Week 5: CheckPoint - Racial Profiling, the War on Drugs, and Urban Poverty

    Racial profiling, the war on drugs, and urban poverty have become synonymous with the inner city areas.  Furthermore, since the inner city neighborhoods are frequently heavily populated with African Americans these items are frequently associated with them.  The reality is that racial profiling, the war on drugs, and urban poverty are all tied together, and have as their root urban poverty.

    Racial profiling is mentioned so frequently in the media that it is becoming increasingly easy to filter out, and ignore.  On the other hand there is the fairly universal perception that the inner cities are crime ridden, and since these neighborhoods are heavily populated with African Americans they become associated with the crimes.  With the associated that African American commit more crimes leads to greater oversight of their activities, especially by those in law enforcement.  This crime frequently stems from drugs, and drug related crimes, and thus the war on drugs.

    Crime in the inner cities is frequently higher then that in the suburbs.  Furthermore, whether it is gang related or not the basis of most of the violent crimes in the inner cities stem from drugs.  With the crime being associated with drugs then the war on drugs tends to focus on the inner cities where the drugs, and crimes, are a problem.  This then tends to target African Americans since they heavily occupy the inner cities.  The root of the drug problem can then be traced back to poverty.  With there being so few opportunities to escape the poverty of the inner cities, selling drugs becomes a very attractive means of attaining both property, power, and prestige.  The war on drugs will never be successful until the issues of inner city poverty are addressed.

    The poverty of the inner cities which results in a drug culture which results in high crime is viscous circle that is hard to escape.  The inner cities frequently have inferior education then their suburban counterparts.  The inner cities also have less opportunities for career advancement and self improvement.  This results in a higher incidence of drugs, and the related crimes, as a mechanism of escape.  The crimes and drugs result in a more negative opinion of the areas, and of African Americans, garnering greater police oversight of these areas.  It also serves to make the middle and upper class leery of the inner city, and thus a natural bias against them.  This then makes it harder for African Americans to pursue opportunities outside of the inferior jobs within the inner city.  This then propagates the cycle again.

    While there are many aspects to the inner city, in particular in relation to African Americans, a significant portion of the problems have their root in the poverty.  It is the poverty that is heavily to cause for the drug problem.  It is then the drug problem that fosters the negative attitudes and the related racial profiling.  A significant key for the inner city, and African Americans in general, is the resolution of the poverty.

© Erik Smith 2005
Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License