High Price by Dr Hart - Essay Example

Sociology High Price is a book through the eyes of an African American Neuroscientist Dr. Hart, who explains his self-discovery journey, experiencing numerous obstacles along the way that he had to deal with daily, most of them representing a big chunk of the Black American population. Dr. Hart illustrates through the entire book how hard it is to accomplish high objectives especially since he is from the ghettos. The Neuroscientist connects via his personal experience and research on why war on drugs and stereotypes has such a huge impact on the destruction of the black community. Through reading High Price, I have developed the argument that there is a link through which stereotypes and myths regarding use of drugs have fuelled the war on drugs and have resulted in suffering as well as destruction to the African American society who finds themselves poor. Thus, black community’s destruction is within the hands of the media and were it not for the numerous acts of critiques towards black race, they would otherwise co-exist in a very special society. Thus, black society’s destruction has brought the issue on war on drugs and how African Americans in daily life are being imprisoned for periods longer than is required. Thus, what is seen on movies, media and TV all plays a big portion on why blacks are treated the way they are. It is this judgment as well as criticism that restrict them from fully exploiting their full potential. When it comes to stereotyping; media has a huge role to play, “" murder and insanity increasing among lower class black because they have taken to sniffing since they are deprived of whiskey by prohibition" (Heart, 2013 Pg. 240).The quote above is from New York Times published in 1941, and the article clearly demonstrates the uselessness of niggers. It demonstrates that once blacks have taken to using cocaine, they cannot be rehabilitated. Because of the reason above, the only technique that can work in keeping them away from the habit is incarcerating them. This form of explicit race referencing was banned in 1986 (Hart, pg 241).Nowadays, however, crack cocaine linked problems are depicted as being found mainly in inner cities. The common stereotypes well known globally include; all blacks have less education, live in poverty, do drugs and have had vocabulary. It is these types of stereotypes that Dr.Hart handles through his life. Dr.Hart never saw himself achieving success, since he was born and raised in a community where education was an imagination and far from reality. Even upon reaching his full potential and wanted to show his science lab to his mother, where he was carrying out his research, Hart’s mother would not imagine that her son would actually walk into a secured building without an alarm ringing (Hart pg 220).This is a clear demonstration that at times African Americans also start believing in these stereotypes and myths themselves. At times, Dr.Hart would even refer to his University as white which is another instance of an eye Hart encountered with the police. He was at the same time an employee of National Institute of Health. Thus, when he was walking out of the bank; armed with a statement in his hand; he was stopped by 2 officers for questioning. The 2 officers were suspecting him of robbery and questioned him along that line. It was clear why they were suspecting him and as he puts it, “There I was with my NIH ID around my neck and my bank statement in my hand and I was still being seen as a likely bank robber who wrestled strong armed customer. Or "Negro cocaine friend”, for that matter. Here in the United States, I was still just another nigger. No matter how many hours I had put into studying and conducting my experience" (Hart page 248).Bearing in mind, that Hart was just being, a normal regular guy trying to accomplish his objectives and not neuroscience, is not that easy. Thus, police officers normally do not view blacks as if they have a wife with two beautiful children to take care of or a master degree. They only look at the their color; the image that has been used in criticizing blacks for centuries ,nevertheless, the police who are supposed to be the protectors of all citizens, irrespective of color or background, turns out to be the biggest stereotypes of them all. When looking at the myth regarding crack versus powder, it claims that the 2 are very diverse drugs. Thus, cocaine can be injected, snorted or eaten, on the other hand, powder cocaine cannot be smoked, nevertheless, when removing some elements of the initial base, it leads to a new element that permits it to be smoked (Hart pg 160).However, as Dr.Hart researches more on it, he concludes that by use of empirical evidence that both cocaine and crack are “qualitatively the same drug”, implying that their chemical structure is almost identical (Hart,pg 160).This discovery results in the destruction of the African American community since a lot of imprisonment is towards them. The big question still remains why one drug is illegal whereas both drugs are almost similar? To this day that question has not been answered. When it comes to stop serving those who uses the crack cocaine, the myth is the blacks living in inner cities, thus anecdotal evidence demonstrates that blacks are ones who abuses the substance the most, even though in reality, when analyzing the empirical evidence indicates that substance is more oftenly used on occasion (Hart, pg18).This, further results in the destruction of the black community since the police response policies that focus on the black population. This lead is similar to some forms of brutality and racism. For instance; one of Dr.Hart’s experiences involves both practices. Thus, Hart got treated very badly by police in Florida where he was born and brought up, just for the mere reason that police believe all African American possess drugs. Police, in America had an interpretation that blacks were monsters. Things were quite different when Hart visited Britain; where he was amazed by police sensitivity .At Britain he was not abused or judged-something very strange to him. When you reflect upon it, it is such a sad thing when one gets used to racism and brutality from the very people that are supposed to be preventing and protecting you from both vices. Drug users make use of the myth about drugs one is addicted to as a motivation to solely obtain and abuse the drug. Dr.Hart clearly describes 2 important perceptions that are foundational to this perspective of racism and addiction. Cocaine addicts usually interfere with crucial life tasks such as intimacy in relationships, work as well as parenting. The abuse, must involve, inspite of the negative consequences, a great deal of mental energy and time, and continue in the wake of repetitive endeavors to cut back or stop use all together. When it comes to race, hands are usually pointed to a specific group which is the black Americans. This usually is a big lie that needs much attention regarding how we just make assumption of a given condition. Anecdotal evidence implies that black Americans trade drugs for the amusement of becoming high or a form of intoxication derived from it and is a repetitive procedure having no professionalism behind it. On the other hand, empirical evidence indicates that people will deal in drugs for money or other purposes understand specific circumstances (Hart pg 208).Majority of black Americans undergo a drive straight as well as other enticements; for instance persecution in order to earn a living-which may be their only way of making money. The money raised might not even be used for other drugs or alcohol but instead will go towards providing for their family, for those having one. There are also such things as food, taxes, rent and education to think about. At times, engaging in drug dealing may be someone’s only prospect to pay for such things. Turning to drug peddling reflects upon the devastation that black communities go through. Moreover, the judges who imprison take only the anecdotal evidence without necessarily ever regarding the empirical evidence which takes me back to the issue of stereotyping again. Thus, most of the time, judges decide to imprison them and leave them for a very long period of time. In addition, majority of black American women, for instance, can get quite problematic while they are being imprisoned, particularly if they have children to attend to. Thus, it only takes 5 to 8 years for one to figure out what s/he did wrong and change their lives back to track, nevertheless, officials, still incarcerate them for another fifteen years or so. This not only leads to wastage of tax payers’ money but also results in lost opportunities and important time for nation building. Attempting to determine a link through which our myth as well as stereotypes regarding drug use has fuelled the war as well as resulted in suffering and harm to the black Americans who find themselves in poverty and have to look for an easy way out of it. Nevertheless, attempting to come up with a solution is a factor that will never be resolved. As I pointed out, racism has been a problem for centuries and dealing with a myth as a stereotype that leads to those issues to result in war on drugs further destroying the black society. Generally, the challenge in Dr.Hart’s book ascertains a mindset having the prerequisite empirical evidence to authenticate his arguments and experience. This is a survival antic in addition to being an account of grief and loss related to targeted African American communities. It also draws attention to the mishandling, racist as well as impact of misinformed US drug policies together with the criminal justice system. The science based information offered by Hart knocks over existing stereotypes of drug users, shows techniques to assist addicts recover, as well as empowering groups, communities and individuals, advocating social justice and change. Read More