“The True worth of a race must be measured by the character of its womanhood.” Mother Mary McCloud Bethune (As in all of my posts, underlined words are links.)
I am dedicating all of my remaining posts this year to Black African American females because a race can rise no higher than its’ females.
I was asked to give a talk on “America’s Prison Industrial Complex,” and during my research, I uncovered so much information that I decided to turn it into this blog post.
I wrote in my 1992 book, “It’s Time to Stop Blaming The White Man,” (read it for free on my blog) that America’s “War on Drugs” was a disguised war against Black African American males and I received an enormous amount of ridicule and was accused of being a “conspiracy theorist.” Here we are over 25 years later and there is boundless evidence substantiating my initial claim.
To begin with, we must first accept the reality that America’s foundation is racism and from the outset; our “Founding Fathers” subjugated and enslaved all non-White people in one manner or other.
Our “Founding Fathers’ White Supremacist attitudes began with the indigenous people who were here to greet the first Pilgrims, as well as the first “20 and odd Africans” arriving in Jamestown, Virginia in late 1619.
From that point on, America’s (and the world’s) White Supremacist systems left nothing to chance. It embarked on a course of racial profiling, designed to lead to racial extermination, also known as genocide.
At the end of the Civil War, the White Southerners immediately thrust their former slaves into “Jim Crow Laws” which were an even more barbaric form of slavery.
The end of America’s Civil War was the beginning of America’s Prison Industrial Complex,” which I choose to call, “America’s Criminal Injustice Complex.” The former slaves, (primarily males) were forced into a nightmarish concentration-camp type existence, which in fact is where Hitler learned his techniques. View the PBS documentary, “Slavery by Another Name.
White America’s “War on Drugs” began on November 15, 1875, targeting the Chinese in San Francisco, California and their “Opium Dens.” As long as only Chinese frequented these opium dens, there was no problem.
When White people in general and White females in particular began frequenting these opium dens, White politicians immediately began cracking down, by arresting and incarcerating Chinese who were in possession of any amount of opium.
America’s White Supremacist government readily learned that the best way to control non-White people was by controlling their customs. They were so successful in controlling the Chinese by targeting their opium use that this method became a national policy for controlling all people of color.
The February 8, 1914, Sunday Edition of the New York Times, headline read as follows:” NEGRO COCAINE “FIENDS” NEW SOUTHERN MENACE,” which was written by a noted medical doctor, Edward Huntington Williams, M.D.
The “illustrious” doctor stated: “For some years there have been rumors about the increase in drug taking in the South-vague, but always insistent rumors that the addiction to such drugs as morphine and cocaine was becoming a veritable curse to the colored race in certain regions. Some of these reports read like the wildest flights of a sensational fiction writer. Stories of cocaine orgies and “sniffing parties” followed by wholesale murders seem like lurid journalism of the yellowest variety.
But in point of fact there was nothing “yellow” about many of these reports. Nine men killed in Mississippi on one occasion by crazed cocaine takers, five in North Carolina, three in Tennessee-these are the facts that need no imaginative coloring. And since this gruesome evidence is supported by the printed records of the insane hospitals, courts, jails, and penitentiaries, there is no escaping the conviction drug taking has become a race menace in certain regions south of the line.”
The article went on to say: “But the drug produces several other conditions which make the “fiend” a peculiarly dangerous criminal. One of these conditions is a temporary immunity to shock–a resistance to the knockdown effects of fatal wounds.
Bullets fired into vital parts, that would drop a sane man in his tracks, fail to check the “fiend”–fail to stop his rush or weaken his attack.”
Dr. Williams’ recommendations are as follows: “As far as the thousands who have already formed the habit are concerned there is little choice of remedies. Once the negro has formed the habit he is irreclaimable. The only method to keep him away from taking the drug is by imprisoning him. And this is merely palliative treatment, for he returns inevitably to the drug habit when released.”
Dr. Williams’ recommendations for dealing with addicted Black African Americans are still the preferred solution today – lock them up and do not provide any treatment.
White America resumed its ongoing “War on Drugs” just after the Mexican Revolution , when a large influx of Mexicans began coming into America, bringing their customs with them; including the smoking of “marihuana.”
Because of the large influx of unwanted Mexicans during the “Great Depression,” and massive unemployment, the media began playing on the racist fears of White Americans.
They falsely accused the Mexicans of getting high on “marihuana” and raping White women. Hollywood immediately jumped on the bandwagon with their movie, “Refer Madness,” depicting the maniacal behavior of someone who was under the influence of “marihuana” and how it endangered White women.
The Boggs Act, of 1952 and the Narcotics Control Act, of 1956 were the first laws establishing mandatory sentences for drug-related offenses, including simple possession of marijuana.
On June 19, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon declared his “War on Drugs.” Be mindful that President Nixon’s “War on Drugs” coincided with the Vietnam War, which disproportionately killed and maimed more Black African Americans than any other race. My High School, Thomas A. Edison in Philadelphia, Pa. had the highest Vietnam casualty rate than any other American High School.
The end result of this war was to keep as many Black African American combat trained vets out of the country for as long as possible.
It would have been insane to allow these combat vets to come back home amidst the church bombings, 
killing four Black African American little girls; 
dogs and fire hoses being used on their family and friends and the aftermath of Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination.
