The Dallas Morning News recently started a discussion of “Black America’s Crisis.” (Kay Hymowitz, August 21) The initial article blamed black parents for their poverty because they often do not marry. It ignored the elephant in the living room, 12.6% of black males in their late 20s are incarcerated (12,603 per 100,000 population). The drug war has replaced slavery and Jim Crow as the official policy for oppression of non-whites.

Richard Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Agency and started the modern drug war just at the time that the civil rights movement broke down some barriers to racial equality. Since then the United States has created the largest prison system in the history of the world, largely due to mandatory minimum sentencing for drug offenses. The United States has about 500,000 non-violent drug offenders behind bars, more people than are imprisoned in the European Union for all offenses and they have 100 million more people.

Blacks, especially young black men, are incarcerated in far greater numbers than their proportionate involvement in the drug trade. Blacks make up about 12% of the population. According to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health Blacks make up 11% of drug users and 15% of drug sellers. Yet they account for 35% of those arrested for drug offenses and 74% of those sentenced for drug offenses. 74% of drug users and 65% of drug sellers are white. In Texas, 50% of those imprisoned for drug offenses are black while only 8% are white.

As of June 30, 2004, the U.S. incarceration rate was 726 per 100,000 residents. That is about 7 times the rate of imprisonment in Europe and Canada. Incarceration is far from equal along racial lines. The White incarceration rate was 393 per 100,000, Latino-957 and Black-2,531.

Punishment is not over when the inmate leaves prison. Once released, prisoners are sicker, angrier and more alienated from their communities. They are undereducated, unskilled and emotionally ill equipped to deal with life in the free world. Even the lowest-paying jobs prove difficult to obtain with a prison record. Federal laws impose a temporary ban on student loans or grants and a lifetime ban on food stamps and welfare for people convicted of even a single drug felony.

The single most accurate predictor of who winds up in prison is who has a parent who did time in prison. Over 2.5 million children in this country now have a parent in prison. Studies show that 70% of children of incarcerated parents will be incarcerated themselves at some point in their lives. More than half of Texas inmates are parents. They owe $2.5 billion in child support.

More blacks are imprisoned in Texas than are enrolled in colleges and universities. The Stewart Research Group (SRG) estimates that lost economic productivity due to incarceration in the Texas African American community is $1.265 billion per year.

Black men die far earlier than other demographic groups. There are 26% more black women than black men in the U. S. 30% of black men are in prison, on parole or probation. These harsh facts of life in the African-American community have much more to do with single parenthood than does simple cultural decision.

Suzanne Wills is a board member of the Drug Policy Forum of Texas and Drug Policy Chair of the League of Women Voters of Dallas. Her email address is suzy@dpft.org.