CONTINUING OUTMODED DRUG-FIGHTING STRATEGIES

It really would be nice to applaud the recent law enforcement action
that took 21 suspected low-level drug dealers off the streets of
Waukegan, or shall we say, "off the streets in the 1st Ward." The
fact of the matter is that the 21 dealers have already been replaced
and drugs continue to flow unabated not only in Waukegan, but
throughout Lake County.

In Waukegan, it's easy to put a Band-Aid on the scourge of drugs in
our community. I've been a witness to the "let's pick up some drug
dealers" to convince the uninformed that we saved the poor residents
of Waukegan's 1st Ward. These lowlevel drug dealers are convenient
and easy to identify.

And the question we must ask ourselves is why the drug dealers are
always nabbed in Waukegan's 1st Ward? And even more important, why
are they always black? If black people are in the minority in
Waukegan, how is it possible that the drug dealers are always black?

As a lifelong resident of Waukegan's 1st Ward, how does the arrest of
these nefarious criminals enhance the quality of my life?

Now, as a rational thinking person, who happens to be black, here is
what I've observed in the 1st Ward and is the case throughout many
cities in America: The relationship between race, poverty, geographic
location and drug convictions, according to the Justice Policy
Institute (JPI), is the disproportionate incarceration of African
Americans in drug cases.

While African Americans and whites use and sell drugs at similar
rates, African Americans are 10 times more likely than whites to be
imprisoned for drug offenses, according to the JPI report.

These low-level dealers are going to hang around the
already-overcrowded Lake County jail for a while where they will be
given three meals daily, a clean bed and cable TV. In the community,
they already are social lepers who have no fear of jail.

If they receive any prison sentence, the state will pay $20,000 per
inmate, or more during their very brief period of incarceration. When
they return to Waukegan they will be much worse off than they were before.

The prevalent strategy of fighting drugs by arresting street corner
thugs is repugnant, outmoded and indicative of a community powerless
to stop the proliferation of drugs. The lucrative drug market will
continue unabated in Waukegan's 1st Ward.

The high rate of poverty, unemployment and recidivism has created
innate problems ranging from racial injustice and irreparable damage
to families. We are now witnesses to the imprisonment of young black
males who have failed to graduate from high school and are now behind
bars at an incarceration rate six times higher than white dropouts.

The impact on our community is frightening when you consider that
those who were incarcerated return with the mark of "felon" and their
punishment will continue when they can't find employment; they will
be alienated and forever discriminated against in society.

They will return to the illicit drug trade with its lure of fast
money. It's a pernicious cycle that will lead to higher rates of
delinquency, mental illness, drug abuse and reduces levels of school success.

In the future, there will be the ritual "drug sweep," a mere Band-Aid
on a raw sore that continues to ooze and fester beneath the surface
on Waukegan's South Side.

Hasan Hakeem is a resident of Waukegan's 1st Ward