CALIFORNIA NAACP IS RIGHT FOR SUPPORTING PROP 19

The war on drugs has been a war on communities of color, plain and
simple. Some people realize that it is time to end a war that has
devastated so many people, so many families, and has accomplished
little to deal with actual drug addiction. A criminal justice model
for drug use must give way to a public health model and a regulatory
framework.

The California NAACP, with the support of law enforcement
professionals, realizes that the state's battle for legalization of
marijuana is part of the war against the war on drugs. And this new
war is part of the fight for civil rights. Yes, pot legalization is a
civil rights issue.

California NAACP president Alice Huffman is catching a great deal of
flack for supporting Proposition 19, the ballot initiative that would
legalize, regulate and tax the drug in her state. In an official
statement, the California NAACP mentioned a recent study by the Drug
Policy Institute that clearly shows marijuana laws are unfairly
applied to young African Americans. Although young blacks use
marijuana at lower rates than their white counterparts, they are
arrested for marijuana possession at double, triple or even quadruple
the rate of whites. In Los Angeles County, blacks are 10 percent of
the population, but 30 percent of the weed-related arrests.

"While marijuana has been decriminalized over the years, there are
staggering statistics that African Americans in every county of
California have conviction rates far and above those of whites. It is
time for the War on Drugs to focus on drug lords and cartels," the
NAACP said. "We need to give our young African American citizens a
chance at opportunity and not an arrest record that dooms their
chances of success. The money spent on these minor drug arrests could
be better used on education, health services, and counseling."

Supporting the NAACP is Neill Franklin, a retired black narcotics cop
who now leads Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), an
international group of pro-legalization cops, judges and prosecutors.
These are the people who have been on the frontlines of the war on
drugs. And war can leave you weary and disillusioned, particularly
when you don't like what you witnessed in that war. "As a member of
the NAACP, and as a former police officer who waged the 'war on drugs'
for three decades, I can tell you that it is long past time to change
our failed marijuana laws," Franklin said. "Like Alice and the other
good folks at the NAACP, I'm tired of seeing young black men and women
funneled through the revolving doors of the criminal justice system,
all in the name of a 'war on marijuana' that actually does nothing to
reduce its use." Franklin also believes that continuing the failed
policy of prohibition bears obscene human and fiscal costs, and
California voters need to know that.

Franklin and LEAP are standing with Huffman on an important policy
issue, but they are also supporting the embattled California NAACP
chief against unwarranted attacks from anti-reform groups. First and
foremost among the forces out to get Alice Huffman is the conservative
black clergy, led by Bishop Ron Allen of the International Faith Based
Coalition (IFBC).

The IFBC website raises more questions than it answers about the
organization, which purports to represent a coalition of more than
4,100 congregations. That's quite a claim, and quite unsubstantiated
for that matter. The group describes itself as "an all-denominational,
multi-racial, non-partisan non-political coalition of churches,
ministries, community based organizations, governmental agencies,
businesses and concerned individuals." Yet, this "non-partisan,
non-political" group lists among its partners the California
Republican Party and GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman (in
fairness it also lists U.S. drug czar R. Gil Kerlikowske).

And curiously, IFBC claims the NAACP as a partner, even as it
simultaneously urges people on its website not to support the NAACP.
"I would like to commend Rev. Ron Allen in his leadership against this
evil Prompt 19 [sic]," said Rev. Anthony Evans of the National Black
Church Initiative, on the IFBC website. Rev. Evans, by the way, has
taken a prominent role against same-sex marriage in Washington. DC.,
and declared the black church will no longer allow African-American
politicians to promote policies (i.e., gay marriage) that hurt the
black church. It is uncertain how same-sex marriage will hurt the
black church, but oh well.

Of Huffman and "Prompt" 19, Rev. Evans asserted "The NAACP is becoming
an enemy to the Black family... Now they are allowing Ms. Huffman to
unleash her unethical practices by supporting drugs that have ravished
the African American community over the past 30 years." He continues:
"I am authorizing all of our churches in the West Faith Command not to
[sic] give a damn dime to the NAACP and not allow their congregation
to be used for any of the NAACP meetings. There is no way that the
Black Church will permit this immoral act as it will only further the
devastation of the African American community."

Conservative preachers such as Rev. Evans and Bishop Allen are missing
the whole point about the war on drugs, or perhaps this is
intentional. Has drug addiction destroyed lives? Yes, to be certain,
but so too have the consumption of alcohol and tobacco -- and these
substances are not criminalized, but are regulated and treated as
health concerns. Detractors insist Alice Huffman and the NAACP are an
enemy of black America for supporting the legalization of marijuana.
Yet, how can the prohibitionists claim to act in the interests of the
black community when they support the perpetuation of a failed drug
war that has placed countless black, brown and poor white folk behind
bars, wasting their lives away in a cell, separated from their
children, with their communities depleted of resources, hollowed out
and disenfranchised?

The California NAACP is under fire when it should be applauded for its
courage. Alice Huffman is carrying out the mission of her
organization, ensuring that it protects civil rights and remains
relevant in changing times. Should we expect her to do less?