Nixon Administration And The War On Drugs

The war on drugs utilized “tough on crime” rhetoric to create legislation that kept African-American men in a second-class role in American society. In the late 60’s, the Nixon administration was the first presidency to vocally declare a “war on drugs”: targeting drug use and distribution with new “tougher” policies and legislation punishing drug users. Although at the time many Americans praised the war on drugs for bringing awareness of drug use and its impact on crime, the war on drugs has been criticized for its annihilation of black communities. In an interview, Nixon aide John Ehrlichmann confessed that, "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon white house after that, had 2 enemies: the antiwar left and black people...by getting the
The war on drugs continued from the Nixon administration through the Bush administration, and supposedly was effective in lowering criminal activity rates in the United States. However, during the Reagan administration, the war on drugs may not have been necessary to implement. Activi"at the time President Reagan declared his war on drugs in 1982, drug crime was on the decline. It was not on the rise, and less than 3 percent of the American population identified drugs as the nation’s most pressing concern.” (Alexander). Although the drug crime rates were not on the rise, the Reagan administration reminded the people that it was essential to remain tough on drug related crime. The government’s insistence on tougher drug crime legislation during a time in which drug crime did not appear to be exceptionally damaging to American society indicates a possibility that the war on drugs was more related to racial politics than it was related to drug abuse and
The rhetoric used during the war on drugs ensured that a long withstanding stereotype would remain impactful in today’s society. The war on drugs had a massive impact on black communities , which stemmed from the incarceration of black Americans. The rate at which black men were incarcerated drastically increased by the year after the war on drugs, to the point at which, according to the Stanford Center on Poverty & Inequality, “black people in this country are imprisoned at more than five times the rate of whites; one in 10 black children has a parent behind bars, compared with about one in 60 white kids,” (Hager). Black men are disproportionately affected by the incarceration system, and this injustice directly impacts both the lives of black men and their families. Young black men grow up in communities in which their role models are imprisoned. This gives black men the impression that they have nowhere to go other than prison. Black parents are incarcerated at much higher rates than white parents, leaving many black children without a parent. While many believe that mass incarceration is a cure for violence, the lack of guidance for black children limits the social mobility of African Americans and traps them into communities in which violence and crime is glorified. Mass incarceration is a