Nixon War On Drugs Summary

In this documentary, scholars, activists and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom. One issue that was discussed in this video was a “war on drugs.” War on drugs was a war on color declared by President Nixon. The drug war produced unequal outcomes across racial groups, exhibited through racial discrimination by law enforcement and disproportionate drug war misery suffered by communities of color. I thought the issue that was discussed to be quite interesting because a lot has not changed. After Nixon left the White House, Ronald Reagan was elected president. His administration carried on Nixon’s War on Drugs, but Raegan’s campaign was aimed at preventing kids from engaging in illegal drug use

While watching the documentary it made me so upset to see numerous innocent black people get arrested because they were said to be a “criminal.” In reality, the DNA tests showed they were innocent, but because of the image that was portrayed to many all over the world of colored people, they were seen as guilty whether they really committed the crime or not. I believe this issue still occurs today. Even though it may not be as bad as it once was, it still occurs, and it is not okay. Due to the image, everyone still believes in, many colored people are seen as “bad” “scary” and “criminals.” The sad thing is, black people also believe this about themselves, they believe that they are “bad” “scary” and “criminals” and they are terrified. The mistake we have been making for many years is associating black people with crime and trouble. We have been making people there crime and that has been making it so much easier to accept that they are guilty and that they should go to prison. Throughout this video, many powerful messages were spread through the topics discussed. The overarching message that I believe people in this world need to know is black lives