“One of the biggest lies in the history of this country,” according to Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, is the claim that the so-called “war on drugs” disproportionately targets African-Americans. But it’s not a lie at all, according to statistics collected by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Black people are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as white people, as the above chart demonstrates. This is despite the fact that black and white Americans smoke cannabis at roughly the same rate.
You can read more about racial disparities in the war on drugs here. Watch the video below to see msnbc’s Chris Hayes take Bill O’Reilly to task for dismissing its harmful impact.
Ned Resnikoff is an urban policy analyst, researcher, writer, and editor. His byline has appeared in a variety of publications, including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Dissent, and The Nation. He writes the newsletter Public Comment, which can be found at publiccomment.blog.