Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday:

IS THE DRUG WAR THE NEXT BIG CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE?

With Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday approaching, we are forced to
draw connections between the war on drugs and the disintegration of
low-income and black communities in America. As Dr. King so
poignantly reminds us in his critique of the Vietnam War, "a time
comes when silence is betrayal." With many communities disparately
impacted by the drug war, many of us working for justice have come to
the realization that America's war on drugs is really a war on
families and communities. In the spirit of Dr. King, we must now ask:
Has this assault on the poor and the marginalized become the next big
civil rights struggle?

Civil rights advocates are honoring Dr. King's legacy by standing up
against the "new Jim Crow" -- mass incarceration and the racially
disproportionate war on drugs. It is impossible to talk frankly and
honestly about racism without talking about the drug war. Few U.S.
policies have had such a devastating effect on blacks, Latinos and
other racial minorities than the drug war. Every aspect of the war on
drugs -- from arrests to prosecutions to sentencing -- is
disproportionately carried out against minorities.

One great example of this is the crack cocaine sentencing disparity
that has reinforced our country's historically racist attitudes
toward minorities. For two decades, a person with just five grams of
crack cocaine received a mandatory sentence of five years in prison.
The same person would have to possess 500 grams of powder cocaine to
earn the same punishment. This discrepancy, known as the 100-to-1
ratio, was enacted in the late 1980s and was based on the myth that
crack cocaine was far more dangerous than powder. The 100-1 ratio
caused many problems, including perpetuating racial disparities which
targeted low level offenders, especially blacks. Advocates pushed to
eliminate this disparity for many years and only recently managed to
convince lawmakers to reduce the 100-1 disparity to 18-1. The repeal
also eliminated the five-year minimum for simple possession for five
grams of cocaine. This was the first repeal of a mandatory minimum
drug sentence since the 1970s and has reduced the federal prison
population and saved an estimated $42 million in criminal justice
spending over the first five years.

The crack cocaine disparity laws bring a host of questions to mind.
Why are black men imprisoned for drug offenses at 13 times the rate
of white men despite equal rates of drug use and selling across
races? How do we begin to address the connections between
astronomical rates of incarceration, disintegration of black
families, and the war on drugs?

These questions and many more will be addressed at a town hall forum
at First Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Jan. 14. The
forum, "Ending the 40 Year Drug War: Promoting Policies That
Rebuild/Reclaim Our Families and Communities," will bring together a
diverse group of scholars, community activists, social service
providers, and religious and political leaders. They will discuss
viable alternatives to the quagmire of the misdirected war on drugs,
which has torn apart the fabric of many communities.

Hopefully the legacy of Dr. King will be carried on in an attempt to
solve the problems associated with the black community. Our goal is
that both panelists and attendees will be guided to action by Dr.
King's wisdom: "If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the
long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who
possess power without compassion, might without morality, and
strength without sight".