The War on Drugs: Crash Course Black American History #42

The War on Drugs is a decades-long United States policy intended to curb illegal drug use and trafficking. Long story short: it has not worked to reduce drug use or trade, and the policy has had devastating effects, especially on communities of color. Today we'll talk about the history of the War on Drugs, what it was trying to accomplish, and how it contributed to the US as a carceral state and the nation that imprisons more of its population than any country in the world.
Clint's book, How the Word is Passed is available now! bookshop.org/books/how-the-wo...
VIDEO SOURCES
Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (New York: New Press, 2010).
Elizabeth Hinton, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016).
Khalil Muhammad, The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010).
Beth Ritchie, Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America’s Prison Nation (New York: New York University Press, 2012).
www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/...
www.americanprogress.org/issu...
Carly Hayden Foster, The Welfare Queen: Race, Gender, Class, and Public Opinion, 15 Race, Gender & Class 162-179 (2008).
www.theatlantic.com/politics/...
www.brennancenter.org/our-wor...
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[@tizodd6]

This is one of those subjects people are very content to leave swept under the rug.

[@damianrobbins4167]

The fact we have the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world is disgraceful, and it's never stopped people from using. I speak from experience as a recovering heroin addict.

[@Magic_beans_]

3:48 “Black families are deteriorating, so… let’s lock up half of the dads.”

[@Torlik11]

"Even if you don't explicitly mention race in a policy, you still may be making a policy about race" Why are those simple words so hard to understand for some?

[@santanak7149]

Put THIS in the AP African American History syllabus!

[@donaldwoods9219]

Basically America's response to poverty is to build more prisons.

[@The10thManRules]

"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually". James Baldwin

[@thewarpit]

I almost didn’t wanna watch this because I knew how mad I would get learning more about it

[@renzoojastro2147]

Thank you for this very informative video, Clint! You handled a very serious subject delicately and carefully. I come from the Philippines, which is a country that has a complicated struggle with drug use and trade that still exists today. Our previous president, Rodrigo Duterte, declared a War on Drugs similar to that of the U.S. . This video shows that taboo issues, even though not frequently discussed openly and kept in the past, can still spread through how we unconsciously spread it in our behavior and actions. The War on Drugs persists today through police brutality targeted against minority groups throughout the world, and we must not ignore these violent events. We must take action and fight against implicitly racial policies to save millions of endangered groups.

[@jhoughjr1]

The war on drugs was lost by all Americans. There are plenty of drugs that are horrible, but criminalization doesn't work. Legalized drugs would make it easier for people to get treatment when they have problems. It would also make research easier which would benefit everyone.

[@TheSuzberry]

This was a war on African Americans and Vietnam war opponents. Nixon intended it to be.

[@kaldishelbryndjar]

Brilliant episode. Please keep going strong with these. This series has completely upended, reversed and pulled inside out my understanding of the past and present day issues faced by Blacks in the US.

[@vaughnharris6404]

he was very kind in this presentation...our govts actions were heinous

[@IEATCHAIR]

We would like to congratulate drugs for winning the war on drugs.

[@zachariahwells8779]

Man, your team is doing a fantastic job! It’s so important that people learn the facts about how systemic racism is in this country. Peace.

[@ValiantVicuna]

Thank you so much for your work. My 3-yr old sometimes joins me for these videos, and I've kept them on in the background while I work. This is so serious, and so unspoken in our community. This history is the missing undercurrent that explains why we are where we are. So glad that he will have your videos to educate him at such a young age. Wish I had had you as a resource growing up T.T

[@ve4643]

Thank you for this episode of Black American History. It's devastating to acknowledge these things but necessary to change our future. Thanks to Clint! Always brilliant and eloquent, I could hear your thoughts and nuance about every topic of your interest.

[@metabeard3788]

bookmarking this episode to share in arguments for years to come

[@camiamproducer]

One of my favorites from this series!

[@azdajajeanne]

Thank you so much for putting your sources in the description! I only own one of those books, so I look forward to being able to read more. The efforts of those working on this channel are very much appreciated!

[@NOYB700]

Thank you! this series has changed my life!

[@kairyumina6407]

This is such a good series, I keep being impressed. Such a good balance of narrative, primary sources and quotes, and connections to the present.

[@lilikatz1221]

Thank you you making this video and shedding light on one of the biggest flaws of our criminal justice system.

[@denh0006]

That was by far one of the best episodes of Crash Course I have ever watched

[@hayleyxyz]

We need decrimilzation now. It's sickening how people are serving life for weed due to the three-strikes law.

[@perryegolson833]

Clint, an absolutely fantastic video. Thanks so much!

[@siddakid4777]

I’ve been waiting on this episode!

[@ancientswordrage]

This is a great, if harrowing, video! Thank you for continuing with this series

[@Seraphus87]

The cruelty is not a bug, it is a feature.

[@Wineclaw]

If anyone watching this finds themselves in Philadelphia, I highly recommend visiting the Eastern State Penitentiary. It'll drive home how bad the carceral state has become.

[@smokingjoe9864]

It is tough to beat generational poverty. The state trade schools and colleges were to be extended beyond high school to cure generational poverty. The moral majority decided to build prisons.

[@Davlavi]

Informative as always.

[@Sentientsword]

Thank you for this video!

