If a government wants to control a portion of the population they determine their cultural distinction and criminalize it. “In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion and social contempt. So we don’t. Rather than rely on race, we use our criminal justice system to label people of color “criminals” and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind. Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African-Americans.” The drug was is the new Jim Crow.
Book Excerpt: Understanding the New Jim Crow | BillMoyers.com.