because we destroyed ourselves
November 2nd, 2010And this cavernous gap has only been widening, between 1998 and 2001 the net worth of families in the top 10% of America jumped 69%, significantly more than any other group.10 In the years leading up to that point, between 1988 and 1999, the difference in net worth between black families and white families grew by $16,000 and the gap in net financial assets grew by $20,000. By 2004 white families had an average net worth of $81,000, and black families an average net worth of just $8,000 – roughly a tenth the average white family’s.11
With home equity making up 44% of an average American’s family’s net worth and fully 60% among our middle class,12 the statistics around homeownernship further delineate the racial schisms of American wealth. Not only do blacks pay higher interest rates, have higher downpayments, have less access to credit, get turned down more frequently for loans no matter what’s controlled for, and pay what amounts to an 18% “segregation tax” because homes in black neighborhoods have much less equity than homes in white neighborhoods13 – but since 1970 black homes have appreciated in value roughly half as much as white homes.14
And as the real estate market has crashed blacks have suffered much more severely than whites. As it was stated earlier, even when income and credit are controlled for black families now have their homes foreclosed on and are thrown out into the street three-times as often as white families.
Exactly what impact modern drugs laws had on this growing level of racial economic disparity is impossible to know, however it seems more than a little suspicious that so many economic factors line up so well with the passage of our modern drug laws and the incredibly disproportionate number of blacks who were thrown into prison. It might not even be possible to put a number on how much damage the drug laws have done to black communities – as the most terrible statistic has nothing to do with money.
A black child in America is nine-times as likely as a white child to have a parent in prison.14.5
And yet one thing that’s not tough to figure out is whether being exposed to the American penal system increases or decreases someone’s propensity for violence.
Getting a man to kill someone right in front of them is surprisingly tough to do. The US Army didn’t get the formula right until Vietnam, when it combined the modern psychological principles of classic and operant conditioning, along with heavy doses of desensitization to violence and the appropriate levels of cultural and moral distance.
Our modern prisons, while not using classic or operant conditioning, appear to be reaching the same ends. Not only does increased incarceration raise the rate of violent crimes at the community level,15 but sticking someone in jail desensitizes them to violence and increases their level of cultural, moral, and social distance from anyone not in their own race.
No where in the modern world is someone more forced to “practice thinking of a particular class as less than human in a socially stratified environment,” a crucial step in becoming prepared to take someone’s life.16 It is impossible to survive in most prisons without at least loosely aligning yourself with whatever gang your race corresponds to, and steering well clear anything beyond cursory or institutionally-forced interaction with members of another race.
Although America’s five-fold per-capita increase in the incarceration rate hasn’t seemed to have increased the overall level of violent crime, a study released in 2002 revealed that without the advances in medical technology that we’ve made since 1970 the murder rate would be between three and four times higher than it is today.17
Numbers aside, there’s absolutely no way spending time in prison pacifies someone. And upon their release, prisoners often become ineligible for public housing and are denied welfare. So getting a job and trying to find a legitimate way to support themselves is far from easy for ex-cons, more often then not they feel forced to go back to a life of crime to support themselves and any family they might have.
Unemployment rates as high as fifty-percent are frequently cited by those who have researched and followed the lives of former prisoners. One recent study put the unemployment rate at 60% in the first year after release, and another survey found that two-thirds of the employers surveyed in five large cities would never hire an ex-con.18 Having to state that you’ve been incarcerated on your job application means that any jobs beyond the most menial and low-paying will likely remain out-of-reach. And in today’s turbulent economic times, when even those with advanced college degrees have trouble finding any kind of paid work, the prospect for an ex-con is even more grim.
Category: Uncategorized 9 comments »
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:44 am
Please post references to what the books you’re helping to sell actually refer to. I’m sure those books on amazon are good, but I’m more interested in talking to other people about some of the incredible things you’re saying and I’d like to actually be able to back up my story.
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:18 pm
EXCELLENT article!
Amerikkka…fine tuning racism.
Republicans (i.e. conservatives) are not solely to blame either. Democrats, including California Democrats as well as President Obama (shame on you BO!) continue to perpetuate the problem.
Ask yourself, would George W. Bush have been elected President if he had been exposed as a cocaine user that he was? Would Clinton or Obama have been elected if they had been busted smoking grass? Likely not! They’re lives would have taken a definite turn for the worse.
What’s more, a person convicted of drug possession in the USA is currently ineligible for federal student loans while a paroled murderer or rapist is still eligible.
SICK! SICK! SICK SOCIETY!
March 16th, 2011 at 4:16 pm
Yeah, I would really love to see the studies and sources of the statistics you are referencing from the books. Referencing the entire books isn’t very helpful. This was an amazing article, and I would just love to read the studies myself.
March 18th, 2011 at 11:29 am
If the majority of blacks commit a certain type of crime, you must legalize it or its a racist law! Everything that blacks want to do, however immoral, should be accepted. And that’s regardless if they they want to smoke crack or cut your throat. According to this author, criminal blacks are angels, and the ones making laws to protect society are evil.
March 18th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
good article, but when you say “a third more likely”, do you mean 3 times as likely or 1/3 more likely (which would actually be less likely)?
TtD: 133% more likely, sorry the phrasing was unclear.
March 18th, 2011 at 5:43 pm
Dude, keep on kicking ass. Your writing has gotten even better from the ol’ RMMB days.
March 18th, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Hi,
I’m not racist. I’m white. I have black friends.
I would like to see some of the data you used. I think the top 1% of the income group really throws off the average data. I’m assuming a large portion of the wealthiest people are white.
It would be nice to know how things stack up when the wealthiest 5% are removed from the numbers. I think the whites would have 2x the wealth of blacks.
Still bad, but not as bad as 10x. I just find that hard to believe.
March 24th, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Maybe blacks just get caught more? They fall asleep in the get away car.
March 25th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
Superb job. I’m a little surprised at the questioning of the statistics, they’re pretty easy to verify via our good friend Google. Keep up the great work.