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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2013)
Opinion Call on Obama to End the ‘War on Drugs’ O n April 4, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped to the podium of the River- side Church in New York to vigor- ously proclaim his opposition to the War in Vietnam. It was one of the most powerful orations among numerous remarkable speeches delivered during his brief but extraordinary life. In articulating a persuasive moral and practical framework for his stance, Dr. King said: “… I knew America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suc- tion tube. So, I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and attack it as such.” Equally disturbing for King was the dispropor- tionate impact of the war not only on the poor but specifically young Black men. He went on to say: “We were taking the Black young men who had been crippled by our society and sending them 8,000 miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in Southwest Georgia and East Harlem.” Dr. King’s decision to visibly and vocally oppose the War in Vietnam was no doubt complicat- ed by the fact that the war was being promoted, prosecuted and NNPA G UEST C OLUMNIST Ron Daniels defended by Lyndon Baines John- son, the president who had coura- geously responded to Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Mont- gomery March by working for and signing the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965. President Johnson was viewed as a friend of civil rights and social programs favor- able to poor and working people. Nonetheless, King saw the Viet- nam as an ill-conceived and civil rights legislation. It is in that same spirit, that on April 4, 2013, a group of social justice, drug and criminal justice policy reform advocates will intensify the demand for an end to the War on Drugs and mass incar- ceration and call on President Obama to invest resources to revi- talize America’s “dark ghettos.” Just as Dr. King saw the War in Vietnam as wasting massive resources on an ill-conceived and immoral war, drug and criminal justice reform analysts, experts and advocates have concluded that the War on Drugs is a flawed strat- egy complete with a contemporary “demonic suction tube” which has wasted billions of dollars that could and should have been used to invest in distressed urban communities. Equally distressing, as Michelle Alexan- der brilliantly docu- ments in her classic book “The New Jim Crow, the War on Drugs” is a racially biased policy/strate- gy targeting and dis- proportionately devastating Black and Brown commu- nities. As the brothers and sisters in the “hood” say, “the war on drugs is a war on us.” How else can we make sense of the fact that African Americans make up an estimated 15 percent of drug users, but account for 27 How else can we make sense of the fact that African Americans make up an estimated 15 percent of drug users, but account for 27 percent of those arrested on drug charges, 59 percent of those convicted and 74 percent of all drug offenders sentenced to prison? immoral war that would ultimate- ly undermine the quest for social, economic and racial justice. Therefore, principle and con- science demanded that he not be silent even in opposition to a pres- ident who had signed milestone percent of those arrested on drug charges, 59 percent of those con- victed and 74 percent of all drug offenders sentenced to prison? The War on Drugs, policing, criminalization and mass incarcer- ation have become substitutes for social, economic and racial justice in America’s dark ghettos. The damages to our communities have been devastating – and it must moral and political crisis that demands direct, targeted econom- ic and social policies and pro- grams to create wholesome, sustainable communities. The president and the nation have reacted as if there is no face to the millions who are suffering in the “dark ghettos” of this land. These millions do have a face and it is overwhelmingly Black. It is time for President Barack Obama to have the audacity to declare a state of emergency in urban inner-city areas end. As we gather in Dr. King’s memory on April 4 this year, our charge must be to call on President Obama to exercise leadership by proclaiming to the nation that it is time to end the War on Drugs and treat the crisis of drugs as a public health rather than criminal justice issue – a dramatic paradigm shift which, at a minimum, will lead to decriminalization of marijuana, increased funding for drug educa- tion and treatment, and a national dialogue on the desirability and feasibility of regulating and taxing drugs. It is time for President Barack Obama to have the audacity to declare a state of emergency in urban inner-city areas, where mil- lions of Black people are suffering and struggle to survive. It is a On April 4, we will honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his opposition to the Vietnam War and his call for an Economic Bill of Rights. We hope President Obama and the nation will heed our call and the walls of ignorance, indifference, hostility, blatant and benign neglect, racial bias and injustice will come tum- bling down, clearing the way for the rescue and revitalization of the urban inner-city neighborhoods/communities in this country. Ron Daniels is president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century and Distinguished Lec- turer at York College City Univer- sity of New York. Week on the Web Supreme Court Determined to Kill Affirmative Action .. Opinion The Hope Kitchen Offers Soul Food for Your Health .. NW News For The Skanner News on your smart phone go to www. theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. Urban Stewards Needed to Help Restore Seattle Forestland .. NW News OSHA Cites Former PAL Youth Center in East Portland for ‘Serious’ Asbestos Violations .. NW News VIDEO: Anti- Foreclosure Activists Taking Fight to the Bank ... 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