A new documentary on Netflix<\/p>\n
In this new Netflix documentary, a timeline of events unfold during the period of the crack epidemic which began in the early 1980s in US cities.<\/p>\n
The documentary builds on archive footage and interviews with former drug dealers, users and journalists to paint a picture of what crack meant for black neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
It also focuses on the politics of the war on drugs begun by president Ronald Reagan.<\/p>\n
Anti-drug rhetoricthe infamous Just Say No campaign for instancepaid little genuine regard for the black people whose lives and neighbourhoods were torn apart by crack.<\/p>\n
At the beginning cops largely ignored what was happening and in fact actively took part in drug dealing and other forms of corruption.<\/p>\n
They later went on to target and arrest black people, ending in mass incarceration.<\/p>\n
An important part of the film focuses on the experience of black women and the myth of crack babies.<\/p>\n
This was a moral panic hyped up by the media claiming that pregnant women were causing addictions in their babies.<\/p>\n
There was never scientific evidence to back up this claim. <\/p>\n
The documentary also highlights the shady role of the CIA and the military in ignoring or actively facilitating drug smuggling<\/p>\n
It formed part of their secret involvement in supporting right wing militias and using the proceeds from drug deals to fund a right wing coup in Nicaragua.<\/p>\n
Ordinary people were secondary to the needs of the USs interests in controlling South America.<\/p>\n
Crack is an indictment of the hypocrisy and racism at the heart of the US establishment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Read more from the original source: <\/p>\n
Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracythe truth about the war on drugs - Socialist Worker<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new documentary on Netflix In this new Netflix documentary, a timeline of events unfold during the period of the crack epidemic which began in the early 1980s in US cities. Continue reading