Working with individuals are completely different than the government enacting a secret policy that targets black people. Also, do economic factors contribute? As others have pointed out, poor regions with a predominately white population have drug problems as well. Was it more with socio-econ status than color?

 

Frank Lucas was in power during the 1970s. The period I am speaking of deals with crack taking over communities in the 80s and the ensuing War on Drugs. Weren't we in bed with Noriega? Noriega the leader of Panama who was one of the most notorious cocaine dealers of the 80s who also moonlighted as an agent for the CIA for a couple of decades?

Working with individuals are completely different than the government enacting a secret policy that targets black people. Also, do economic factors contribute? As others have pointed out, poor regions with a predominately white population have drug problems as well. Was it more with socio-econ status than color?

 

Economic factors contribute some but I'll always believe the motivation had more to do with skin color. Drugs are a dangerous business. You need expendable people to carry out the dirty work.

Frank Lucas was in power during the 1970s. The period I am speaking of deals with crack taking over communities in the 80s and the ensuing War on Drugs. Weren't we in bed with Noriega? Noriega the leader of Panama who was one of the most notorious cocaine dealers of the 80s who also moonlighted as an agent for the CIA for a couple of decades?

 

Working with shady people is something the US Gov has done for a bit. At the time, the US was focused on stopping communism even if it meant going into bed with some bad people. Finding ways to fund anti-commie groups has been verified through congressional hearings and documents, however, I fail to see how the US Gov said lets the narcotics into the black community. Millions of people became addicted to cocaine and a good percentage of said usage wasn't black.

For all the players that take a knee, if any get hurt and ends their season, I won't shed a tear.

Economic factors contribute some but I'll always believe the motivation had more to do with skin color. Drugs are a dangerous business. You need expendable people to carry out the dirty work.

 

I also want to add that people that trafficked drugs don't discriminate on color. If you can line their pockets, they don't care about your status or skin color. I feel like drugs hit the black community especially hard due to the fact it is hard for the inner city community to escape. They have poor schooling, bad family structure, and laws that hit them hard. I feel like the best way to get after to drugs is to legalize it and help these kids in the inner city and give them a better way out.

It's too big of a machine to stop at this point. If we got rid of all drugs on the planet today and they never came back then there would be all kinds of craziness happening. Drugs is a part of the society so much at this point that I don't think it is possible to escape it without legalizing drugs. Stopping drugs would affect prisons, police officers, local economies....far reaching consequences. Possibly even foreign policy.

 

Seriously, what can the black community do other than arm themselves and go to war with the gangsters running the inner city?

 

Frank Lucas used the help of the US Military to smuggle drugs into the country. When he was caught he went to work for the government didn't he? That just further proves my point about the government allowing the influx of drugs into inner cities.

Oh, you're never getting rid of them. My point about the community saying enough is enough is more of a culture change. It would take generations but has to start there. Back to the school argument, it is 100% on the government to make sure the schools are doing their part. However the parents/community also have a hand in that.

 

As far as Lucas, the military didn't help. Individuals in the military helped. And after caught he may have given some info but the movie fabricated his real role with aiding the DEA and prosecution.

Working with shady people is something the US Gov has done for a bit. At the time, the US was focused on stopping communism even if it meant going into bed with some bad people. Finding ways to fund anti-commie groups has been verified through congressional hearings and documents, however, I fail to see how the US Gov said lets the narcotics into the black community. Millions of people became addicted to cocaine and a good percentage of said usage wasn't black.

 

It'll never be proven but the coincidences of the rise of crack, the mass imprisonment of black men, the rise of black on black violence and nothing being done to stop any of it are too much for me.

Oh, you're never getting rid of them. My point about the community saying enough is enough is more of a culture change. It would take generations but has to start there. Back to the school argument, it is 100% on the government to make sure the schools are doing their part. However the parents/community also have a hand in that.

 

As far as Lucas, the military didn't help. Individuals in the military helped. And after caught he may have given some info but the movie fabricated his real role with aiding the DEA and prosecution.

 

The community has been saying enough is enough for decades but they don't have the money or resources to offer a better way to those with no hope and no concern for human life.

The community has been saying enough is enough for decades but they don't have the money or resources to offer a better way to those with no hope and no concern for human life.

I get that but it's not an excuse. You're killing your neighbors, ruining your children's future, and breaking the law because there isn't another option? At some point you have to stop waiting on others to create the better option and create it for yourself. I know the old "personal responsibility" line is played to some but the fact is it's true. Parents can make sure their kids are going to school and learning. Kids can make sure they are going to college or learning a trade when they get out of high school. Again, it won't be a change that happens over night but it will happen. Yes, the schools need to be repaired and make sure they have the needed resources. But from there it's on "you".

Ravens Ben Watson gave the best answer out of anyone I've seen make a statement about this very subject...

