In addition to the sheer size of the black casualty rate in the war on drugs, Alexander made two arguments to support her case that a self-conscious racial strategy is at work: first, penalties and sentences for using or distributing crack cocaine, the drug of choice for blacks in the inner cities, are much more severe than for powder cocaine, the drug of choice for suburban whites; and conviction rates for black defendants in drug cases are several times higher than the rates for whites.
