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June 1985

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Oppression
Crack Cocaine Spreads Through New York City's Black Neighborhoods

By mid-1985, crack cocaine markets are established in Harlem, East New York, Bed-Stuy, and the South Bronx. The New York Times reports on crack houses in June 1985. Addiction rates climb steeply in communities already weakened by deindustrialization and Reagan's social spending cuts. Homicide rates in Black neighborhoods begin a multi-year spike.

Events

  1. June 1985
    Crack Cocaine Spreads Through New York City's Black Neighborhoods

    By mid-1985, crack cocaine markets are established in Harlem, East New York, Bed-Stuy, and the South Bronx. The New York Times reports on crack houses in June 1985. Addiction rates climb steeply in communities already weakened by deindustrialization and Reagan's social spending cuts. Homicide rates in Black neighborhoods begin a multi-year spike.

  2. June 12, 1985
    Edmund Perry Shot Dead by NYPD Officer in Morningside Heights

    Edmund Perry, a 17-year-old Black student who had just graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy with a scholarship to Stanford, is shot and killed by plainclothes NYPD officer Lee Van Houten near his Harlem home. Van Houten claims Perry mugged him; no indictment follows. Perry's death symbolizes how even academically successful Black youth face lethal police violence.