.com-ments December 19 2007
Responses to ‘Atlanta’s drug war’ and ‘Resurgens renaissance’
Atlanta’s drug war
You can’t be serious: Gee you managed to state every ethnic groups contribution to the drug problem, except for the White people that use and sell more drugs than any of these economic/ethnic minority groups put together. You didn’t mention anything about the Meth trade that goes on in the rural and low income white areas. By the way you forgot to mention the CIA plane that was transporting over 3.7 tons of cocaine that crashed a couple of months ago. But I guess these little incidentals don’t matter as long as the “colored folk” can be made to be the blame for all of the ills in this city, heck even the county. You pseudo news people are wicked and make me want to puke. Fair and balanced reportin my a$$!
– does it matter
Another thing: You stated statistics on the upswing of crime, but you didn’t state any statistics on the mega-increase of unemployment since 2002 until the present which has a direct impact on the increase in crime. Things just don’t happen in a vacuum there is always a cause and effect. For example: North America was inhabited exclusively by indigenous native people up until the late 1400s. Then Europeans came to North America during the late 1400s, bringing violent savagery, disease and some real potent fermented and distilled beverages.
The effects of the white settlers violence, savagery and old school thuggery is that the native indigenous people have been decimated. Wonder what ethnic group caused the crime increase during the 400 odd years that led to the demise of the Native American. We wont even start on Africans that forced into slavery. I think that counts as kidnapping, theft, rape and murder. I won’t mention the abuse that Asians have had heaped upon them just in the last century from various acts of aggression from the good ole U-S of A.
– does it matter
A level-headed article from john sugg?: I was surprised to read a John Sugg story that didn’t come off as a premeditated hatchet job. I grudgingly congratulate you, sir, on your adherence to facts.
– Paul
hunt ‘em down: Guess I’m not the only one who got the impression reading this article that a bunch of good ‘ol white boys are harassing brothers in the streets of Atlanta. An arrest for a blunt? Come on.
– Amy
Prohibition = crime: How can an article be written about drugs and gangs, and the word “prohibition” not be mentioned once? The police continue to repeat the lie that “drugs fuel crime”, and this falsehood goes unchallenged. Are employees from Starbucks and Dunkin Doughnuts killing over turf? Are Budweiser and Coors having shootouts in the middle of the street? Are tobacco growers gunning down their rivals? No? Well then drugs really don’t cause crime do they? It is Drug PROHIBITION that causes crime. A young man would not be out selling marijuana on a cold night if it was regulated like tobacco. Making drugs illegal doesn’t make them disappear, it simply allows criminals to control the distribution. Alcohol prohibition created Al Capone, not alcohol.
– Tim
we need drug prohibition: Drug prohibition does cause crime - but you need it. If marijuana were legal, then cocaine would be the big one in the drug trade, if that was legal, then something else would arise. What are you talking about? I mean, screwing kids is illegal to, and people commit crimes (often violent) to do it anyway. Certainly you don’t think we should adjust the laws for that do you?
– huh?
??Resurgens renaissance
Affordable?: The key sentence is, “He’ll also reserve a large part of Ponce Park for affordable housing.” Will it be truly affordable for artists, independent visual artists and musicians and actors and writers and teachers of the arts? If so, this grand scheme could live up to its potential; if not, it will be just another development boondoggle.
– Dan
Why affordable?: The last thing the Ponce area needs is an urban ghetto. Who wants to come to a place surrounded by cheap subsidized housing? It’s the push toward ‘affordable’ housing and the demands of city council that is slowing the growth of property values in this city. This place can be a mecca for the arts without having a housing project in the middle. If this project is to be successful it will need to be a place where creative people will want to visit. No one wants to visit a slum.
– James