Music:

- “declared a war on drugs like a war on terror”

o Police & people with authority began terrorising black people for no reason
- Police terrorized mainly terrorized black boys
o They focused on black people and mainly the boys, since black people would
get in more trouble than a white person would with possession of drugs
- Laid black boys on their belly with their finger on the trigger,
o Menaing that they woukd hold a gun to their head holding them down

Actualiuty footage:
- Ronald regan being elected
- Regan states that “war against drugs is a war of individual battles”
o This gets twisted and black COMMUNITIES were in the battle rather than just
individuals
- Regan’s wife began a campaign “Just say NO”
o No to drugs, this grabbed many people’s attention, even Charles B. Rangel
states that he joined with Nancy Reagan’s “just say no” campaign
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Indirect Interviews:
- Modernized war on drugs was introduced by Ronald Reagan in 1982
- Polls showed that drugs wasn’t an issue for most people in USA but Reagan was
determined to put this onto the agenda to define it as a problem

- General education is required, not locking people up

o “we’re talking about a general education…We’re not talking about locking
people up” Charles B Rangel
- Frontal assault on institutions that are designed to assist human beings, on the
education system, welfare, on jobs, healthcare
- Government programs were being paid out of the citizens pockets, politicians
weren’t helping anymore
o Resulted in a dip in america’s economic growth and lead to a recession in
economics
- Usally black or Hispanic, latinos were getting long sentences for possession of crack

Mandatory sentencing for crack cocaine which was harsher than those for powder cocaine
24:04-24:21 important