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Why the crack cocaine epidemic hit Black communities 'first and worst'
kwbu ^ | 07/13/2023 | Tonya Mosley

Posted on 07/14/2023 8:08:34 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27

On Sept. 5, 1989, President George H.W. Bush appeared on live television to discuss what he called the nation's "gravest domestic threat." Sitting at his desk in the oval office, Bush held up a bag of crack cocaine that had been seized in a park across from the White House, saying: "It's as innocent looking as candy, but it's turning our cities into battle zones."

Looking back now, author and journalist Donovan X. Ramsey describes Bush's press conference as a form of propaganda designed to create a panic about the crack epidemic and to "demonize drug dealers and also addicts."

"George H.W. Bush really wanted to start his administration with a bang and being tough on crime and was a big part of that," Ramsey says. "His office made a decision that they wanted to give a big address on drugs and they wanted to use crack cocaine as a prop."

(Excerpt) Read more at kwbu.org ...


TOPICS: Conspiracy; Education; History; Local News
KEYWORDS: black; cocaine; communities; epidemic; smallbblack
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To: Worldtraveler once upon a time
As she writes, "In his new book, When Crack Was King: A People's History of A Misunderstood Era...."

Any book with A People's History in the title is garbage.

21 posted on 07/14/2023 9:34:54 AM PDT by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized of man.)
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To: Tell It Right

And the author is a very very poor writer.


22 posted on 07/14/2023 9:36:46 AM PDT by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized of man.)
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To: aimhigh
Over 70% of black babies are born to a single mom. Time to fix that, and that is the solution.

No one ever talks about this but... In many urban areas you have 17 and 18 year old boys preying on thirteen and fourteen year old girls (parents are generally nowhere to be found). The girls get pregnant and the cycle repeats itself. And since no one wants to address the issue, there is no end in sight.

23 posted on 07/14/2023 9:40:24 AM PDT by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized of man.)
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To: gundog
Targeted by the CIA was one of the early conspiracy theories.

And the knowledge that this was the type evil they were up against made getting up and going to work every day easy for the altruistic, enlightened men and women of the KGB and colleagues in the MSM. /s

24 posted on 07/14/2023 9:44:55 AM PDT by fso301
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To: Gen.Blather
You're a racist because you made the above observations. Blax can't be guilty of those crimes because they've been gifted in toto indulgences for having to exist on the same planet as White Folk.

Now, give your mandatory $$$ to Loquitia's Reparations fund.

25 posted on 07/14/2023 9:45:44 AM PDT by LouAvul (Daniel 4:17: "..the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.." )
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To: ChicagoConservative27
It’s around that time also that hip hop was fast becoming mainstream. Remember seeing gang graffiti is videos by white singers cause it was “hip”. MTV had “yo, mtv raps”. The Fab Five were big wearing baggies in basketball. Remember Catholics vs Convicts? Norte Dame v Miami? Rappers had long sung about drugs and violence. Thug culture was being mainstreamed. Gangs were being glorified. Toss in an addictive drug into black culture and it’s a perfect storm.

.

26 posted on 07/14/2023 9:47:10 AM PDT by ealgeone
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To: ChicagoConservative27

HIV
In 2018, African Americans/Blacks accounted for 42% of the 37,968 new HIV diagnoses in the United States and dependent areas. Of the 37,968 new HIV diagnoses in the US and dependent areas in 2018:

42% were among adult and adolescent African Americans/Blacks
31% were among African American/Black men
11% were among African American/Black women
African American family
In 2018, in the United States, the death rate for African Americans/Blacks was higher (16.3 per 100,000) compared with any other racial/ethnic group (2.5 Whites). In 2018, African Americans/Blacks represented 43% of all deaths of people diagnosed with HIV. (Note that deaths could be from any cause.) A recent study showed that African Americans/Blacks diagnosed with HIV are less likely than other groups to be linked to care, retained in care, receive antiretroviral treatment, and achieve adequate viral suppression.

