There are some seriously pissed off folks at San Diego University right now. They had absolutely no idea that they could be arrested for drug dealing. Even now, I have nary a doubt that many of them are just now beginning to realize that for whatever reason, they are have, against all odds, been arrested for crimes usually reserved exclusively for Blacks.
Read the following article, and you'll see the following points that I had emphasized in yesterday's blog.
1. Affluent Neighborhoods, Cars and Vehicles are virtual drug use free pass areas to the point that folks within these neighborhoods are completely in the dark about the current catastrophe going on in Black communities for the last 30 years. Affluent KNOW, that drugs are illegal, but the point is, rich, affluent folks have been virtually immune from drug charges as long as they remain in their communities and do not deal with inner city Blacks in the acquisition of drugs.
Danielle Patterson, a sophomore sorority member, said she was awake cramming for finals when agents raided an apartment behind her building. She said, "I never thought something like that would happen here," she said. "To think they think drugs are such a big issue here, it's ridiculous."
2. What this whole incident exposes, and will continue to expose, is that affluent folks have absolutely no compassion for what has been happening to Blacks. The unspoken assumption has been that Blacks who have been given outrageous sentences for drug possession are deserving of such sentences, not because they are bad people, but because they are Black, and ample warning has been given to the Black community, that any trifling with drugs can result in a life sentence. Affluent folks have NOT been included in this. And so, in a sense, they feel that they have every right to be outraged and blindsided by this recent turn of events. In fact, they probably have legal grounds with which to challenge the arrests, seeing as it's common knowledge that the police have no business busting rich whites in academic sanctuaries for any crime. Believe it, the calls for leniency have just begun, and before this thing is over, every last affluent kid involved in this, will be seen as a martyr. Hell, we may even have the beginnings of a new religion.
Some students and parents complained that the bust was heavy-handed. Parents joined students at a campus rally Wednesday calling for more drug-abuse treatment instead of tougher enforcement. "This heavy hand coming down is not going to change drug use on campus," said Gretchen Burns-Bergman, whose son is a month away from graduating. "There's not going to be a shortage of drugs on campus."
3. Affluent Universities and Colleges are complicit in creating the drug use free zones on Campuses across the country. The understanding with affluent folks is that the colleges will protect and safeguard their children's futures. Part of this strategy is to turn a blind eye towards rampant alcohol use, sexual assaults, and drug use and sales, as well as cheating, writing bad checks, etc. Because colleges have been establishehd to safeguard affluent folks through the difficult transition from young adulthood, to movers and shakers. What many Blacks understand is that if you are accepted, not only are you given the tools necessary to succeed in life, but you will be treated with kid gloves until the day of your graduation. Every effort will be made, to make sure that you dodge all the hazards to make it to the promised land. I'm in shock that this eden has been invaded. Someone seriously messed up, and I will not be surprised if some cops lose their jobs over this.
Campus police started the probe a year ago after the cocaine overdose death of a freshman sorority member, but they soon called in federal agents to provide fresh faces on campus and supply the money needed to make drug buys. That was a major departure from the arms'-length relationship that has existed between colleges and police since the 1960s. For decades, police in many communities have largely turned a blind eye to drugs on campus. Yet the invitation to federal authorities was unusual because it involved an open-ended investigation that didn't involve a violent crime. "In general, universities are pretty jealous of their prerogatives and are uneasy about welcoming outside authorities onto campus," said Todd Gitlin, a professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University, a former student radical and a leading authority on the '60s counterculture. "There's a real reluctance at universities to call on outside police." University President Stephen Weber defended the decision to bring federal authorities onto campus.
4. These affluent kids and parents feel utterly betrayed by the University for abiding by the law. The reason is that of course, affluent folks should be protected from the harsh realities that Blacks and other minorities face on a daily basis. If I was affluent and got caught up in this mess, or I was a affluent parent and got caught up in this mess, I'd be mad too. The fact that the drug sales were so out in the open, on campus and no effort whatsoever to hide or disguise what was going on, shows that these affluent young men were absolutely not concerned with arrest in the least. Why should they be? they attend classes on one of hundreds of affluent free drug use zones across this country.
The day after the drug sweep landed members of three fraternities in jail and led to the suspension of six frats, investigators revealed how easy it was to penetrate the university's drug culture."They never gave any thought that we could be doing an operation there," said Eileen Zeidler, a spokeswoman for the DEA office in San Diego. At least 75 people arrested during the five-month sting were San Diego State students, and 13 of them were from seven fraternities. All together, there were 128 arrests, 61 on Tuesday. Theta Chi had the highest number of students arrested, with five.Undercover agents who posed as college students to bust more than 100 suspected drug dealers at San Diego State University never had to crack a book to gain acceptance on campus. All it took was cash. The federal agents went to one or two parties but never actually went to class or lived in the dorms. Instead, they merely arranged meetings with suspected dealers and asked about buying cocaine, Ecstasy, methamphetamine, marijuana and other drugs, authorities said Wednesday. "All it took was saying, `Hey, I go to State, can you hook me up?'" said San Diego County prosecutor Damon Mosler. "And then it was off to the races."
5. It appears that so much hype about anti-drug propoganda has seeped across this nation on it's War on Drugs, some of the SDSU administration had no idea that they were breaking drug etiquette by calling in the big dogs. Even today, after more arrests were made, the SDSU administration stated the following:
"Some have asked what we think this publicity has done for SDSU's reputation. I have told them I am proud of the action taken by SDSU to proactively address this serious threat to our students," Weber said in a statement Wednesday. "As a parent I would want my son or daughter to attend a university committed to providing the safest possible environment."
All I have to say is that there are probably at least 25,000 affluent drug dealers on college campuses and fraternities across this nation that are furiously flushing thousands of dollars worth of product down the toilet at this very minute. I'm sure a few are having blowout sales, but mark my words, this bust is a an anomaly. Although at least 50 affluent boys and girls could be arrested on every affluent campus a day for breaking federal drug use, possession or sales policy, it will never become a trend. In fact, if the police had truly used the same strategy that they used in the Black community, they would have had at least 1,000 arrests, because in the city they focus on small time dealers, but mostly, the focus on the small time buyers. I guarantee you, nary a single buyer was busted in this. Is it discriminatory that they didn't focus on buyers like they do in the hood? absolutely, but what it shows is that they truly do understand the problem. For had they busted buyers, they would have invariably been exactly the same as the buyers in the hood (more or less). They would in many instances be the kids that came from broken homes, who were outcasts, who had histories of abuse, sexual and physical. who were going through tough transitions, losses, deaths of loved ones, family discord, break-ups or had underlying mental health issues like depression, bi-polar disorder, dyslexia, etc. So they didn't focus on the buyers... But the point is, they don't give the same consideration when it comes to the hood. If these dope dealers had a hundred thousand dollars worth of dope, then it was because that's how much dope they needed and how much they were movin'. that's a lot of buyers. If you figure the average sale was an eighth, then that's at least 5,500 sales and 5,500 users, and that's just the marijuana. That doesn't count the mushrooms, meth, ecstacy, cocaine.... Believe me, this bust could have been a whole lot uglier.
All quotes in this story were from the following story: "FEDS PENETRATED DRUG CULTURE EASILY AT SAN DIEGO STATE"
By Allison Hoffman, Associated Press Writer, Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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