(BY THEIR FRUITS, SO SHALL YOU KNOW THEM)
“Beware of false prophets”
“They come to you in sheep’s clothing “
“But inwardly they are ravenous wolves”
“ . . By their fruits, so shall you know and recognize them ”
--- Matthew (7:15/16)
THE STRANGE FRUITS OF HARRY ANSLINGER’S WORKS
“Be Black or Hispanic”
The article then goes on to talk about arrest statistics and frankly they’re not pretty:
“Across the city, black people were arrested on low-level marijuana charges at eight times the rate of white, non-Hispanic people over the past three years. . . Hispanic people were arrested at five times the rate of white people. In Manhattan, the gap is even starker: Black people there were arrested at 15 times the rate of white people.”In other words, the surest way of being arrested for Marihuana is to have Black-Skin; ---that’ll do the trick for sure. But the problem isn’t that it’s just New York City, these kinds of arrest statistics appear to be systemic throughout the country. I personally won’t forget reading about a little old lady from the “District of Columbia” who wasn’t just bitterly opposed to marijuana use, she was also against alcohol, tobacco, gaming, whatever, you name it, she was opposed to it. Yet, as the article so dramatically told the story, this same little old lady (despite her opposition) was now out there gather signatures for the marijuana petition to legalize. WHY? Because, in her own words, “I’ve had it with seeing our (black) young people being put in jail for it, that’s why.” * After which the article went on to quote Black versus White arrest statistics in our nation’s capital; -- Once more they are not pretty. It appears that for every nine individuals arrested for marijuana within the district, eight of them were black.
* Actually I’m “para-quoting” her words from memory, but that was what she meant.
According to ACLU as well as DrugPolicy.Org statistics: [2], [3]
- Between 2001 and 2010, there were over 8 million marijuana arrests in the United States, 88% of which were for possession.
- A Black person is almost four-times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, even though Blacks and whites use marijuana at similar rates.
- Such racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests exist in all regions of the country, in counties large and small, urban and rural, wealthy and poor, and with large and small Black populations.
- Nearly 80% of people in federal prison and almost 60% of people in state prison for drug offenses are black or Latino.
- Research shows that prosecutors are twice as likely to pursue a mandatory minimum sentence for black people as for white people charged with the same offense. Among people who received a mandatory minimum sentence in 2011, 38% were Latino and 31% were black. . . People of color experience discrimination at every stage of the criminal justice system and are more likely to be stopped, searched, arrested, convicted, harshly sentenced and saddled with a lifelong criminal record. This is particularly the case for drug law violations.
- EVEN two years after decriminalization in the nation’s capital, a Black person is 11 times more likely than a white person to be arrested for public use of marijuana. [4]
THE RACIST THE AFTER AFFECTS OF ARREST
AND in terms of racial minorities, the drug war is more then just about drugs, it’s about people’s very lives. Once more quoting the two above sources:
- Black people and Native Americans are more likely to be killed by law enforcement than other racial or ethnic groups. They are often stereotyped as being violent or addicted to alcohol and other drugs. Experts believe that stigma and racism may play a major role in police-community interactions.
- Arrests and convictions for possessing marijuana can very negatively impact individuals for the rest of their lives:
- Obtaining Public Housing
- Obtaining student Financial Aid eligibility as well as Federal Tax deductions.
- Employment opportunities
- Child custody determinations
- In some states getting arrested for marijuana possession automatically triggers a six-month suspension of one’s driver’s license.
- more . . . (being able to rent an apartment, etc.)
- One in 13 black people of voting age are denied the right to vote because of laws that disenfranchise people with felony convictions.
- One in nine black children has an incarcerated parent, compared to one in 28 Latino children and one in 57 white children.
