Regarding the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 and this:
“Until reforms were made in 2010, individuals caught with just 5 grams of crack were subject to the same mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison as those caught with 500 grams of powder cocaine,” the HuffPost journalists explained. “The higher penalties for crack fueled mass incarceration and disproportionately affected African-American communities.”
I have seen it said that this came to pass at least in part due to lobbying from black clergy, who wanted the disproportionate penalties due to the severe damage crack cocaine was inflicting on black communities at the time.
I wasn’t paying close enough attention at the time to remember if this is true, but it seems *extremely* plausible.
My question for the group is: Can you come up with any news stories or interviews from that time demonstrating this lobbying from black clergy?
The Left’s narrative is that these disparate sentencing laws for crack vs. powder cocaine were all because RACISM!
Showing that they were because of lobbying by black clergy would really destroy that narrative.
Why is that a problem?