A Sobering Set of Statistics

Apparently there are more African American men in prison today than there were enslaved in 1850 prior to the American Civil War.  The reason that there are so many African American men in prison is due to the USA's War on Drugs.  Despite crime levels being at historical lows there number of African Americans and Hispanic Americans in prison has sharply increased.  If the men in question receive a felony conviction they can no longer vote, are ineligible for public housing, have trouble finding jobs, are excluded from juries and denied educational opportunities.  If incarceration rates were to return to the levels seen in the 1970s, over a million people would lose their jobs.