In 2018, African American/Black adult and adolescent men accounted for 39% of new HIV diagnoses among men in the United States and dependent areas. Most (79%) new HIV diagnoses among African American/Black men were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact, while 15% were attributed to heterosexual contact.

Among African American/Black adult and adolescent women in the United States and dependent areas, most (92%) new HIV diagnoses were attributed to heterosexual contact in 2018.

More Information
HIV/AIDS Topic Site
HIV/AIDS and African Americans
HIV/AIDS Statistics and Surveillance
Top of Page
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD)
Chlamydia

In 2018, the overall rate of reported chlamydia cases among Blacks in the United States was 1,192.5 cases per 100,000 population. The rate of reported chlamydia cases among Black females was five times the rate among White females (1,411.1 and 281.7 cases per 100,000 population, respectively. The rate of reported chlamydia cases among Black males was 6.8 times the rate among White males (952.3 and 140.4 cases per 100,000 population, respectively). Rates of reported cases of chlamydia were highest for Blacks aged 15–19 and 20–24 years in 2018. The rate of reported chlamydia cases among Black females aged 15–19 years (6,817.3 cases per 100,000 population) was 4.5 times the rate among White females in the same age group (1,520.1 cases per 100,000 population). The rate of reported chlamydia cases among Black females aged 20–24 years was 3.7 times the rate among White females in the same age group (7,087.7 and 1,935.8 cases per 100,000 population, respectively). Among females aged 15–24 years, the population targeted for screening, rates were highest among Blacks in all US regions.

Similar racial disparities in reported chlamydia rates exist among males. Among males aged 15–19 years, the rate of reported chlamydia cases among Blacks was 9.1 times the rate among Whites (2,668.6 and 293.0 cases per 100,000 population, respectively. The rate of reported chlamydia cases among Black males aged 20–24 years was 5.3 times the rate among White males of the same age group (3,867.1 and 732.6 cases per 100,000 population, respectively).

Gonorrhea

In 2018, the overall rate of reported gonorrhea cases among Blacks in the United States was 7.7 times the rate among Whites. This disparity was similar for Black males (8.5 times the rate among White males) and Black females (6.9 times the rate among White females). As in previous years, the disparity in gonorrhea rates for Blacks in 2018 was larger in the Midwest and Northeast than in the South and West.

Considering Hispanic ethnicity and all race and age categories, rates of reported gonorrhea cases were highest for Blacks aged 20–24, 15–19, and 25–29 years in 2018. The rate of reported gonorrhea cases among Black females aged 20–24 years (2,040.3 cases per 100,000 population) was 6.9 times the rate among White females in the same age group (297.5 cases per 100,000 population). The rate of reported gonorrhea cases among Black females aged 15–19 years (1,756.4 cases per 100,000 population) was 8.8 times the rate among White females in the same age group (200.1 cases per 100,000 population). Among Black males aged 20–24 years, the rate of reported gonorrhea cases (2,212.1 cases per 100,000 population) was 9.4 times the rate among White males in the same age group (236.3 cases per 100,000 population). The rate of reported gonorrhea cases among Black males aged 25–29 years (1,860.7 cases per 100,000 population) was 7.0 times the rate among White males in the same age group (265.5 cases per 100,000 population).

African American couple
Primary and Secondary Syphilis

In 2018, 34.7% of reported P&S syphilis cases with known race/Hispanic ethnicity information occurred among Blacks. The rate of reported P&S syphilis cases among Blacks was 4.7 times the rate among Whites (28.1 versus 6.0 cases per 100,000 population, respectively). This disparity was similar for Black females and males. Similar disparities were seen in all regions of the United States.

Congenital Syphilis

From 2014 to 2018, the rate of reported congenital syphilis increased 126.7% among Blacks (38.2 to 86.6 cases per 100,000 live births). In 2018, the rate of reported cases of congenital syphilis among Blacks was 6.4 times the rate among Whites (86.6 versus 13.5 per 100,000 live births, respectively).