[@sepehrkamahi4087]

great video hey crash course I want this man to teach more courses he is really good at this

[@mitchdse]

Agreed

[@NotoriousSRG]

Extremely important video!

[@marciamartins1992]

While Reagan was setting up the drug modus operandi, Nancy was saying, "just say no". Lol you can't make it up.

[@dcwashingtonpresident5938]

Awesome channel 💯.....Thank you!

[@sdmugabe]

Thanks for the great lesson!

[@ivyteacherwilson]

Thank you for another great lesson! 💯⚜️

[@benzehn1]

Thx for the video

[@Izzy0614]

I love this!! Thank you Crash Course

[@Xosidhe]

I watched the whole playlist in 4 days. I’m looking forward to hearing about current events like police brutality and Black Lives Matter.

[@alanfike]

Thank you for making this.

[@Just2gofoods]

Great video. Thank you so much!

[@jamalpetty5370]

Great work

[@chukc2012]

That was a powerful 13 minutes!!!!

[@CaptainTimo]

Thank you so much for sharing this info

[@MananJindal123]

Another great video

[@phoenixwhitcher156]

I love free education, thank you CC.

[@cbrindle91]

"It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedoms."

[@zein9742]

Thanks!

[@notbenh]

Thank you

[@daddyquon4800]

Bro talkin fax I fw him 💯

[@ForgottenPerspective]

Question: I don't know if there are still people who are incarcerated due to the third strike rule for cannabis possession (for personal use), but shouldn't the justice system look into the cases where they got life sentences since the law now is changed and legal in some states?

[@00Linares00]

Considering global impact, the war on drugs is one if not the worst thing out there.

[@korg47237]

this series should be mandatory in US schools.

[@bryonwatkins1432]

GREAT facts 👏👏👏👏!!!!

[@localblackman427]

Thank you for making this video. Sharing it with everyone I know

[@blackice3395]

Reagan, Clinton and Nixon was some of the worst things that ever happened in the United States!

[@dougc7947]

Fyi 3:04 to 3:18 is a map of the Rome, Italy (the Centro Storico). Great video and series but not sure why that was used as a template.

[@mopnem]

Don’t know how this guy keeps his cool doing these lol. Tho it’s important to teach

[@sonnyliew]

Recently came across "Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration―and How to Achieve Real Reform" by John Pfaff - was wondering what you make of his arguments and data, Mr Smith.

[@historyking9984]

This was a great video. Though I wish you compared more to the opioid crisis and how that is treated today

[@moety2]

If anyone wants a detailed accounting of all of this, read The New Jim Crow.

[@jonathanrogel7101]

Very eye opening

[@CalisthenicsWorldview]

"Instead of a war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me" - Tupac Shakur

[@hasseemabdul-jalil8836]

B1 NC! Awesomeness!

[@trevorames889]

Another excellent and informative video. Thank you. One note, awful was misspelled on the case file.

[@VashdaCrash]

This is more about contemporary events than history, and I'm all for that.

[@KB-ru2rk]

PREACH ❤️

[@markfrank5937]

Iran-Contra Affair. 😒.....

[@milesloden75]

the only thing to make the crash course better would be to add the history of every continent as well.

[@brave9307]

A great video, thank you. I would love to see something as clear and succinct as this that includes the pre-Nixon history of drug criminalisation. Those laws, spearheaded by the US and then 'exported' internationally, were specifically and overtly racist - members of US congress spoke on the record about eliminating the "yellow menace" when criminalising opium (which had been used for hundreds of years by westerners - and thousands of years in other cultures); laws that were used to then target all minorities, most famously Billie Holiday. The same happened with the criminalisation of cannabis, with the word 'marijuana' being expressly utilised by Harry Anslinger (the prosecutor and persecutor of Billie Holiday) to characterise cannabis as something foreign and to associate it with Spanish-speaking people in order to ensure that racist stigma accompanied the legislation. The more the general public knows about this disgusting history the easier it will be for them to accept the inevitable end of the 'drug war' and, hopefully, the end of the needless deaths both in the US and everywhere else, that have been the result.

[@NotAMuse]

I sat my ignorant butt down and cleared 13 minutes of my schedule to get edumacated.

[@tylishaqueenoceanriver1676]

Can you please talk about the highly controversial case surrounding the Central Park five in 1989

[@bbrev106]

🔥

[@blanenoel4231]

????????? On Camera all of it !

[@erikvoitus7488]

Are the amounts of money the amounts of money that it was then or have you already corrected it for inflation

[@abbyhelms8056]

Great video! First comment!

[@hazzah5572]

Who else is white and following this great series? Show of hands?

[@XanderShiller]

It's not a war bc wars end.

[@wefans-xf4vc]

Nixon lol

[@TheLaly37]

How can policy maker still sleep at night and ask for re-election after such failures!

[@kellyjohns6612]

If Feb is black history month, what month is set aside for the First Nations People (the aboriginal natives of North America)?

[@davidgaskin5417]

If you take out any supposed claims of racism, and the impracticalities of fighting drug usage. What is the inherent problem with trying to stop people using drugs for recreational purposes?

[@jliller]

It depends on whether you think the government should legislate morality.

[@lucascurio8345]

Thank you so much

[@chrismoon2961]

Thank you for this video!

[@jamelchislom1365]

Thank you

[@DCityJorge]

Thanks!