The “war on drugs” shifted the focus from education and social programs to mass incarceration. The US does not give a single solitary fuck about housing the homeless, unless it’s in a prison.
The war on drugs was never about the drugs. It has always been a way to legally suppress “others.” You can’t make it illegal for hippies, black folk, Chicanos, ect to vote. You can target groups by making things they are more likely to do illegal. The war on drugs, law and order policies, or red lining to name a few. Have always been ways to continue Jim Crow like policies while selling them to the public as good things for society.
You can target groups by making things they are more likely to do illegal.
Or just stereotype the behavior as “things these people do” and accuse them of it in a judiciary stacked with bigot judges and prosecutors. Over 90% of cases end in plea bargains anyway, so you rarely have to worry about sorting a jury for doubters or nullificationists.
Yep. All they did was shift the language from that of overt racism to “criminals,” and established a strong association between the “others” and crime. Incredibly manipulative and straight-up evil.
The “war on drugs” shifted the focus from education and social programs to mass incarceration. The US does not give a single solitary fuck about housing the homeless, unless it’s in a prison.
The war on drugs was never about the drugs. It has always been a way to legally suppress “others.” You can’t make it illegal for hippies, black folk, Chicanos, ect to vote. You can target groups by making things they are more likely to do illegal. The war on drugs, law and order policies, or red lining to name a few. Have always been ways to continue Jim Crow like policies while selling them to the public as good things for society.
And if anyone doubts this, it’s literally ON TAPE from inside the Oval Office.
Yep, Nixon he was a funny guy. Not a lot of forethought.
Or just stereotype the behavior as “things these people do” and accuse them of it in a judiciary stacked with bigot judges and prosecutors. Over 90% of cases end in plea bargains anyway, so you rarely have to worry about sorting a jury for doubters or nullificationists.
Just say “I smell weed” and throw a bag in the back of someone’s car. Viola! Instant prison sentence.
Yep. All they did was shift the language from that of overt racism to “criminals,” and established a strong association between the “others” and crime. Incredibly manipulative and straight-up evil.
Before the war on drugs, prison abolition was within reach. Then those bastards made it impossible by turning prison into crime school.