Effects Of The War On The African American Community

African amercians didnt have the same rights as the white did around the year of 1961.An example is “Jim crow “which was a set of unfair laws.Made segreagation the law equal opportunties not given to african americans or “non-whtes”.They well even beat african americans until uncontiones for only a cup of water may be in hospital for over then two mounths.Police offercers didnt help give justice they will cover it instead.They will even beat youif you testified.It wasent untill May 17,1964 that african americans were treated

To start, a little history behind the drug war. During Nixon’s campaign in 1968 and his presidency thereafter, there were two threats to Nixon at the time. One was the anti-war leftists and the other was black people. The reason is, during the war with Vietnam, the anti-war leftists, or also known as the hippies, would protest often in Washington.

Throughout history, the drug war has always targeted minority groups. “At the root of the drug-prohibition movement in the United States is race, which is the driving force behind the first laws criminalizing drug use, which first appeared as early as the 1870s (Cohen, 56)”. There were many drug laws that targeted minority groups such as the marijuana ban of 1930s that criminalized Mexican migrant farm workers and in the Jim Crow South, reformist wanted to wage war on the Negro cocaine feign so they used African Americans as a scapegoat while they overlooked southern white women who were a bigger problem for the drug epidemic (Cohen, 57). Instead of tackling the root of the drug problem they passed the blame to struggling minority groups within the United States.

The War on Drugs began in increments, first with President Nixon and secondly with President Reagan (Hill, Oliver, Marion, 2012). While under the Nixon administration, the Drug Enforcement Administration was developed due to the thought of how drugs can affect an individual as well as a community. Drugs did not only affect the user and the community, but also the families as well as children. Out of all the presidents, it is documented that President Nixon was one who had discussions about drugs more than any other president (Hill, et al., 2012).

The Civil War was a massive milestone in American History. This war started in 1861 and lasted four years. It was between the Union and the Confederacy over their differences and problems they created. The consequences the nation faced due to the demolition of the Civil War, was terrifying. Then the Reconstruction era was born to restore, reinstate, and unite the United States as one. During the Reconstruction of 1865 through 1867, African American lives were impacted economically because they were given few rights and their resources were limited, socially because they wanted to be given an ordinary lifestyle, and politically because they weren’t allowed to be joined or linked with the government.

The Civil War is being credited with having influenced early jazz music. After the Civil War, African Americans were free from slavery and now able to explore different aspects of life that were otherwise unavailable to them in the past. Although African Americans were involved in music such as Negro Spirituals, the post-Civil War era opened up new doors for what was once known as African American music. During this time all of the instruments from the Civil War Armies marching bands became available to African Americans due to the cheap prices and this allowed them to explore music more in depth which birth many different forms of jazz music. Not all instruments were available to African Americans so jazz music was birth from just a few basic

In an article “A Brief History of the Drug War”, a top Nixon aide, John Ehrlichman later admitted: “You want to know what this was really all about. The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies the antiwar left and black people.” He goes on to say, “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.” He does not even finish there “We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” This show that their real intention was politicly and racially fueled. His testimony shows blatant dissemination, in the article “The War on Drugs, Explained” in the question “Is the war on drugs racist” it stated that In the US, the war on drugs mostly impacts minority, particularly black, communities, with this disproportionate effect is why critics often call the war on drugs racist. Also states that although black communities aren't more likely to use or sell drugs, they are much more likely to be arrested and incarcerated for drug offenses (LOPEZ, MAY 8, 2016,). This statement show the intent to attack people of color

In the 1960’s, as drugs became signs of youthful rebellion, social upheaval and political dissent, the government halted scientific research in order to evaluate medical safety. Therefore, President Nixon declared a “war on drugs” in 1971. He increased the size of the federal drug control agencies and pushed through measures such as mandatory sentencing and no-knock warrants After his declaration other Presidents of America continued this plan thinking it was the right way.

