There is an unfortunate truth to cocaine, and that while both crack and powder cocaine are prohibited by law, African Americans are punished far more for the same substance. The war on drugs was a way to police Black bodies. By targeting substances that are more commonly associated with Black communities, it became possible to police African Americans without ever mentioning race. The affordability of crack cocaine and overlap between Black communities made it possible for police to excuse the policing and persecution of Blacks by considering it the persecution of the poor and impoverished. The War on Drugs was a war on more than drugs, it was an occupation of the African American livelihood.
More people are in jail today because of drugs than ever before. Many people understand prison to be the place where we lock up all our undesirable criminals, our murderers, rapists, and other fiends. However, while it may do that, we are also throwing in thousands, if not millions of people who are locked up for dealing, using, or transporting drugs. People who have been influenced by myths and prejudice may believe that Hispanics and Blacks are murders and robbers, yet between the 1986 to the 1991 prison survey, the percentage of Black and Hispanic inmates serving time for homicide and robbery decreased 3% for homicide and 6% for robbery.1 However, the number of Black and Hispanic inmates serving time for a drug related charge increased between 324% to 447% from the 1986 number.2 This is in comparison to the 115% increase in White prisoners serving time for drug related charges.3 This trend continues into the 2000s, where as recent as 2019, 46% of all federal prisoners are imprisoned based on drug related charges.4 While overall prison rates are decreasing, the number of Black men in federal prison is significantly higher than White men and Hispanic men, at 1,446 per 100,000 U.S. adults, nearly double the rate of Hispanic imprisonment rates, and more than quintuple the rate of White imprisonment.5 This is in just the federal prisons, ignoring state, county, and city jails. Furthermore, compared to 38% of White prisoners in federal prison for drug related crimes, 43% of Blacks are imprisoned for drug related crimes and 60% of Hispanics are imprisoned in Federal prison for drug related crimes.6 This follows the trend in 1991, where in the course of 5 years, the percentage of Black prisoners in prison for drug related crimes went from 7% to 25%, compared with the White percentages of 8% to 12%.7
This year span of 1986-1991 and the massive increase of drug related arrests is not a coincidence. 1986, just after the resurgence of the War on Drugs, and Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which established minimum prison sentences for specific drugs.8 In this act, 500 grams of powdered cocaine was worth five years of prison, the preferred drug of White Americans.9 Five grams of crack cocaine was also worth five years, which was the economically available drug of Black Americans.10 Powder cocaine was unaffordable for many African Americans. Yet, one hundredth of the cheaper drug merited the same sentence as the expensive powder, which explains the massive increase of Black prisoners between 1986 and 1991. The War on Drugs as we know it began 1985. While the initial war on drugs began in the 1970s to crack down on war dissidents, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act began what some have dubbed the New Jim Crow.11 One of the biggest issues with minimum sentencing is that not everyone can go to court to challenge their arrests, and will accept serving time below the minimum sentence, to evade the full sentence, even if they did not commit the crime.12 This was very salient for the African American community because they often were impoverished, and could not afford an extended court case. This correlation of poverty and Blackness is also part of the reason why crack cocaine was so heavily affiliated with the Black community, and why the Black community was raided by police.
Police were rounding up Black bodies and putting them in prison over miniscule amounts of drugs. Drug offenses exploded the prison population, causing a half of a million of people to be confined in prison to this very day on drug related charges, and a grand total of 31 million having been arrested on drug charges.13 80% of these prisoners were arrested for possession, and the majority of the remaining 20% were often found to not have a history of violence or significant sales activity.14 These percentages do contain all types of people, and are for all drugs, not just cocaine. However, marijuana was another drug that was outlawed, and its usage was primarily connected with anti-war and African American communities, making it another racially and politically biased gateway to prison.15 Drugs were inherently connected with major parts of the Black community’s lifestyle, and these laws were used to lock people away.
The police saw the drugs as inherently tied with the African American community. In enforcing the laws against drug use, police violated constitutional civil liberties, notably the Fourth Amendment, where citizens have the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures without probable cause.16 Being Black was enough probable cause for search and seizure in the War on Drugs. This was because the police could stop and frisk people, should they believe that the individual in question may be engaged in criminal activity and dangerous, even without probable cause.17 Black people had no legal defense against police intrusion into their lives, not even probable cause, making it possible for anyone and everyone who could be convicted of a drug charge, convicts. People are often intimidated by law enforcement, especially when law enforcement portrays themselves as aggressive verbally or physically with their posture and holding their weapons. While the Supreme Court claims that a reasonable person would be able to reject the requests of an officer, it is considerably more difficult when you know that people who look like you are profiled as criminals, and the officer requesting to check your person already has their hand on their lethal weapon.18 When police have a record of shooting people like you when they do not comply, many people find that they do not have a choice. The Black community often have no choice but to comply and indirectly give consent to police.
