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System of oppression · 1971–now

The War on Drugs

A federal campaign whose enforcement fell disproportionately on Black communities, fueling mass incarceration.

On the timeline

  1. June 17, 1971
    Nixon declares the War on Drugs

    A campaign later admitted by aides to have targeted Black communities and the antiwar left.

  2. October 27, 1986
    The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986

    Mandatory minimums punish crack 100x more harshly than powder cocaine, devastating Black defendants.

The web

Connections to other moments, systems, and investigations, the links rarely drawn together.

  • part of·Thread
    From Owned to Caste

    A race-neutral language that rebuilt racial control as legal segregation fell.

  • enabled·Thread
    Mass Incarceration

    Drug-war enforcement is the primary engine of the prison boom.

  • part of (incoming)·Event
    Nixon declares the War on Drugs

    Nixon's 1971 declaration launched the decades-long campaign.

  • led to (incoming)·Thread
    Greed, The Root

    The drug war fed an incarceration economy while devastating Black communities.