If you don't break the law . . .

What discrimination! What a travesty! For a quarter-century, tens of thousands of blacks have been subjected to long prison terms for crack cocaine convictions. This isn't fair! Everyone knows that crack is the cocaine form of choice for blacks because it's cheap -- much cheaper than the powder form preferred by whites, and sentencing them just like they do the whites is just plain racist!

So our Congress has passed legislation to ease up on these poor black guys. Obama said during his campaign that the tough sentencing "cannot be justified" and such a tough stance should be eliminated. So I'm sure he'll sign the bill.

What I don't understand is this . . . if these guys aren't out buying and selling crack, why do they care what the penalties are? Incidentally, the tough penalties that have been changed are:

1) Under the old legislation, a person convicted of crack cocaine possession got the same mandatory prison term as someown with 100 times the same amount of powder cocaine. Under the new legislation, that ratio is reduced to 18 to 1. They could have accomplished the same thing by increasing the penalty for the powder cocaine possession.

2) The new legislation eliminates the five-year mandatory minimum for first-time possession of crack.

I agree with Rep. Lamar Smith of San Antonio who said, "Why are we coddling some of the most dangerous drug traffickers in America?" I can guarantee you that when the crime rate soars in the black areas of the major cities, the NAACP will be whining about how law enforcement ignores black areas. But if they go in and clean it up, they'll whine about how blacks are unfairly targeted. I say, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime no matter what color you are!"

"New terms for crack crimes OK'd." The Dallas Morning News; July 29, 2010; p. 4A.