Chasing the Scream: The Black Hand

"Ban the sale of alcohol for medical purposes. Massively increase prison sentences for alcohol dealers until they were all locked up. Wage war on booze until it was only a memory" (14)

• I selected this quote because of the similarities between these rules on alcohol, and current laws on marijuana and other drugs.  This also relates to the war on drugs, and  the mass incarceration of minorities in struggling neighborhoods.  

"Cocaine, it was widely claimed in the press at this time, turning blacks into superhuman hulks who could take bullets to the heart to the heart without flinching. It was the official reason why police across the South increased the caliber of their guns" (27).

• This quote is highly alarming.  White people don't do coke?  Our country looks for any way possible to oppress blacks and other minorities.  Only in the united states will police officers be allowed to increase the caliber of their gun because cocaine makes black people superhuman.  Anything is legal as long as it makes the lives of blacks harder.  

"They fingerprinted Billie on her hospital bed. They took a mug shot of her on her hospital bed. They grilled her on her hospital bed without letting her talk to a lawyer" ( 31).

• The difference between the way white drug addicts and black drug addicts were treated is very cruel.  How do you fingerprint someone on their hospital bed?  It is sickening that she was processed into the system while being tied down to a bed, hooked up to machines that are keeping her alive, meanwhile white drug users were given friendly advice on how to overcome their addiction.

"He believed the two most-feared groups in the United States -- Mexican immigrants and African Americans -- were taking the drug much more than white people and he presented the House Committee on Appropriations with a nightmarish vision of where this could lead" (15).

• There is absolutely no facts that back up this claim, in fact drug use is known to be equal among all races, and communities.  Where you live and your skin color do not make you more likely to use drugs.  Throughout my life I have seen 10 times more white people use hard drugs or overdose, than blacks or hispanics.  The media relays the idea that there is only drug usage in poor neighborhoods that consists of mostly blacks and other minorities.  This upsets me because I know first hand that this is not true.  

"You have to be poor and black to know how many times you can get knocked in the head for trying to do something as simple as that." (20).

• Things such as eating at a restaurant was difficult to do as a black person.  Billie understood the situation at hand and respected it, but the thought of "why" always sticks in your mind.  Like, why were people shunned from eating or drinking in certain places just because their skin was a different color.  To me, it will never make sense simply because of where I grew up.  Diversity is a beautiful thing and our country failed to realize that.  

Chasing the Scream: Sunshine and Weaklings

"Some 22 percent of addicts were wealthy, while only 6 percent poor" (36)

• Some people do not understand that drug addicts are not always poor, drugs are expensive having a bad drug habit costs a lot of money.  I believe that more rich people find themselves becoming addicts because the drugs become easily accessible.  It is wrong to assume that drug addicts only come from poor neighborhoods.  

"The United States government, as represented by its [anti-drug] officers, Henry explained, had just become 'the greatest and most potent maker of criminals in any recent century" (37)

• The US government is responsible for pretty much all of the drug related problems in this country.  People do not randomly wake up one day and say "let me start doing heroin" it is a process that starts with legal medication given to us by the government.  Like I said earlier, drugs are expensive, and addicts will spend their last dollar on drugs, and commit crimes to obtain more money.  This is where these addicts become criminals, because they will do whatever it takes to get those drugs.   

"Second, by driving up the cost of drugs by more than a thousand percent, the new policies meant addicts were forced to commit crime to get their next fix" (37)

• We must remember that to these kingpins, drugs are their source of income, and when their the supplier they can also change the price whenever they feel is necessary.  Raising the price on drugs means that addicts need more money to purchase these drugs, which leads to more crime.  This fits into my own conspiracy that the Government is allowing these drugs to come into our country to keep the crime rate high and minority neighborhoods oppressed.  I just find it hard to believe that thousands of tons of drugs can get across our border, but I had trouble getting a bottle of water on an airplane.  

 "Drug prohibition put the entire narcotics industry into their hands. Once the clinics were closed, every single addict became a potential customer and cash cow" (40)

• I feel as though the entire drug problem in the United States was such a major issue because of the way the media portrayed it.  There was actually a survey and only 2 percent of Americans thought drugs were a major issue that needed to be tackled.  I think the cycle of abuse and crime is the reason the War on Drugs was taken so seriously, it gave a valid reason for law enforcement to make minorities seem like the only culprits so they could make arrests.  

"The addict could not get such a sum by ordinary means. Then he must get it by dubious means -- he must beg, borrow, forge, steal." (37)

• Once again we see the crime cycle involved in drug usage.  Its like it was set up this way on purpose.  All of these crimes were pinpointed on minorities when in reality, whites used drugs about twice as much as minorities, and we rarely ever hear or see that on the news.  I believe that drugs are a business and the government uses this drug business as job security for law enforcement, and a way to further press broken down neighborhoods.