I feel that this is like saying, "Allen Iverson was MVP of the NBA and he's 5'11", therefore height is no longer an advantage in the NBA."
I don't claim racism doesn't exist, nor would I claim that height is not an advantage in basketball. If I was to make the claim, "NBA teams are biased they won't sign the best basketball player only the tallest" Than Iverson is a great counter example to disprove that.
Fact: Tall people are more prone to have the skills to be a great basketball player than short people. That doesn't mean that someone less than 6 feet tall will never be considered a first round draft talent in the NBA. But it does mean that more 6 feet tall people will be draft in the first round than people less than 6 feet.
Fact: White people are more prone to have the skills necessary to competently perform high paying jobs than black people. That doesn't mean that blacks can't get good paying jobs that they are qualified for, but it does mean that on avg, they are going to make less money.
It is difficult for me to accept the idea that the playing field has been leveled when (for example) whites and blacks use marijuana at roughly the same rate, yet blacks are arrested for marijuana
far more often.
Based on personal experiences, I don't doubt your stats. But I don't agree with the conclusion.
My personal experiences:
1) While I don't smoke pot, I have friends who do. They are white. The smoke in the basement of their home or deep in the woods.
2) I frequently walk in the local city park. Occasionally I will see white people smoking
in the woods when hiking on the trails. I have NEVER seen a white person smoking pot at the picnic tables, ball fields or near the playground at the park. I frequently see blacks smoking in such public areas. And sometimes I see them get arrested. I have never seen a cop on the hiking trails.
3) Last week I saw a black man get arrested for smoking pot. It was a weekend afternoon, he was on the park bench next to the playground that had about 30 children playing.
4) At an outdoor free music concert I saw the same two cops bust four different groups for smoking pot. The cops were both black.
group A - a group of blacks. When the cops approached the smokers were respectful the smokers turn over their pot without incident, the cop ran their licences and let them off with a warning.
group B - a group of whites. Exact same outcome as group A
group C - single black. When the cop told him to put out the joint, he responded "fuck you, you pig." He was arrested.
group D - one white, one black. They also were respectful. When the cops ran the ids the black showed up as having an open a warrant. He was arrested; the white who did not have an open warrant was given a warning.
So I don't doubt the data that more blacks get arrested than whites for smoking pot. However the conclusion I have drawn is the following:
1) You are less likely to get arrested if you smoke where you are unlikely to encounter cops than if you smoke in the areas the cops patrol.
2) You are less likely to get arrested if you are polite to a cop, cooperate and call him "Sir" than if you call him a "pig"
3) Most white potheads have figured out the above; while many black potheads haven't or don't care.
Author