Chapter Seven Of Policy Paradox By Deborah Stone

Gray, James P. Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do about It: A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012.

From the beginning of the War on Drugs, racial discrimination was the focus. Hari gives readers a look into the beginning of this war by discussing Harry Anslinger and his determination to be in a position of power. Anslinger was appointed to run the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and from the start he was faced with numerous problems (Hari 2015: 10). He was leading a department that was small and filled with corrupt workers. Anslinger needed a bigger department and after the prohibition on alcohol failed, his department needed to tackle something better. In order to do so, Anslinger made a commitment to eradicate

The idea of symbolism is widely understood, but many do not understand that symbols can have many different meanings. Foster highlights this point

Michelle Alexander in her eye-opener novel, The New Jim Crow, makes a dauntless premise that the racial caste system that was supposedly ended in America during the Civil Rights Movement still exists today and is completely redesigned in the sense that colored men are the target of an intentional “War on Drugs.” Alexander claims that the criminal justice system is used as a mean to racially control millions of colored people and the same system is used to demote them to a second-class citizen status. Alexander employs a great deal of rhetoric in her novel to appeal to the reader’s emotions and values, so that she is able to alter the ethos of the readers and ultimately reveal the blindness present in the United States Justice System. Alexander

Another example of symbolism is the speaker. The speaker represents authority and power. In the book the people of the community always obeyed the speaker. “IMMEDIATELY, the rasping voice through the speakers had said, LEAVE YOUR BICYCLES WHERE THEY ARE. Instantly, obediently, Jonas had dropped his bike on its side on the path behind his family’s dwelling,” (Lowry, 2). The last example is pale eyes, which symbolize difference. In the community difference is not. Jonas is tired of obeying the community rules and will leave the community.

“If you take myth and folklore, and these things that speak in symbols, they can be interpreted in so many ways that although the actual image is clear enough, the interpretation is infinitely blurred, a sort of enormous rainbow of every possible colour you could imagine” (Diana Wynne Jones). Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.In Anthem by Ayn Rand, symbols are used throughout the novel, allowing to reveal more hidden information about Equality as a person as well as how it portrays to theme.

Alexander claims that the sole reason that the war on drugs was started was to maintain the racist nature that faces America. Alexander realizes that even though the Jim Crow Laws were eradicated, we have just reshaped the ways in which we decide to ruin lives. As the old adage says, “The more things change, the more they remain the same”. I think to a certain point Americans need to have reassurance that things really are changing and here’s where Jim Crow ends, but in the background the powerful people in this country had to come up with a new plan to feed their racist nature. One politician after another want to show how tough they can be on drugs. Each wanting to be stronger than the other. They didn’t care who they were hurting on the bottom, as long as they looked extra tough.

Another way symbolism is used is tied in the time periods the author is writing in as well as their personal beliefs, and this holds true with politics. Sometimes a

In the book The New Jim Crow author Michelle Alexander argues that a racial caste system still exists in the United States. Furthermore, this caste system is set up by the social control that is created by the discriminatory practices of the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs and mass incarcerations create a racial “undercaste” of African-Americans, by marginalizing ex-offenders in America. Within her arguments she describes the racist practices of, and policies surrounding, the War on Drugs. These extend from the police force on the ground, who are apprehending the criminals or, in many cases, innocent people, all the way to the practices of prosecuting and sentencing of these people. There are many instances where the injustices extend all the way to the Supreme Court. However, that may not be surprising given the fact that the War on Drugs is a federal government institution. This racism, while inherent, is not always apparent. In this paper I will assess the broken practices that the War on Drugs implements, including mass incarceration, and how racism is the basis for these practices. However, while it does show that racism does exist in these practices, Alexander doesn’t necessarily show that racism is the reason behind the War on Drugs and mass incarceration, but rather a by-product.

2 Drug arrests have; tripled since 1980. As a result, more than 31 million people have been ar-; rested for drug offenses since the drug war began. 3 To put the matter in per. spective, consider this: there are more people in prisons and jails today just;( for drug offenses than were incarcerated for all reasons in 1980.4 Nothing

The war on Drugs played a heavy role in minority American society. It affected policing and most importantly the American minority people. The war on drugs started by President Nixon and up until President Bush was a disaster that affected America with high incarceration and high recidivism rates for low level and non-violent drug offenses that mainly targeted minorities in America. The war on drugs was a massive American failure that mainly affected minorities. President Obama and his drug reform alongside the American public’s strong opinion to switch towards marijuana reform which we see in places like Colorado and Washington has caused the war on drugs to lose steam. The American public’s decision for drug reform is no surprise after nearly 40 years of the unsuccessful war on drugs.

This “war on drugs,” which all subsequent presidents have embraced, has created a behemoth of courts, jails, and prisons that have done little to decrease the use of drugs while doing much to create confusion and hardship in families of color and urban communities.1,2Since 1972, the number of people incarcerated has increased 5-fold without a comparable decrease in crime or drug use.1,3 In fact, the decreased costs of opiates and stimulants and the increased potency of cannabis might lead one to an opposing conclusion.4 Given the politics of the war on drugs, skyrocketing incarceration rates are deemed a sign of success, not failure. I don’t totally agree with the book (I think linking crime and black struggle is even older than she does, for instance) but I think The New Jim Crow pursues the right line of questioning. “The prison boom is not the main cause of inequality between blacks and whites in America, but it did foreclose upward mobility

In this article, Bandele focuses on a short filmed narrated by Jay Z that depicts historical scenes pertaining to the war on drugs and Nixon administration as it down spiraled into the making of the future. Artwork of Molly Crabapple gives insight and provides a vision statement to the historical images. The events, particularly, correlate to the historical events that significantly impacted the African American community under the disguises of the Rockefeller drug laws and the 1973 statutes. The body of laws were administrated in New York during the war on drugs and consequently resulted in the increase of racialized incarceration rates and enacted the development of punitive criminal policies throughout the nation. The film continues to dispute the affect war on drugs, and the present-day

on Drugs, hidden racism and how it plays out with African Americans. The book details the Struggles of the black population during and after slavery and even before Ronald Reagan wrote into policy “The War on Drugs” which he officially announced October 1982.

Symbolism is an object, person or colour which conveys a connotation beyond its literal meaning. Symbols are typically abstract or non-rational. In Addiction, symbol was effectively manipulated to incorporate the unrealistic conventions of masks, stylised movement and abstract props. Buzz, the drug lord was costumed in all black, including a black mask (Expressionism convention). The black signified Buzz’s malignant personality and contagious harmful spirit. But the mask dehumanised Buzz and allowed him to represent, ‘free will’; in context free will was defined as Darcy’s ability to decline or chase Buzz’s immoral influence. Furthermore Buzz and Darcy participated in a stylised movement piece-Theatre of Cruelty convention- were Buzz was standing