also didn't make this statement to turn any of the blame away from African Americans. People who deal drugs should be punished for it. EVVERYONE who deals drugs should be punished for it and I was just emphasizing the fact that it think most whites are not punished for it. Also, just because Sam showed us that one clip of the man getting busted on the corner that doesnt mean that's how everyone is caught. It might be something as simple as catching a person doing drugs and that person will give up their drug dealer to avoid prison time or just because they cracked under questioning or police can raid "crack houses" and other well known drug areas. You really need to check yourself and what your saying because it seem to me that you are the one who doesnt know your facts or what is really going on. Open up your eyes and pay attention.
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Though i was not present at the lecture on this day, I question that these drugs come from “Rich white kids” or even “rich white suppliers.” I believe that this idea has little to no base and makes, for the most part, ridiculous accusations. To begin with, you should be clearer and have a better understanding about where drugs originate from. The origins of most of the drugs used in urban communities, Cocaine, marijuana, and Heroin, are countries such as Colombia, Mexico or Afghanistan, none of which are “rich” or white nations. With this being said, what still holds to be true in regard to rich white people supplying these drugs? Furthermore, I do not see where the “facts” are present that rich whites are still trafficking drugs through boats and airplanes through port cities. Yes, in previous decades this may hold to be true, but boat smuggling, the form of smuggling that was mentioned that whites would be most predisposed to because they apparently have money to buy boats, is also not a popular or simple way to smuggle drugs anymore because of ease of access and better police work. I believe that the majority of these drugs are smuggled in throughout cities where access to the border is fairly free and generally easy to smuggle, and that the majority of these drugs are being brought over through immigrants rather than white people. The efforts of Border Patrol have been stepped up within these recent years, and it would not be simple for an American citizen to be frequently crossing the borders with drugs as such, whereas it would be not be difficult to find immigrants who want to go to America or ones that are familiar with methods of getting past Border Patrol Agents or whose only fear may be being deported. Additionally, to blame these individuals solely for the continuation of black arrests and convictions is something that I can in no way agree with.
The last thing that I believe you should consider when thinking about this topic is that the statistics provided in the power point indicate that whites are 67% of drug users and distributors. This information is piled together, and in no way indicates that whites would be more apt to being suppliers than drug users. Also, it is obvious that there is discrimination when it comes to black arrests and convictions, but I believe that something that makes up for part of this discrepancy is that there are more policemen in urban areas than there are in rural areas, which is where the concentration of most white drug users is. If there are more individuals in a certain area, which is true for urban areas, there will automatically be more police assigned there.
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KiaTNique Reply:
February 27th, 2010 at 2:10 am
I am the person who asked this question. I never said anything about "rich white kids" supplying drugs. Although I do not have any official statistics if you think about it you'll definitely understand. As we saw in class white people in the united state are on average richer than black and brown people. A lot of money is required to bring drugs into the United States. Most African Americans, especially those selling drugs do not have the means to do so. Also think about it the few large drug kingpins that we know of are mostly white. Secondly, yes I do know that the countries supplying the drugs are not rich white nations. When I referred to rich Spanish people in my question those were the people I were referring to. The richer brown people in those countries that supply the massive amounts of drugs to the US do not supply them directly to the "ghetto" they go through a middle person who is almost always white or Spanish.
The point you made about border patrol only serves to emphasize the fact that drugs are coming in trough white hands. It is extremely hard for any ordinary American citizen to bring drugs into the US. It is much more difficult now. People have to be payed off, have to be bought, a "front" business has to be set up lots of private planes need to be bought to help smuggle drugs in easier, and of course everyone needs to be paid, police, pilots etc.. It is clearly lots of money to set this thing up and keep it running smoothly.
Finally, I was not asserting that whites are more apt at suppliers than users. I was stating that since whites make up the majority of users AND big time suppliers, the inequality in the numbers are even more distorted and disturbing than Sam presented.
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Great point, and my guess is most people do not think about who is supplying drugs in the U.S. I mean look at the stats of incarceration rates among races. The powerful people involved in drug sales aren’t getting arrested; it’s the people who are on the front lines and dealing on the streets. It’s all about money and power, the people who are profiting most from drug sales aren’t even making contact with the drugs, they are simply funding the operations and making all the profit. The people who are dealing drugs put their futures on the line for a little more than the minimum wage jobs available in their communities, but they are still making minimal wages compared to the profits of the drug lords.
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Depends on the drug. Heroin, cocaine, and other narcotics like that usually come from countries in South America, Southeast Asia, Afghanistan, etc. Increasingly these days it comes from the U.S in the south and rural areas. (most marijuana is now domestic, as is, unfortunately, meth.)
For the boys in the hood selling heroin on the corner, yeah, it's more often than not being made somewhere else. The guys on the corner, by the way, call it "work". Imagine that. When heavy industry left the inner cities of the Northeast and Midwest, the "work" that they talk about is all that's left. Most guys I've met, actually, who do that sort of thing are just trying to have a livelihood and don't do the drugs themselves. It's not their fault. Usually the profit margins for the lowly corner boys is only a couple of bucks per bag of dope; this is pretty meager considering the risk of getting spotted by the five-oh.
The TRAFFICKERS aren't necessarily white, and they run a big risk of getting in trouble. However, the FINANCIERS (those who provide capital for boats and other investments) are more often than not white with high up connections in financial services and the likes of the CIA, and they never get in trouble. Of course the corner guys are the ones taking the heat from the cops 99% of the time as well as subjecting themselves to the crazy junkies coming from the burbs trying to buy dope day in and day out. I don't think it's a race thing so much as a class thing, but then again I may be wrong. But judging by the millions of white Americans being laid off across the U.S., working class whites are increasingly being shoved into the poor category with the blacks and Latinos by offshoring and other factors.
I also think suburban sprawl is another factor. In the burbs, where more white people live, everything is so much more spread out that cops can't possibly hope to cover every block during their day. In the city, the cops can cover tens of thousands of people over the much shorter blocks and row houses. And in the burbs, dealing is more concealed and done behind closed doors whereas in the city, it's mostly open-air (you either walk up to a corner or call a guy and sit in your car. Very risky by the way.)
I come from Philly, just so we're clear and we can put it into perspective. I am speaking for what I know about certain parts of North Philly and the Northeast. I don't know South or West very well, and apparently, it's more concealed than it is in the "badlands".
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