The longer they kept Black African American combat vets in Vietnam, the greater the possibility that they would be killed or maimed (physically and mentally) and at the very least, they would become addicted to heroin.
Let us not forget J. Edgar Hoover’s war against Black African American organizations and their leadership, which the FBI’s COINTELPRO successfully waged.
Speaking of Vietnam, former President George H. Bush was the director of the CIA during the Vietnam War. Under his leadership, the CIA created a clandestine airline known as “Air America,” for the express purpose of transporting heroin from Vietnam to America.
Furthermore, as Vice President under President Reagan, George H. Bush was directly implicated in the Iran-Contra scandal, which consisted of illegally trading guns for cocaine. The CIA brought the cocaine to America and dumped it into Black African American neighborhoods.
On October 7, 1986 Eugene Hasenfus’ plane was shot down over Nicaragua, carrying tons of illegal guns and ammunition. Upon his capture, he was in possession of the private telephone number of Vice President George H. Bush, which in essence was his “Get Out of Jail Free Card,” because he was returned to America within days of his capture.
I encourage you to watch the following documentaries on YouTube: “CIA Drug Ops Conspiracy;” “The Mena Connection;” and “Exposing the CIA, Bush, Clinton, Iran Contra, & Drug Running.” Also watch, “American Drug War: The Last White Hope: Pre Release Cut.” These documentaries will provide undisputable evidence that the biggest drug dealers in America is America in general and its’ Presidents in particular.
In July 1999, a little town in Texas by the name of Tulia gained international notoriety when it arrested about 15% of the Black African American population in a bogus “drug sting.” On the advice of a “gypsy cop,” (he was not assigned to any particular jurisdiction) Tom Coleman, Tulia law enforcement arrested 46 people for violating drug laws. Six of the 46 were White Americans who either lived in the Black African American part of town or associated with Black African Americans.
They released two defendants after they spent several days in jail because they had documented proof that they were somewhere else when Tom Coleman claimed that he bought cocaine from them.
The first two Black African Americans that went to trial had Public Defenders and received 60 and 90 years respectively. The remainder looked at the hand dealt them and realized their chance of winning against an all White jury was hopeless, so they pled guilty and went immediately to prison with sentences ranging from 40 to 123 years.
The Texas Department of Public Safety awarded Tom Coleman “Lawman of the Year,” and he rode off into the sunset with a big Texas grin and a pocket full of reward (bounty) money.
Fortunately, for those innocent victims, with the help of national and international protest and a thorough investigation, their cases were overturned, and they all were released, splitting a settlement of $6,000,000.00.
Tom Coleman was tried and convicted of perjury and sentenced to ten years probation and a $12,000.00 fine, which amounted to nothing more than a wrist slap. He never served one day in jail.
Let us fast forward to 2015 and the Justice Department determining that the Ferguson, Mo. police department funds the entire city by illegally issuing tickets to the Black African American community. Failure to pay these illegal fines would result in even steeper fines and ultimately incarceration.
In spite of the Justice Department’s finding that the Ferguson Police Department repeatedly and illegally targeted Black African Americans, America’s first Black African American Attorney General, Eric Holder exonerated Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson of all wrong doings in the malicious and premeditated murder of Michael Brown.
Furthermore, Americans in general and Black African Americans in particular must take a serious look at the militarization of America’s police departments and the repeated beatings and executions of Black African Americans. I will say more about this in another post however, you do not have to wait for me. Remember, it only takes one person to make a difference and that person can be YOU!
Black African Americans are guilty, until we can prove ourselves innocent in a court of law. Once arrested, if we do not have anyone to post our bail, we will languish in County jails indefinitely, awaiting trial.
Because they are impoverished, Public Defenders who has a huge caseload and little if any support staff or experience will defend them. There job is to dispose of cases as quickly as possible and the best way to do so is to get their clients to enter a plea regardless of their innocence.
I personally know of a Black African American male who sat in a County jail for 452 days awaiting trial. On the day of his trial, he met his Public Defender for the first time and was encouraged to plead guilty and receive a sentence of “Time Served.”
To his dismay, after entering a guilty plea, the judge sentenced him to serve 35 years without parole. By pleading guilty, he signed away his appeal rights. Once in state prison, he began researching his options in the prison law library. To his dismay, he found out that he should not have pleaded guilty because he was innocent of all charges.
On the day of his trial, the District Attorney had dropped the six counts (2 for possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime; 2 for possession of a firearm as a convicted felon; and 2 for attempted murder) to “incest,” because he could not prove his case.
He was charged with “incest” for having sex with his half sister’s step-daughter, who was over twenty one.” Because he had spent 452 days locked up, he reported being mentally exhausted and since he was guilty of the initial charges, he felt pleading guilty to the incest charge was a great deal. After all, his White female Public Defender assured him that he would only receive “time served” and go home at the end of the trial.
His research revealed that the woman he was accused of having an incestuous relationship with was not related to him by blood or by marriage, because she was his half sister’s stepdaughter.
I remember Richard Pryor’s comments about America’s Criminal Justice System.” He called it, “Just Us,” meaning Black African Americans only, and we all laughed. The laugh is really on us now because he told the truth. Courts, jails and prisons are America’s Criminal Injustice Complexes” and Black African Americans are its victims.
Oh, what a blessing it is that my people do not read, think or use common sense says the Pastors, Pimps, and Politicians.