The Fabulous Suzy Wills scores again

Dallas Morning News
October 7, 2007

Cultivating crime ...

Re: "Don't make Jena out to be more than it is – Events there certainly merit scrutiny, but they're not emblematic of country's race relations, says Heather Mac Donald," Sept. 30 Points.

To justify her contention that the largest prison system in the history of the world is filled with black men because they choose to be criminals instead of attending elite universities, Heather Mac Donald points out that blacks commit many more murders than whites.

Never mind that only .01 percent of all arrests are for murder.

The first crime that a person commits is rarely murder. It is often a nonviolent drug law violation. There are more arrests for nonviolent marijuana offenses than for all violent crime combined.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, about 11 percent of drug users and 15 percent of drug sellers are black. Yet, 37 percent of those arrested and 63 percent of those imprisoned for these crimes are black.

With a prison record, elite universities are a pipe dream. Even decent jobs are difficult to get. To quote Harry Whittington, former board member of the Texas Department of Corrections and unfortunate hunting partner of Dick Cheney, "Prisons are to crime what greenhouses are to plants."

Suzanne Wills, Drug Policy Forum of Texas, Dallas