 

I will not have the option to kneel this Sunday while the National Anthem is being played. A week ago, in what would prove to be my last pre-gameopportunity of this 2016 season, I stood with my right hand over my heart as the anthem played. And if I am fortunate enough to ever be dressed for another game day I imagine I would be doing the same thing I did in my last. Standing. Not because America is ALL I desire it to be because most assuredly it is not. Racism still stews, families are fractured, the unborn are trashed, schools are struggling, religious freedom is increasingly under attack, violence pollutes our cities and our suburbs, and there is a growing divide between law enforcement and the community.

I stand, however, because I grew up in NAVY town USA and traveled overseas to support members of our armed forces who follow orders regardless of their personal sentiments. I stand for those who were forced to give their lives building the country that confined them to the tobacco fields and indigo plantations. I stand because as a child, I saw my father stand. A man who lived the tumultuous transition from "separate but equal" to the times surrounding the Civil Rights Act when angry people who held signs at his new school viscously screamed "***Word Filter Violation - Edit Your Post******Word Filter Violation - Edit Your Post******Word Filter Violation - Edit Your Post******Word Filter Violation - Edit Your Post******Word Filter Violation - Edit Your Post******Word Filter Violation - Edit Your Post*** GO HOME!" I stand because on the contrary, no one held such a sign when I walked into my grade school.

Before competition, as I stand in shoulder pads and cleats, my helmet in my left hand, adrenaline flowing and my heart raging under my right, I never forget the ills of America but for a moment I envision its potential, remember its prosperity and give thanks to God for the land He has placed me in and the people I love who live in it.

I stand, because this mixed bag of evil and good is MY home. And because it's MY home my standing is a pledge to continue the fight against all injustice and preserve the greatest attributes of the country, including Colin Kaepernick's right to kneel.

His actions and similar actions by figures of the past and present are a vital part of our journey and a key component of the equation for social change and should be respected as such. From the country's inception, such displays against the status quo are distinctly American. My hope, though, is that these actions bring more attention to the PROBLEM than to the PROTESTOR. And that ensuing dialog discover truth and that truth give birth to justice in legitimate situations where there is none. My hope is that in this time of toil and discord we collectively use our positions in public and private life to take responsibility for our role and collectively seek solutions, not because we HAVE to but because we CARE to. Sometimes listening is of greater value than speaking. As elusive an aspiration as it may be, our goal, especially in the arena of race, should continue to be to create an America where eventually everyone can, in good conscience, stand. No matter the historical context or the present circumstance that is the unity I, perhaps naively, imagine when I see our flag and listen to our anthem.

Conflict when handled correctly strengthens. Conflict when mismanaged destroys.

Economic factors contribute some but I'll always believe the motivation had more to do with skin color. Drugs are a dangerous business. You need expendable people to carry out the dirty work.

 

If it has more to do with skin color, what about all the drug ravaged areas of Appalachia? These areas are overwhelmingly white.

If it has more to do with skin color, what about all the drug ravaged areas of Appalachia? These areas are overwhelmingly white.

That doesn't fit their argument so they tend to ignore facts like that.

If it has more to do with skin color, what about all the drug ravaged areas of Appalachia? These areas are overwhelmingly white.

 

I couldn't tell you. I haven't been paying attention to problems that have plagued Appalachia since the Civil Rights movement and I haven't studied why Appalachia hasn't been able to overcome the mass imprisonment of all of their fathers or why they engage in self destructive behavior that has them killing each other over land they don't own. Who is Appalachia's version of Tupac because I have been listening to Tupac since 1991 and he has painted a clear picture of what is going on in the inner cities in a lot of his music and I admittedly don't know of any rap artists from Appalachia that can paint a picture of their struggle. I have a son in Appalachia and he hopes to become a cop one day so maybe he'll be able to clue me in on the struggle in Appalachia. I guess the only thing I know about Appalachia is that coal mining is a disappearing industry and as a result jobs allowing people to support their families are scarce and as a result things look bleak for Appalachia. I guess their only means of support is drug dealing. Hmmmm, and some would say the government is behind the proliferation of coal and causing the destruction of Appalachia.

 

On second thought that sounds familiar and something the government has practice with. Hmmmmmm.......

I get that but it's not an excuse. You're killing your neighbors, ruining your children's future, and breaking the law because there isn't another option? At some point you have to stop waiting on others to create the better option and create it for yourself. I know the old "personal responsibility" line is played to some but the fact is it's true. Parents can make sure their kids are going to school and learning. Kids can make sure they are going to college or learning a trade when they get out of high school. Again, it won't be a change that happens over night but it will happen. Yes, the schools need to be repaired and make sure they have the needed resources. But from there it's on "you".

 

I agree but IMO this is a naive train of thought over the entire situation plaguing the inner cities. If it was that easy change would have happened back in the late 1980s/early 1990s when the black community began preaching this message on a nationwide scale. I think you are underestimating how easy it is to fall in the vicious cycle of an inner city lifestyle especially when you are looking at families who have had no hope since the 1960s.