Linn Washington Jr’s Philadelphia Tribune article written on February 4th, 1997, titled “U.S. drug laws have disproportionately affected Blacks” documents the crackdown on African Americans and Hispanic Americans from law enforcement in New York City regarding illegal substances, specifically marijuana and cocaine. Linn intended to inform the public on the racial discrimination that minorities were facing under the guise of protecting the public from drugs. He argued that the United States’ fight against drugs is driven just as much by racism as it is by the genuine concern for American health and safety.
A news article from the Chicago Daily Defender written by Roland Black on October 19th, 1968 titled “Wallace’s ‘Law-Order’ Aimed At Blacks” discusses George Wallace, the 45th Governor of Alabama’s one-sided views of “law and order” when it comes to blacks and whites. His main goal was to keep African Americans at the bottom, socially and politically. His emphasis on strong police enforcement clearly only applies to African American communities. Black writes that African Americans should be the people who are most concerned with the new “law and order” that is being enforced by Wallace rather than any other racial group since they are clearly the targets. Black clearly states his opinion and attempts to inform the public and expose Wallace for his true racist motives.
NPR’s interview with Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, explains how the war on drugs was completely planned by the Republican Party in order to ease the concerns of white Americans due to the fact that they were threatened by the level of progress that was made from the Civil Rights Movement.