Thus, given the after-affects, I for one feel that we can legitimately term this a ‘War on Blacks” as opposed to a “War on Drugs”. And should someone think that the Fruits of Anslinger’s Labors were Highjacked somewhere along the line by the Klan, or Richard Nixon, or whoever, it should be noted that these racial disparities have been going on for some time. Example: After scouting through old historical back issues of the “Daily Oklahoman” (a major newspaper back in the 1930’s) I was able to tabulate the following marihuana arrest statistics from 1933-1940:
Oklahoman Newspaper
| Race | Arrests | % of all arrests | Mexican | 29 | 50% | White | 18 | 31% | Blacks | 11 | 19% |
|---|
* As per individuals with Mexican sounding sir names (Gonzales, Rodriguez, etc).
** Race was not mentioned so we presume White plus all others (Amer-Indian, etc.).
*** Race was kindly identified within the newspaper article as being that of a Negro.
Note that in essence almost 70% of all the Marihuana arrests (grouping blacks and Mexicans together) were on people of color. And by the way, what was happening in Oklahoma was not all that unique. As per one of our websites:
[Referencing arrests for Marijuana (New Mexico between 1923-1957]
“The number of Mexican surnames is something that almost immediately jumps out at the reader. In fact of the 80 names listed, 74 of those (or 92%) had Mexican sounding surnames. And while 12 of those prisoners look like they could pass for white people, even if they were taken away (74 – 12 = 62), still the number of Brown Skin Marihuana’s appears to be quite high. It’s almost as if someone had targeted the law against them. But if it’s any consolation, the figures also show that four blacks (5%) and three white/white people (two women) and a druggist were also incarcerated for Marihuana during this same time period.“
Thus as one can see the racial disparities surrounding Marihuana law enforcement have been going on for some time. Meaning, NO ONE HIGHJACKED these “Strange Fruits of Harry Anslinger’s labor.” Or in the words of Frank Zappa:
“Do you Hate it,
“There it is the Way you Made it
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[Courtesy, State of New Mexico Prison System]
THE SAGA OF THE “BROWN SKIN MARIJUANA’S”
What’s in a name, apparently quite a lot, especially if you’re being arrested just for looking like one.
As I see it, the origins of this word would require at least a whole book (of and by itself) in order to even begin to do the subject justice. Thus it is hoped that the reader understands that here, due to obvious space/time/subject restrictions, it would be an impossibility to fully delve into the ethno-etymological origins of the word. So let’s just say that even Anslinger himself admitted the words had Mexican origins:
“We seem to have adopted the Mexican terminology, and we call it marihuana, which means good feeling.“ --- Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 – Statement of H. J. AnslingerA statement that is challengeable, especially as most (especially back then) understood it to mean a “Brown Skin Mexican.” Which is why the narc’s, once they noticed that TiJuana was spelled with a “J”, changed the spelling from the original “mari-huana” to the now more appropriate Mexican sounding “MariJuana”. But in either case the word itself, whose origins predate Anslinger, was very cleverly adopted for its given racial implications. To quote just one website: [5]
‘The word “marijuana” itself was part of this approach. What was commonly known as Cannabis until the early 1900s was instead called marihuana, a Spanish word more likely to be associated with Mexicans. ‘Simply put, the word of-and-by itself is racist to the core, specifically used by Anslinger (et al) as a means of targeting certain racial groups. So much so that even the ‘State of Hawaii’ has now issued new guidelines preventing their State health employees from using the “M” word. So from here on end, they’ll have to refer to Cannabis as, . . . well as Cannabis.
“Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
“Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
“Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
‘Pastoral scene of the gallant South
“The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
“Scent of magnolia, sweet and fresh
“Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
--- Billie Holiday Song, inspired by the photo seen above.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1]- https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/nyregion/marijuana-arrests-nyc-race.html
[2]- http://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/race-and-drug-war
[3]- “The War on Marijuana in Black and White” – ACLU report (June 2013) https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/1114413-mj-report-rfs-rel1.pdf
[4]- https://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform/drug-law-reform/marijuana-legalization-racial-justice-issue
[5]- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harry-anslinger-the-man-behind-the-marijuana-ban/
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