On June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon, addressed the United States of America and its congress, detailing his plans to stem drug abuse in the United State. He declared it “America’s public enemy number one”, saying that “In New York City more people between the ages of 15 and 35 years of age die as a result of narcotics than from any other single cause”. Less than a year prior to his speech, congress had passed into legislation a bill that called for a comprehensive reform of the country’s current drug laws. Still, Nixon felt that the nation needed more as the current drug policies were not enough to eliminate drug abuse. He went on to propose many ideas for what he called “a full-scale attack on the problem of drug abuse in

The criminal justice system targets black males more frequently than anyone through the creation of political propaganda such as the war on drugs. This measure was taken to disenfranchise and criminalize black people. Anyone who openly accepts a group of people, would not go through such drastic measures to suppress them. According to an article in the Huffington Post written by Law professor Bill Quigley “whites and blacks engage in drug offenses, possession and sales, at roughly comparable rates…while African Americans comprise 13% of the US population and 14% of monthly drug users they are 37% of the people arrested for drug offenses” (Quigley). This is a systematic measure to ensure the criminalization of black people and is the result of the war on drugs campaign started by President Nixon in 1971.

This weeks assignment explores the "War on drugs" and the effect that it has on those addicted to drug and those that sell drugs. The "war on drugs" gained popularity and momentum in the 1960's with action taken by President Richard Nixon in 1969 when law were enacted (Singer, p.289). This article surprised me greatly since I was under the impression that this 'war' was designed to improve health. wellbeing, and restore the values of the 'good ole days". However, little influence regarding society's wellbeing had little to do with the decision. Political, economics, and international relations proved to be the focus of the 'war'. Nixon attributed the decay of society to the use and distribution of drugs, labeling drug abusers as criminals (Singer,

In the years of the 60s and 70s, drugs became one of the country’s biggest issues, people were drying, becoming addicts, and were not receiving help or education until Nixon took action. He began educating our country on drugs, created anti-drug administration programs and tried to support rehabilitation by testing ways on how to get people there and maintain them sober and healthy. Not only that but he also thoughts about how drugs would be if action was not taken. Even today, the United States is still at war with drugs but not as bad, thanks to the help of President Nixon. With the initiation of the Drug War, explored by President Nixon, changes were made to the United States such as educating society, creating new anti-drug programs and

The United States of America is formally known to be the land of the free and the home of the brave, which seems to be ironic due to the prevalent drug restrictions that have opressed demographics into anything but freedom. Throughout the late 1960s onto the late 1990s the issue of how drug addiction/use/trafficking should be handled was a very controversial subject in the United States. As the War on Drugs was introduced during the early 1970s so were the issues of mass incarceration and societal bias against minorities. Not to mention the fact that conservative powers enacted key economic and political policies that assisted to the drug crime in America. The transition from having no laws or restrictions on drugs, to creating mass amounts of restrictions created many sociological issues which targeted African Americans, and the systematic obstacles that are still prevalent up to date. The United States government’s racially biased War on Drugs campaign incarcerated mass amounts of African Americans as a method of suppression, which directly caused a continuous cycle of poverty and incarceration. The government 's racially biased methods of incarcerating mass amounts of African Americans, directly caused a continuous cycle of poverty and incarnation.

Democrats on the other hand refuted these claims saying that it was a witch hunt against African Americans and their leaders. Others claimed that Nixon was using the war on drugs as a way to distract the nation from the things which were happening in his administration such as the Vietnam War and also the scandals and allegations which surrounded him. Despite what the motives may have been, the war on drugs led to an increase in incarceration, especially among African Americans, and by so doing many families where destroyed and many African American children ended without families and had to depend on gangs for shelter and protection. This widely increased the crime rates since many people where unemployed. Christina Johns in her article clearly articulates that the war on drugs was clearly a distraction from reality, a reality which was the abonnement and neglect of minorities by the government. Johns explains that the Johns, Christina. "The War on Drugs: Why the Administration Continues to Pursue a Policy of Criminalization and Enforcement." Social Justice 18, no. 4 (46) (1991): 147-65.

Most people believe that the war on drugs started when President Nixon declared war on drugs in 1971. This is not true the war on drugs actually started in the 1870s, mostly to target certain racial groups, like the Chinese, black people and Hispanics. The very first anti-opium acts were directed at the Chinese immigrants. Then in the early 1900s, the first anti-cocaine laws were directed at black men in the south. In the 1910s and the 1920s, the first anti-marijuana acts were directed at the Mexican immigrants. It was not until the 1960s, that drug abuse started to rise among the “hippies” and returning soldiers from Vietnam.