US law enforcement officers and demonstrators have taken to the streets in Washington DC to protest the discriminatory treatment of minorities in the United States, Press TV<\/b> reports.\n<\/p>\n
The weekend protest coincided with the 40th anniversary of the so-called \u00cb\u0153War on Drugs\u00e2\u201e\u00a2, as activists detailed the failure of the government\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s long battle against illegal drugs and its effects on minorities.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cWe have more crime. We have more death. We have more disease than ever before. Drugs are more plentiful, they\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re cheaper than ever before. After four decades, it\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s nonsense. Why would we even think of continuing such a policy?\u201d said Neill Franklin, a member of the Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Activists condemned the government\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s drug policies which they say target minorities and set them up for failure.<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cThese policies aren\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t applied evenly. They\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re applied more heavily on blacks because of racial profiling. So, if you have petty misdemeanors that have to do with drugs, then you\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re put in the system, a prison system that\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s hard, that even when you get out of it\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s hard to shake,\u201d said Tiana Stowers Pearson, executive director of the Black Institute.\n<\/p>\n
Over 60 percent of incarcerated people in prison are now racial and ethnic minorities, according to a report released by the Sentencing Project.\n<\/p>\n
Experts have called on the government to divert resources from prisons into schools where there is a deeper racial disparity.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cSince this policy has been going on for forty years, it\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s been very ineffective. We\u00e2\u201e\u00a2ve spent several billions of dollars in this policy but yet schools are closing throughout the nation,\u201d said Pearson.\n<\/p>\n
The Chicago Board of Education voted to close 50 public schools and fire 850 employees to help close an estimated USD 1 billion deficit in the coming fiscal year.\n<\/p>\n
Over the past decade, at least 70 cities in the US have closed down public schools, averaging 11 per district, according to the National Education Association.\n<\/p>\n
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