The laws and ideas in action are fueled by myths of the effects of crack cocaine. In State of Minnesota v. Gerard Russell, Dmitry Deshone Armstead, Michael Odell Johnson, Steve Antonio Morrison, and James Alderson, it was found that the five Black men were found to have not been racially discriminated against in the case of crack cocaine versus powder cocaine. The petitioner claimed that crack is not unjustly prosecuted due to its easy to sell units, its danger to children and the unborn, and their claim on how it is easier to become addicted to crack cocaine, while powdered cocaine can be a long-term recreational activity.19 However, many of these claims and myths of crack cocaine are false. Unlike the effects of heroin on newborns, children borne to crack cocaine users are not borne as crack babies. The idea of a child becoming addicted to cocaine through its mother’s addiction to crack cocaine is a falsehood, although the use of cocaine during pregnancy is not recommended, like how the use of alcohol and tobacco is not recommended during pregnancy.20 Additionally, the claim that it was easier to become heavily addicted to crack cocaine, and the addiction drove people to violence was also incorrect, as the frequency of weapon use in cocaine cases is 1.2% for powder cocaine, and 2.3% for crack cocaine.21 While there is a difference, it is not statistically significant enough to justify an unequal punishment. While this case did rule against the claim of discrimination, multiple claims by the petitioner were faulty, if not outright false. The government and the courts had and have been convicting people and ruling off myths of crack cocaine.
One of the biggest issues of crack cocaine is that it is cheaper than powder cocaine. Cocaine used to be quite expensive, and therefore was only enjoyable by the wealthy, which were often the White. However, with the advent of crack cocaine, cocaine became more affordable, and due to the financial state of many African Americans, it became the cocaine of choice.22 There are those who claim that the police are only targeting crack cocaine, and that these charges are not racially motivated. What they claim to be doing instead is policing the poor, which many coincidentally happen to be Black. Furthermore, Whites are found to do more drugs, and to be arrested for drug use, but more Blacks are being sentenced to prison terms on drug charges than Whites.23 Additionally, Whites are the primary recipients of treatment programs, while Blacks and other people of color are the primary recipients of imprisonment and prison programs.24 This means even though Whites are more likely to commit drug offenses in general, they are not incarcerated for their decisions, and receive assistance from the community, while Blacks are put into prison. While some prisons do provide drug treatment programs, the effectiveness of these programs is called into question. Punishing crack cocaine punishes the already downtrodden in most cases.
Crack cocaine and powder cocaine are different. Crack cocaine is cheaper and is associated with those of low fiscal standing. Powder cocaine is associated with wealth and Whiteness. Their effects are similar, as are their profit margins. However, Blacks pay the price of cocaine, while Whites do not. By policing crack cocaine, police can control and cow the Black community with impunity. If people and the systems we live in believe in myths, the reality will not change.
Written by Cougar Kime, 2020, History
For Further Reading:
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow. Vol. Revised edition with a new foreword by Cornel West. New York: The New Press, 2012. http://electra.lmu.edu:2048/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=489643&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Beck, Allen, Darrell Gilliard, Lawrence Greenfeld, Caroline Harlow, Thomas Hester, Louis Jankowski, Tracy Snell, James Stephan, and Danielle Morton. “Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991.” 1993, 1993, 41.
Beckett, Katherine. “Race and Drug Law Enforcement in Seattle.” 2008, n.d., 98. https://static.prisonpolicy.org/scans/Beckett-20040503.pdf
Carson, E. Ann. “Prisoners in 2019,” October 2020. https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p19.pdf.
Coyle, Michael. “Race and Class Penalties in Crack Cocaine Sentencing.” 2002, n.d., 12.
Editors, History com. “War on Drugs.” HISTORY. Accessed December 18, 2020. https://www.history.com/topics/crime/the-war-on-drugs.
Edwards, Ezekiel, Emily Greytak, Brooke Madubuonwu, Thania Sanchez, Sophie Beiers, Charlotte Resing, Paige Fernandez, and Sagiv Galai. “A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform.” American Civil Liberties Union. Accessed December 18, 2020. https://www.aclu.org/report/tale-two-countries-racially-targeted-arrests-era-marijuana-reform.
Eichler, Thomas P. “Race and Incarceration in Delaware: A Preliminary Consideration.” 2004, n.d., 28. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/RaceIncarceration.pdf.
State v. Russell, 477 NW 2d 886 (Supreme Court 1991). https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16231087742686535576&q=State+v.+Russell.&hl=en&as_sdt=2006.
[1] Allen Beck et al., “Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991,” 1993, 1993, 41.
[2] Beck et al.
[3] Beck et al.
[4] E. Ann Carson, “Prisoners in 2019,” October 2020, https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p19.pdf.
[5] Carson.
[6] Carson.
[7] Beck et al., “Survey of State Prison Inmates, 1991.”
[8] History com Editors, “War on Drugs,” HISTORY, accessed December 18, 2020, https://www.history.com/topics/crime/the-war-on-drugs.
[9] Editors.
[10] Editors.
[11] Editors; Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow, vol. Revised edition with a new foreword by Cornel West (New York: The New Press, 2012), http://electra.lmu.edu:2048/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=489643&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
[12] Alexander, The New Jim Crow.
[13] Alexander.
[14] Alexander.
[15] Ezekiel Edwards et al., “A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform,” American Civil Liberties Union, accessed December 18, 2020, https://www.aclu.org/report/tale-two-countries-racially-targeted-arrests-era-marijuana-reform.
[16] Alexander, The New Jim Crow.
[17] Alexander.
[18] Alexander.
[19] State v. Russell, 477 NW 2d 886 (Supreme Court 1991).
[20] Michael Coyle, “Race and Class Penalties in Crack Cocaine Sentencing,” 2002, n.d., 12.
[21] Coyle.
[22] Katherine Beckett, “Race and Drug Law Enforcement in Seattle,” 2008, n.d., 98.
[23] Thomas P. Eichler, “Race and Incarceration in Delaware: A Preliminary Consideration,” 2004, n.d., 28.
[24] Eichler.
