Zone1 How much of an influence was the introduction of crack cocaine on the black community? Netflix Documentary

[Seymour Flops]

So I just ran across a Netflix documentary called "Crack: Cocaine, Corruption and Conspiracy"

Looking only at the preview you get by hovering over it, a man says that "when crack came along, it changed everything about the black community, and America."

I'm sure that is hyperbole, but I remember the stories in the eighties of people trying it, becoming quickly addicted, and then selling everything they owned in a few days, then turning to theft, prostitution and homelessness in their quest for the drug. The news especially liked to runs such stories with a white college girls as the instantly addicted victim.

Were they true? Urban legends? I'm sure it happened to some people. I'm guessing that rapid gambling addictions can happen also, but very rarely.

But did crack wreak that kind of havoc on a large enough percent of the black community to make a significant change for the worst at a time when they were finally recognized as fully equal and were rising socially and economically?

If so, is that white people's fault? No doubt that if the market was flooded with crack, it was high level drug dealers who flooded it. Were they white businessmen? Italian gangsters? Yakuza? Russians or other East European immigrants?

Or could it have been a primarily black operation from start to finish, production, distribution and retail marketing all by black entrepreneurs? I don't know the answers. I'm asking for opinions and fact.

I'll let you know what the documentary says, I just wanted to see what the perception is among posters on here.

 

[ozro]

Captain Obvious says watch the show, some if not all your questions will be answered.

Seems a little silly to make a thread about a show you never saw. I said that.

 

[1srelluc]

All I can say is the local news feeds out of DC had to add a hour of programing just to cover the police blotter out of DC and Montgomery/PG counties in MD

LOL....If you took a drink for every shooting you would be dead of alcohol poisoning by 0700.

At least they kept that shit across the river but Richmond/Petersburg/Tidewater area of Virginia was near as bad.

 

[MarathonMike]

DC Mayor Marion Barry sure loved the stuff. It was well known locally that he would drive around at night in Limos and pick up hookers and "party" with them doing crack. For some reason it never was covered much on the news.

 

[Polishprince]

Crack cocaine didn't help ghetto life at all. But the crime rate was already through the roof in urban hellholes in the 1970's before crack was even invented.

 

[Confederate Soldier]

It's Heroin and methamphetamine that are getting out of control here among lower class whites, and crack cocaine among lower class blacks.

 

[Donald H]

The Supplyside in America is operating efficiently.

The demandside of America's brand of capitalism keeps the industry healthy.

Socially responsible capitalist countries deal proactively to break the hold of the supplyside by making alternative safe drugs and drug paraphenalia available.

Americans can't possibly accept that solution.

Is it possible to at least carry on a discussion without the trolling and spamming?

 

[JGalt]

So I just ran across a Netflix documentary called "Crack: Cocaine, Corruption and Conspiracy"

Looking only at the preview you get by hovering over it, a man says that "when crack came along, it changed everything about the black community, and America."

I'm sure that is hyperbole, but I remember the stories in the eighties of people trying it, becoming quickly addicted, and then selling everything they owned in a few days, then turning to theft, prostitution and homelessness in their quest for the drug. The news especially liked to runs such stories with a white college girls as the instantly addicted victim.

Were they true? Urban legends? I'm sure it happened to some people. I'm guessing that rapid gambling addictions can happen also, but very rarely.

But did crack wreak that kind of havoc on a large enough percent of the black community to make a significant change for the worst at a time when they were finally recognized as fully equal and were rising socially and economically?

If so, is that white people's fault? No doubt that if the market was flooded with crack, it was high level drug dealers who flooded it. Were they white businessmen? Italian gangsters? Yakuza? Russians or other East European immigrants?

Or could it have been a primarily black operation from start to finish, production, distribution and retail marketing all by black entrepreneurs? I don't know the answers. I'm asking for opinions and fact.

I'll let you know what the documentary says, I just wanted to see what the perception is among posters on here.

That shit is the devil, trust me. Even though it tastes like ass, you're addicted to it the first time you try it.

You'll start out laughing at the hardcore crackheads schizing out and crawling on the floor, looking for a tiny piece they imagined they dropped. But before you know it, you'll be doing the same thing.

You'll say to yourself "I'll quit this stuff if I ever start imagining things like those crackheads." But then some time later you find out you're just like they are.

Even if you manage to quit, you'll think about it at least once every day for years to come. And even after after 15 years of being clean, you'll still feel like there's something broken inside you.

 

[EvilEyeFleegle]

So I just ran across a Netflix documentary called "Crack: Cocaine, Corruption and Conspiracy"

Looking only at the preview you get by hovering over it, a man says that "when crack came along, it changed everything about the black community, and America."

I'm sure that is hyperbole, but I remember the stories in the eighties of people trying it, becoming quickly addicted, and then selling everything they owned in a few days, then turning to theft, prostitution and homelessness in their quest for the drug. The news especially liked to runs such stories with a white college girls as the instantly addicted victim.

