Poverty, Violence, And Drugs

The War On Drugs in the USA One of the most explosive issues in the current American political

Drugs affect nearly everybody on this planet. Drugs increase the crime rate in almost any area once introduced and can lead to poverty for some individuals. Drugs can tear communities and families apart, which many of us are oblivious to. Drugs also have many dangerous health risks for users as well as people who indirectly come in contact some drugs.

The War on Drugs was the United Sates government’s attempt to stop the sale and use of illegal drug use. It consisted of anti-drug legislation all with the plan to end drug abuse in America. President Nixon declared and coined the phrase “War on drugs” and increased drug control agencies and pushed for harder sentencing for drug offenses. The war on drugs is an issue that we are still fighting and many of the policies put in place did more harm than good. The drug war affected all people, but it had unequal outcomes for different racial groups and many of the historical pieces of legislation put in place impacted these outcomes and are still affecting many people of color today.

The War on Drugs, a term that was first popularized by former president Richard Nixon in 1971, was the start of a governmental war on drug abuse, whether it be against those selling narcotics or the ones using them. Over the years, many claims have come to light, arguing that this so called “war” was one waged to oppress minorities, especially impoverished African-Americans in America’s inner city. This program was one that exploited African-Americans who were struggling after the government failed them, leaving them to fend for themselves and making decisions based on their socioeconomic status. Throughout this paper, the sociological theories pertaining to the attack on African-Americans by the government through the means of a proxy war

Jay Z, Tupac, Kendrick lamar. All these people have the same thing in common. They call grew up in a ghetto. Jay Z donates to charity, Tupac was a shakespeare nut, and kendrick lamar donated almost $50,000 to his school he went to. Not for the publicity, he didn't want anyone to know about it. Where you're from doesn't define who you are.

The United States is the world’s number one consumer of narcotics and thus 90% of cocaine seized in the U.S. comes from Mexico due to the close geographical boundaries it is easy to smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S. from Mexico. The U.S.’s demand for narcotics and other drugs creates an 18-39 billion dollar market each year, all coming solely from drug sales. Drug violence is a direct result of protecting each business 's product. Cartels like the Zetas use violence to create a “brand” for their franchise. The violent cartels create a sense of fear so no one gets in their way and so others will comply with their wishes and demands.

Adversity sometimes gives rise to greatness. The day-in, day-out struggle of scratching an existence out of the hood can instill in one an aspiration to conquer the highest peaks. America's most poverty-stricken slums and crime-ridden inner cities have birthed some of the greatest visionary talent the music industry has ever seen. Those who struggle to make it out seldom succeed, but the ones with the will to do so possess a certain spark that drives them to unimaginable heights.

The war on drugs began during Nixon’s administration in 1968 and was designed in efforts to reduce the amount of drugs being sold and consumed in America (Moore & Elkavich, 2008). Nixon believed that getting drugs out of the hands of people would make the country a safer and better place, however these new drug laws did not reduce the amount of drugs being consumed or distributed. Instead, these laws incarcerated a large amount of people and have resulted in a continuation of inequality in our country. While Marx would argue that the war on drugs prolongs inequality through class conflict because it targets low class individuals, advantages upper class communities while disadvantaging the poor communities, and it makes the cycle of class differences continue, Wells-Barnett would argue that the war on drugs perpetuates inequality through its racism because it was created in response to colored people using drugs, it targets black males, and the sentencing varies based on whom the drug is linked to.

It was songs like these makes Jay-Z one of the best rappers. Even though he has been

Sociological problems are issues that society says needs to be corrected, and there are many of them in the world. These issues require assiduous work and a lot of time to fix. Three problems that are the most concerning to me are racism, drug abuse and poverty.

Most war on drugs is built on racial injustice. In spite of roughly equal rates of drug use and sales, African-American men have been arrested at least 5-13 times the rate of white men on drug charges in the U.S. With rates up to at least 50-60 times in some states. African Americans and Latinos together make up about 29-35 percent of the total U.S. population, but more than 75 percent of drug law violators in state and federal prisons.

Since Old School’s Hip Hop conception, the genre has gone way beyond what the genre’s originators could have imagined. Each period since the founding of Hip Hop has added to the evolution of the culture and have altered it into something that is more than just a hobby, but a mindset and a part of life that cannot be separated from many different cultures globally. In 1977, popular Hip Hop MCs and Djs lived in poverty in New York and in 2016 artist like Sean Combs, Dr. Dre, and Jay-Z are worth $2.07 billion combined (Greenburg, 2016). A genre and culture that stemmed in a way of healing and release in the black and latino community in New York is now an international commodity and has proven that Hip Hop is not going anywhere. Several of Hip Hop’s characteristics have guided the evolution in these past 40 years, like the value of being family-oriented, authentic and the content of the lyrics, have made Hip Hop into a genre that has a large enough variety to have something for every any audience that enjoys music.

The Best Rappers of their Generation In every single generation, we come to witness artists who cause change in the phase of a genre. The best example of such are Artist Marshall Mathers known as Eminem, and Dwayne Michael Carter Jr recognized as Lil Wayne. Even with a past generation of successful rappers. We can see the actual quality of Eminem’s music and Lil Wayne’s music contributions to Hip Hop.

Capitalism is working as it was meant to work. Capitalism is creating wealth among the United States and the world. Yet, this wealth is concentrated and is creating many social issues such as a disappearing middle class, health and environmental destruction. In the United States, the top 400 wealthiest people in the country own half of the entire wealth of the nation (Robert Reich). We no longer have a government that is for the people, but rather a government that is for big business. Policy is made by and for the corporations of america. We are repeating history with the wealth gap that has not been seen since the last depression. As the soon to be majority demographic in this country I look forward to the position of being able to use education

When I first had any thoughts about the war on drugs I believed that this issue had nearly been completely eradicated due to the tireless efforts of law enforcement. One of my preconceived ideas was that the individuals involved in this trade lacked any autonomy of what they were doing to their societies. But one thing that I never doubted was that those in charge of these drug-dealings were cunning and calculated people. Through applying various sociological concepts such as; the influence of race, ethnicity, bureaucracies, among other sociological ideas one can see that there is more to the war on drugs than people selling narcotics and people buying narcotics. An important sociological term to familiarize oneself with to understand this