Surprising lessons from The New Jim Crow book

The New Jim Crow - Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness book by Michelle Alexander is filled with solid research, case studies and facts that is a must read, especially for white Americans who don't have to worry about the color of their skin in America.

The Human Rights Watch reported that in 7 states, blacks make-up 80-90% of all those sent to prison on drug charges. In at least 15 states, blacks are admitted to prison 20-50 times more than white men. Blacks are incarcerated at grossly disproportionate rates to whites.

Although the majority of illegal drug users and dealers nationwide are white, 3/4 of all people imprisoned for drug offenses have been black or latino although in recent years, rates have dipped somewhat and declined 25% from the zenith in the mid 1990s.

One study reported that white students use cocaine 7x more, use crack cocaine 8x more and use heroine 7 x more than black students. Both black and white college seniors used marijuana equally.

The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse found that white youth ages 12-17 are 1/3 more likely to sell illegal drugs than black youth. However a study done the same year by the Human Right Watch found that blacks were being arrested and imprisoned at unprecedented rates.

While government data revealed that blacks are more likely to be guilty of drug crimes than whites, all other studies have proven that white youth are most likely of any racial or ethnic group to be guilty of illegal drug possession and sales.

White youth have 3x the number of drug related ER visits as their black peers.

Studies consistently show that drug markets, like American society, generally reflect our nation's racial and socioeconomic boundaries. Whites tend to sell to whites. Blacks tend to sell to blacks. It isn't black selling to everyone.

1/2 of people in state prison are classified as violent offenders. However, the term violent offender can apply to fist fights, armed robbery, rape and murder.

Nationwide nearly 7 out of 8 people living in high-poverty, urban areas are members of a minority group.