A Civil Rights Issue

Is there nothing the NAACP can't turn into a civil rights issue?

In this article California NAACP President Alice Huffman is Quoted as saying:

"If you look at the disproportionate number of arrests that happen in our community, the law is not being applied equitably across the board.  We're targeted, which makes this a civil rights issue."

This quote was related to legalizing marijuana, which I had never considered a civil rights issue before Ms. Huffman enlightened me.  She should look at the statistics for murder, because based on them it is another civil rights issue and should also be legalized.

The main problem with this logic (and I use that term VERY loosely) is that it assume that there are equal numbers of white and blacks breaking the law, and the inequality is in the disproportionate numbers of blacks arrested.  When I took my sociology class in college my professor taught us, "Correlation is not causation".  In other words, the statistic do not tell you the cause of what they show. 

Could there be a racist conspiracy in the police force or courts?  Sure, there is no way to prove there is not one.  Could there be a cultural difference that causes fewer whites to smoke pot than blacks?  Could there be a cultural difference that accounts for gang activity?  There are many possibilities for why more blacks are arrested for possession of marijuana, yet Ms. Huffman is sure it is a civil rights issue.

I am sure that Ms. Huffman would say that all those blacks that go to court over possession should be considered innocent until proven guilty.  I would say that goes for our police and courts too.  This statistic does not prove anything in and of itself.  When Martin Luther King Jr. fought inequalities in civil rights there was proof we could see.  What a shame his efforts to insure liberty to all with disregard for ethnicity has been turned into a scheme to secure power and profit for a few (Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Julian Bond, etc.)  These people foster as much racial tension as they can because the need it to move their personal agendas forward.  As obvious as this is, many are afraid to acknowledge it because of the PC stigma of racist projected on any who declare the emperor has no clothes.

A few closing points:

1. Racism should only be a legal issue when it is institutionalised in government.  One of the worst examples of this kind of racism is Affirmative action.
2. Personally I do not think that it makes sense for marijuana to be illegal.
3. NAACP is obviously a political organization whose agenda is the empowerment of it's leadership by encouraging blacks to feel like victims.