1971-1975
Day 51 1971: “War on Drugs” A Ruse To Incarcerate Black Men (no, really, Nixon’s people admit it) Many of the stories “I” write, are not written by me. Originally I hoped they would be, but it was taking too much time for me to rewrite everything, and so I often share what was written before. I always cite the source in the comments, but today is another example of a post mostly written by the incredible Equal Justice Initiative. I will try to do better at saying what posts I write vs. what others write: After President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs” in 1971 (he said drug use was “public enemy number one”), the number of people incarcerated in American jails and prisons escalated from 300,000 to 2.3 million. Half of those in federal prison are incarcerated for a drug offense, and two-thirds of those in prison for drug offenses are people of color. Disproportionate arrest, conviction, and sentencing rates for drug offenses have devastated communities of color in America. ...