Black power and the black masses series#

Then mass incarВcerВaВtion, the gradual progeny of a number of congresВsional bills, made it so much easier. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did,вЂќ EhrlichВman said.Д«efore the War on Drugs, expliВcit discrimВinВaВtion - and for decades, overtly racist lynchВing - were the primary weapons in the subjugВaВtion of Black people. We could arrest their leadВers, raid their homes, break up their meetВings, and vilify them night after night in the evenВing news. вЂњWe knew we couldВnвЂ™t make it illegal to be either against the war or blacks, but by getting the public to assoВciВate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin and then crimВinВalВizВing them both heavВily, we could disrupt those communitВies. So I was hardly surprised when Richard NixonвЂ™s domestic policy advisor John EhrlichВmanВ revealed in a 1994 interВview that the вЂњWar on DrugsвЂќ had begun as a racially motivВated crusade to crimВinВalВize Blacks and the anti-war left. I have a long view of the crimВinal punishВment system, having been in the trenches for nearly 40 years as an activВist, lobbyВist, legisВlatВive counВsel, legal scholar, and policy analyst.

Black power and the black masses series#

This essay is part of the BrenВnan CenterвЂ™s series examinВing the punitВive excess that has come to define AmerВicaвЂ™s crimВinal legal system. Advance Constitutional Change Show / hide.National Task Force on Democracy Reform & the Rule of Law.Government Targeting of Minority Communities Show / hide.Campaign Finance in the Courts Show / hide.Gerrymandering & Fair Representation Show / hide.Ensure Every American Can Vote Show / hide.