Crack in Los Angeles: Crisis, Militarization, and Black Response to the Late Twentieth-Century War on Drugs

• Published in: The Journal of American history (Bloomington, Ind.) Vol. 102; no. 1; pp. 162 - 173
• Main Author: Murch, Donna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Organization of American Historians 01.06.2015
• Subjects: 20th century; African Americans; American history; Civil rights movements; Drug policy; Drugs; Illegal drug operations; Politics; Reinforcement; War; Los Angeles California; United States > US
• DOI: 10.1093/jahist/jav260
• ISSN: 0021-8723

Here, Murch provides the first historical analysis of the "crack crisis" at the epicenter of the war on drugs in the 1980s. She examines how diverse communities in Los Angeles came to define drugs as a transformative social crisis that demanded an unyielding carceral response. In particular, she notes the seemingly contradictory politics of African American community leaders who stoked the carceral turn on one side, while, on the other, civil rights and black power movement veterans quickly assessed and opposed the mounting collateral consequences of investing in policing and punishment as the solution to drug addiction. Her work illuminates how the carceral state is a key site for examining the complexities of African American politics and the long civil rights movement at the end of the 20th century.