The 2020 Census shows that Black people make up 39% of Rock Hill’s population compared to 54% for white people, and yet, the Rock Hill Police Department’s 2020 Police Report shows that “A total of 1,413 black non-Hispanic males (44%) were arrested in 2020, compared to 1,356 (38%)in 2019 for a 4.2% increase,” as opposed to “A total of 831 white non-Hispanic males (26%) were arrested in 2020, compared to 1013 (28%) in 2019 for an 18% decrease.”
Looking at a crime that white people and Black people commit at similar rates, like marijuana use, shows that there is a racial disparity in marijuana arrests.
The criminalization of marijuana had many racial issues involved from the start. The book, “Something’s in the Air” by James Lance Taylor, Katherine Tate and Mark Q. Sawyer talks about how a lot of fear was cast onto the drug because of its use by Black-majority groups like Rastafarians. It also discusses how news outlets were encouraged by the government to say “marijuana” when discussing it rather than slang like “weed,” as “marijuana” sounded more “Hispanic” and it was thought that this would make people fear it more.
According to “Marijuana: Weeding Out the Hype!” from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Use of marijuana does not vary much among racial and ethnic groups.”
“Research has proven that though marijuana specifically is equally used across racial lines, blacks are almost…