More Information
STD Topic Site
STDs and Health Disparities
STD Surveillance Report
STDs in Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Top of Page
Viral Hepatitis
In 2018, there were 1,649 death certificates among US residents that listed hepatitis B as the underlying or a contributing cause of death. Of these, 304 (18.4%) were among African Americans resulting in a hepatitis B death rate of 0.7 deaths per 100,000 population.

In 2018, there were 15,713 death certificates among US residents that listed hepatitis C as the underlying or a contributing cause of death. Of these 15,713 hepatitis C related deaths, 2,978 (18.9%) were among African Americans. Thus, the 2018 hepatitis C related death rate for African Americans was 6.31 deaths per 100,000 population.

More Information
Viral Hepatitis Topic Site
Surveillance Report for Viral Hepatitis
Top of Page
Tuberculosis (TB)
In 2018, 87% of all reported TB cases occurred in racial and ethnic minorities. TB disease was reported in 1,799 non-Hispanic African Americans/Blacks in the United States, accounting for 20% of all people reported with TB disease nationally; this proportion is high considering non-Hispanic African Americans/Blacks make up approximately 13% of the U.S. population. While the rates of TB disease in non-Hispanic African Americans/Blacks have been cut in half (from 8.8 cases per 100,000 persons in 2008 compared to 4.4 in 2018) over the past decade, the rate of TB disease in non-Hispanic African Americans/Blacks is over eight times higher than the rate of TB disease in non-Hispanic whites (0.5 cases per 100,000 population). Overall, 9,025 TB cases were reported to CDC from the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2018.


27 posted on 07/14/2023 9:49:46 AM PDT by keving (We the government )
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To: ChicagoConservative27

I marveled at how the media pretended that sentencing was racial between crack and powder cocaine.

They pretended to not see the difference between the receptionist with her little vial of coke, snorting it on Saturday night in a nightclub bathroom, and the terrorizing neighborhood crack house with the crack whores and guns, and pit bulls fortified behind barred windows, reinforced steel doors with peepholes and the crack users and sellers fighting deadly wars that were killing children and babies in their beds with terrible shootouts and mass shootings.


28 posted on 07/14/2023 9:54:50 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: ChicagoConservative27

Bush wasn’t warning about crack, he was advertising it.


29 posted on 07/14/2023 10:07:29 AM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: ansel12

Either way someone had to sell it and buy it. Both should have been shutdown.


30 posted on 07/14/2023 10:22:32 AM PDT by ealgeone
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To: ChicagoConservative27

The colored folks like to get drunker, higher and smoke crack instead of just the snort sniff. That is all.


31 posted on 07/14/2023 10:25:44 AM PDT by Glad2bnuts (“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: We should have set up ambushes...paraphrased)
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To: Gen.Blather
... Blacks were doing great until LBJ’s “Great Society.” Their divorce rate was below that of whites. Their incarceration percentage mirrored their percentage of the overall population, about 17%. (It’s usually about 90% today.) When he signed the legislation and with MLK standing behind him LBJ said, “We’ll have these n***ers voting for us for the next hundred years.” ...


32 posted on 07/14/2023 10:54:14 AM PDT by MacNaughton
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To: MacNaughton

Look for a political quote and you’ll find they say versions of the same thought over and over in different settings.


33 posted on 07/14/2023 10:56:47 AM PDT by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
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To: ChicagoConservative27

“The myth of the crack baby?????”


34 posted on 07/14/2023 11:31:40 AM PDT by ModelBreaker
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To: ealgeone

That was never in question, shut them down, arrest them, sentence them, but don’t let the left get away with pretending that a person using some powder was equal to the mass shootings, street gunfights, fortified buildings, and gang wars of the crack users.


35 posted on 07/14/2023 11:57:16 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: Rummyfan
---- "Any book with A People's History in the title is garbage."

Total agreement. The Howard Zinn book which has found its way into public schools is the (or "a") model for this.

36 posted on 07/15/2023 5:41:45 AM PDT by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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