Black-on-Black Crime: Drug prohibition drives gang violence

Editors Notes: Recently, the Mike Brown case has caused the usual crescendo among conservatives that blacks don't care about black-on-black crime. It has been said to me many times that black commit most of the crime in America and that is simply not true. Blacks commit slightly more of the murders and robberies in America. Whites commit three times the crimes in every other category and overall.

So, what drives black men to kill black men? It is the drug war. This article explores the myths about drug prohibition. The truth is, white people are more likely to be murdered, raped and robbed by whites. It is time for America to stop racist fear of black men.

Many people do not realize that drugs for personal use are legal in Mexico. That's right, you can buy small amounts of drugs for use in your home and not be arrested. Most of us realize that every border town in the US fights a constant battle with drug mules who ferry drugs into the United States for large Mexican drug cartels.

When you talk to most gun advocates, they rightly point out that inner-city gangs are the cause of most homicides by guns in the US. One only has to look at the recent violence in Chicago to see the devastating affects of gun violence. However, they do not seem to see the correlation between those deaths and prohibition of drugs. Prohibition does not work and it never has.

In 1919, the government tried to make the manufacture and sell of alcohol illegal through the Volstead Act. What they did was drive the industry underground and create a pathway for gangsters like Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, and The New York Crime Syndicate to get rich. It is estimated that at the height of prohibition that Al Capone was making $60 million a year.

There are many studies that show that there is a direct connection between the prohibition of drugs and alcohol and the rise of the murder rate and street crime. I wrote about how Black LA gangs were created in the early 70s and how they became rich during the drug trade of the 90s. I also wrote about how the CIA and Oliver North were complicit in the crack epidemic of that time.

The prohibition of 1920 lasted for almost twelve years and sparked the government's war on gangs throughout the country. It is estimated that 1000 Americans a year died because of prohibition of alcohol. Our current drug war has been going on since the 70s and there is no end in sight although it has been a colossal failure. The estimates say that almost 10,000 people a year die because of gun violence due to gangs.

So, if gun advocates want to stop street crime and stem the violence we need to stop the prohibition of drugs. One amazing statistic is that 60% of the Mexican drug cartels revenue is from marijuana. Think about that. If we just legalized pot, we would cut their revenue by more than half. However, the other 40% is from cocaine and methamphetamine. We could increase our own tax base and drive the sell of illegal narcotics somewhere else besides our borders.

It is my suspicion, however, that many who want to keep pointing to gangs do not want to confront the obvious and that is that the drug trade drives violence on inner-city streets, is the cause for many break-ins and robberies, and has filled our prisons with non-violent offenders who come out worse than they were when they went in.

If Americans are serious about stopping violence on city streets, then we need to take a look at drug prohibition and its affects. The fact is that most gun advocates cite gangs and violence as a way to justify their paranoia and not out of genuine concern for those who are dying or the safety of their fellow Americans.