Question

4. How much did you know about the war on drugs and war on crime before watching the film? Were you surprised to learn about the racial underpinnings of these legislative policies, and the active role of the state in criminalizing and targeting communities of color? What was your reaction after hearing the following quote from John Ehrlichman, one of Richard Nixon's aides? "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House alter that. had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

Answer 1

1. Before watching the film, I understood that the war on drugs and war on crime were attempts by the government to stop the illegal consumption and distribution of hard drugs that endangered the lives of the youths, whether they were Whites or people of color.

2. I was surprised to learn that the legislative policies and the active role that the state played in criminalizing and deliberately targeting communities of color had racial underpinnings. Who could have imagined racial hatred drove all the governmental efforts against criminality?

After all, drug dealing and other forms of criminality have not helped people of color in any positive way. They have cut short the aspirations of many.  Somebody like Robert DeShaun Peter lost his brilliant future and life in such acts.

3. The immediate reaction was that governmental powers should never be used to malign a race.  While drugs and crimes have not helped the youths in making societal progress, the war against drugs and crimes should not be against the black race but criminality.

Thus, such partial wars targeting a racial community were not necessary.  Wars against illicit drugs and crimes should be waged holistically for corrective effects and not internalize hatred.

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