Race Relations Targets War on Drugs

The war on drugs in the United States has terrorized and devastated communities, especially minority communities, since it was launched in 1971, says Rev. Esteban Lugo, director of the Christian  Reformed Church’s Race Relations office.

Instead of wiping out the use of illegal drugs, the war has taken on the more limited focus of arresting and imprisoning hundreds of thousands of people, particularly young African American men and women, for drug-related violations, Lugo said.

“We are looking at a false narrative here,” said Lugo. “This was supposed to combat drugs and that is what many people in the churches believe. But there is something deeper at work. We are looking at the issue of mass incarceration.”

Lugo says his office has started to address this issue after he attended a meeting in February of Christian Churches Together, a national organization of church leaders, that dealt with mass incarceration and its destructive ramifications.

“After having been there, I realized that this issue has tremendous impact on our communities,” he said. “I began asking the question, ‘How do the churches minister in their communities where this issue has such negative consequences?’”

When a family member is sent to prison, that person’s family and community suffers. When the person returns, there are few resources available to them or their families, says Lugo.

Lugo says he would like to see the church become more aware of this issue and to act, seeking restoration and rehabilitation in whichever ways possible.

"I believe that the church has a role to play in helping returning citizens and ministering to families and communities.

"The church has a prophetic voice to speak and role to play in proclaiming justice in the community. We want to find ways and walk alongside these citizens and their families."

He said that churches should be concerned not only about “the gathered but the scattered as well, reaching out to those who don't know about the love of Jesus Christ.”

Lugo says he is asking congregations, individuals, and organizations involved in ministry to “returned citizens and their families” to inform his office about the work that they are doing so that it can share resources with others.

"We are in the process looking at how to encourage churches to get involved in this work, and are asking those who have been working at it to contact us with their best practices," he said.

Among other statistics cited at the Christian Churches Together conference is the increase in the number of African Americans who have been imprisoned in recent years for drug violations, said Lugo.

Although African Americans make up 13 percent of the population and use drugs at the same rate as of other races, about 45 percent of the half million people imprisoned for drug offenses in 2010 were African Americans, according to the Drug Policy Report.

The issue of mass incarceration and its connection to the nation's war on drugs and how it targets young minorities is especially highlighted in the best-selling book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, which Lugo says he is having members of his staff read and discuss.