<i>The uncomfortable truth we need to be talking about is that POC commit a disproportionate amount of the crime in the US, and so nothing you said should come as a surprise.</i><p>Notice I said &quot;for similar, non-violent crimes&quot; and &quot;disproportionate&quot; [1]. It&#x27;s true, poverty and crime are heavily correlated [2], and I live in a community where such crime exists at high rates (Downtown Oakland).<p><i>In fact thinking that these other cultures need our help because they are incapable of lifting themselves up without us is actually pretty condescending. It sounds a bit bigoted if you ask me.</i><p>The War on Drugs was created to incarcerate black people and hippies [3]. For crimes that more than 50% of my classmates  and myself, have committed (possession of marijuana, dealing marijuana, various other drugs), extreme disproportionate incarceration has occurred in the US to POC at disproportionate rates[1]. Once incarcerated, getting back into society is an extremely difficult process, with voting rights being stripped away, with job opportunities scarce, with the mark of a felony on their criminal record. This contributes to a vicious cycle where these realities feed off of each other. It&#x27;s no wonder then, that all these facts contribute to a never-ending snowball effect on these communities.<p>I really highly recommend the book The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander [4]. It does an amazing job describing this cycle. It&#x27;s not that &quot;other cultures need our help to stop committing crimes&quot;, it&#x27;s that we <i>all</i> need to be aware of the effects our criminal justice system has on everyone.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;wonk&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2014&#x2F;09&#x2F;30&#x2F;white-people-are-more-likely-to-deal-drugs-but-black-people-are-more-likely-to-get-arrested-for-it&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;wonk&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2014&#x2F;09&#x2F;30&#x2F;white...</a><p>[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bjs.gov&#x2F;index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&amp;iid=5137" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bjs.gov&#x2F;index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&amp;iid=5137</a><p>[3] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnn.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;03&#x2F;23&#x2F;politics&#x2F;john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cnn.com&#x2F;2016&#x2F;03&#x2F;23&#x2F;politics&#x2F;john-ehrlichman-richa...</a><p>[4] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;New-Jim-Crow-Incarceration-Colorblindness&#x2F;dp&#x2F;1595586431&#x2F;ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1461787357&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+new+jim+crow+mass+incarceration+in+the+age+of+colorblindness" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;New-Jim-Crow-Incarceration-Colorblindn...</a>