Throughout history there have been countless discrepancies in equality for people of color. Nothing is a better example of this than the War on Crime. Initially, this sounded like something that would greatly benefit America. Everyone wants to feel safe in their own country; what better way to achieve this than by reducing the number of criminals on the street? Although the idea may have been a good one, the intentions behind it were completely skewed.
The War on Crime quickly transformed into the War on Drugs. Drugs were being deemed as Public Enemy No.1, and jail time depended on the type of drug you were in possession of. As we talked about in class, there was a stigma associated with the types of drug you were using. The rich, sophisticated crowd was using powdered crack. Addicts referred to as “crackheads” were unpopular members of society who resorted to using crack cocaine. People of color who were caught with drugs, such as crack cocaine, would be imprisoned for life whereas white people caught with cocaine faced little to no punishment. In the media, black people were overrepresented as criminals, who were leading the charge on drug distribution.
This is when the War on Drugs started becoming a War on People. If the punishments for possession of drugs had been consistent, this may have been a different story. As more people started getting arrested due to the anti-drug legislation that was passed, the prisons in America began filling up. The main targets appeared to be people of color.
This can be summarized as a legal way to discriminate against black people. The agenda that was being pushed was discriminatory against people of color and frequently associated them with crime on television, in the newspaper, etc. The politicians who established these laws knew what they were doing when they were put into effect. The lingering remarks of racism loom in the justice system, which has proven to be biased and unfair time and time again (334).
I agree with what you were saying about how it changed from the War on Crime to the War on Drugs and then eventually to the War on People. This meant that people of color were specifically being targeted and this led to a widespread discrimination effort.
As you said, The War on Crime quickly became the War on Drugs. This “war” had a particular target, black people and hippies, people that President Nixon saw as enemies. The drug laws created a disturbing pattern that is still affecting people of color to this day. The overrepresentation of black individuals as criminals in the media only exacerbated this issue, turning the War on Drugs into a War on People.