WAR ON RACIAL JUSTICE

historical context

The War on Drugs policy, enacted in 1971 by President Nixon, supplanted Jim Crow laws with new measures to incarcerate populations for possession of drugs (Stern, 2017). Today the war on drugs is known to be a tool used to disrupt communities and generate a new era of slaves, also known as prisoners. It is one instance of a public policy that happens to reveal the systemic racism within our society. This “war” is largely responsible for the devastation of urban communities, the rise of ghettos in inner-cities throughout varying states, and the institutionalization of a prison industrial complex (Small 899). However, the institutionalization of the prison systems doesn’t just begin with Nixon, rather it began in the 18th century through the use of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon design. This prison model allowed for all-around surveillance of prisoners, allowing them to become larger, thus needing more inmates to fill the now larger number of cells.

The end of the civil war marked the time when African Americans were promised freedom from slavery by the 13th amendment. However, a new form of bonded labor was instituted through a new prison system in order to make up for “a new demand for labor” (Stern, 2017). African Americans may have been set free in literal terms, however, black codes and Jim Crow laws increased the severity of petty crimes and acts such as loitering or jaywalking, resulting in a legal form of slavery: imprisonment.

In 1970, after Nixon’s declared War on Drugs, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (CDAPC) was enacted to create a list of scheduled drugs. The Act included marijuana in the list of Schedule I drugs, with heroin and LSD. This led to a process of criminalizing marijuana use despite recommendations of a high-level committee to decriminalize the possession and distribution of marijuana for personal use (DPA, p. 1). Marijuana accounts for hundreds of thousands of arrests each year. The listing of marijuana as a Schedule I drug is a clear example of the intention of the federal government to make sure popular drugs carry the most severe penalties.​

Following Nixon’s declaration, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act (CDAPC) was enacted to create a list of scheduled drugs. This act included marijuana under the list of schedule 1 drugs, along with LSD and heroin. This led to the criminalization of marijuana, despite many recommendations from high-level committees to decriminalize it. The act of listing marijuana under the schedule 1 category is one example of the federal government's intention to ensure popular drugs carry the most severe penalties (Stern, 2017). Similar to these policies, laws such as California’s previous three strike law allowed for an increase in the prison population during the 1980s. The three strike law allowed convicts to be sentenced for victimless drug crimes, and within a two-decade span, millions were incarcerated. This law allowed three total charges to be added up to a life sentence, which disproportionately targeted minorities. The passing of Proposition 36 was achieved by pressure from the public, which stuck down the three strike rule. Policies that have been known to support to the War on Drugs are not only detrimental to society, but also provided a new system that fueling private prisons with inmates in a post-Jim Crow era.