Were they true? Urban legends? I'm sure it happened to some people. I'm guessing that rapid gambling addictions can happen also, but very rarely.

But did crack wreak that kind of havoc on a large enough percent of the black community to make a significant change for the worst at a time when they were finally recognized as fully equal and were rising socially and economically?

If so, is that white people's fault? No doubt that if the market was flooded with crack, it was high level drug dealers who flooded it. Were they white businessmen? Italian gangsters? Yakuza? Russians or other East European immigrants?

Or could it have been a primarily black operation from start to finish, production, distribution and retail marketing all by black entrepreneurs? I don't know the answers. I'm asking for opinions and fact.

I'll let you know what the documentary says, I just wanted to see what the perception is among posters on here.

IMO..the Crack epidemic was an Organized crime thing from beginning to end. The race of the groups were almost irrelevant. Local distributors were often Black..but it's a misstatement to say that it was a Black issue. Many, many white people were hooked on crack and their lives ruined. It was steroids for the Gangs though..analogous to Prohibition and the Mafia.
Crips and Bloods exploded with money and the violence it brought..but the Colombian and Mexican Cartels still ruled the trade.

I guess I'd say that Crack wreaked havoc on poor people..and that since most inner city poor people were black and brown..that the impact was disproportionate.

It's worth stating that most Americans..of any color never smoked crack at all.

Highlighted: All of the above.

 

[MarathonMike]

Crack cocaine didn't help ghetto life at all. But the crime rate was already through the roof in urban hellholes in the 1970's before crack was even invented.

Very true, but I do believe the introduction of crack was akin to gas on a fire in urban ghettos.

 

[IM2]

Here we go with more white racist analysis of the black community.

 

[IM2]

Crack cocaine didn't help ghetto life at all. But the crime rate was already through the roof in urban hellholes in the 1970's before crack was even invented.

Bullshit.

 

[MarathonMike]

Here we go with more white racist analysis of the black community.

I'm just a guy observing what I saw over a many years living near Washington DC. I saw upscale Blacks moving out of DC into my neighborhood and I saw crime reports in DC get worse and worse. Crack contributed to the decay but that was just one factor. You won't even admit there were and are massive problems within the Black community.You choose instead to give meaningless history lessons on Black slavery and point the finger at Whitey.

 

[JGalt]

I'm just a guy observing what I saw over a many years living near Washington DC. I saw upscale Blacks moving out of DC into my neighborhood and I saw crime reports in DC get worse and worse. Crack contributed to the decay but that was just one factor. You won't even admit there were and are massive problems within the Black community.You choose instead to give meaningless history lessons on Black slavery and point the finger at Whitey.

That's not hard to believe, seeing how Washington DC actually had a crackhead Mayor named Marion Barry.

 

[Lisa558]

That's not hard to believe, seeing how Washington DC actually had a crackhead Mayor named Marion Barry.

DC was pretty safe through most of the 60s, but after the blacks burned the place down after MLK was assassinated, it really changed for the worse. Throughout the 1970s, it was bad. Then when Barry entered the scene, it really went to shit.

He got caught in a hotel room with a whore, trying to buy coke. Not a good look for the mayor of a major city.

 

[MarathonMike]

Here we go with more white racist analysis of the black community.

Here you go my friend. Read some history on the effect of crack on the Black community from another source.

How Crack Cocaine Destroyed Black Communities in the United States | The African Exponent.

Street gangs, being the logical sellers of crack, controlled outdoor spaces

www.africanexponent.com

 

[JGalt]

Here we go with more white racist analysis of the black community.

Then why don't you give us your black analysis of the black community?

And tell us why all those white liberals go to your "black community" to get the best drugs, while you're at it?

 

[AZrailwhale]

That's not hard to believe, seeing how Washington DC actually had a crackhead Mayor named Marion Barry.

Who was re-elected at least once AFTER being convicted of possession of crack. I believe he had a large amount to be convicted of trafficking.

 

[ninja007]

Here we go with more white racist analysis of the black community.

youre not black either so....

 

[CrusaderFrank]

IMO..the Crack epidemic was an Organized crime thing from beginning to end. The race of the groups were almost irrelevant. Local distributors were often Black..but it's a misstatement to say that it was a Black issue. Many, many white people were hooked on crack and their lives ruined. It was steroids for the Gangs though..analogous to Prohibition and the Mafia.
Crips and Bloods exploded with money and the violence it brought..but the Colombian and Mexican Cartels still ruled the trade.

I guess I'd say that Crack wreaked havoc on poor people..and that since most inner city poor people were black and brown..that the impact was disproportionate.

It's worth stating that most Americans..of any color never smoked crack at all.

Highlighted: All of the above.

I’d bet our CIA was behind it far more than the Mafia