“You want to know what this [war on drugs] was really all about? The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after 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.”
~ John Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon
Wow just looked up this guy on wikipedia, and the reporting is atrocious. The family thinks that he couldn’t have said this quote because he wasn’t racist, but totally missing the point that this isn’t about racial prejudice, it’s a political tactic by someone who sees racism as a useful tool to maintain capitalism.
they mean the heavy criminalization of drugs wasnt about drugs, it was about opressing people. Nixon had a problem with counter culture hippies and blacks. The solution was to impose heavy criminal charges for what they did, smoking pot and also herion in the black communities at the time (so I’ve read several times, I’m no historian nor expert though).
Like if you wanted to oppress middle class white people you could make chardonnay illegial and jail prople who you send the cops to bust for drinking it
Racism is the short answer believe it or not
what ?
~ John Ehrlichman, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon
Wow just looked up this guy on wikipedia, and the reporting is atrocious. The family thinks that he couldn’t have said this quote because he wasn’t racist, but totally missing the point that this isn’t about racial prejudice, it’s a political tactic by someone who sees racism as a useful tool to maintain capitalism.
they mean the heavy criminalization of drugs wasnt about drugs, it was about opressing people. Nixon had a problem with counter culture hippies and blacks. The solution was to impose heavy criminal charges for what they did, smoking pot and also herion in the black communities at the time (so I’ve read several times, I’m no historian nor expert though).
Like if you wanted to oppress middle class white people you could make chardonnay illegial and jail prople who you send the cops to bust for drinking it
yes I see thanks for the context !