A PRODUCT OF MY ENVIRONMENT 1: Drug Dealing and Drug Addiction

The events that contribute to the breakdown of Black communities across America started as early as 1619 after we were first bought to this country as slaves. For now, let’s look into the 1980s crack epidemic which plays a huge part in many issues currently surrounding African American communities.

Crack cocaine saw its rise in popularity during the early 80s when the Medellin Cartel began to illegally flood U.S. cities with the substance. 30–40 years ago, much like today, Black people were discriminated against in job markets, housing markets, and business circles. It was a constant struggle to stay afloat and try to compete with our white counterparts who did not have to work as hard as we did to maintain a sustainable lifestyle. This made our impoverished communities an easy target for drug infiltration.

RISKY BUSINESS: Drug Dealing

With the intention of making quick money to provide for their families, Black men seized on the opportunity to sell the addictive substance: making them the first victims of the distribution of drugs in our neighborhoods. Black men were never given the correct tools or a fair opportunity to legally provide for their families to begin with. The odds have been stacked against us since we stepped foot on American soil. Drug dealing provided an opportunity for Black families that White America was not willing to offer; a chance to make life-changing money and upgrade their status in society.

Local drug lords began to make their presence known in our neighborhoods and became idols for young men growing up during the time of their reigns. They became self-made millionaires. They drove foreign cars and wore the flashiest of jewelry, designer clothes, and shoes. It makes sense that the rappers of the 90s and early 2000s modeled their rap personas after these infamous drug dealers and began to glorify the lifestyle and everything that came with it. This is how street life and Hip Hop became a synonymous duo with rap music becoming the soundtrack to the lifestyle that is drug dealing.

No one was able to predict how destructive the crack era would be on Black communities. With it, came a surge of murders due to drug wars. We lost many of our Black men in these wars. We also saw a rise in overdose-related deaths, and the beginning of mass incarceration of Black men as a result of harsh prison sentences imposed by white judges who did not sympathize with the community in any way. Crack-addicted mothers and fathers abandoned their parental responsibilities. Children were left in unfit environments witnessing violence and irrational behavior regularly.

A LIFELONG MENTAL ILLNESS: Drug Addiction

Black children growing up in the 80s and 90s bore witness to the effects the drugs were having on their neighborhoods. If they were not directly exposed to the lifestyle in their homes, they were indirectly exposed to what was happening outside of their homes. During elementary school, I witnessed some of my peers being teased for having parents who were using drugs. Everyone could tell who the addicts were in our neighborhood; we called them crackheads. They were typically super skinny, walked funny, had an odor, and looked unkept with dirty clothes and matted hair. We made fun of them thinking, that would never be us. Life has a funny way of making people eat their words. I have watched many of my childhood peers later become the drug addicts of today; a position that I am sure none of them wanted to be in; a product of their environments.

Today, the world of addiction has shifted. The new drugs of choice are cough syrup (lean), painkillers (Percocet, Xanax), and one of the deadliest drugs to hit the streets; fentanyl. Drug addicts today are not ashamed of their addiction. They brag about it in songs and post their drug of choice on social media for everyone to see. It’s a huge contrast from what we used to think of drug addicts when I was a child. Because the addicts of this generation are rappers, and respected guys in the neighborhood, you have to ask yourself how this may be influencing the youth who are watching this. We know how influential rappers and their music can be on a young kid. The late and groundbreaking rapper, Juice World, admitted in an interview with Vulture.com that listening to the rapper, Future’s, music inspired him to begin sipping lean at a young age. Here’s what Future had to say about learning this: “When he told me that, I was like ‘Oh shit. What the fuck have I done?’” He continued, “Me having an influence on that, I just feel like…that is not my intention. My intention was just to be me. I’m just being me and what you get from it is what you get from it…” Juice World died in December 2019 due to an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

THE BOTTOM LINE

• Black people were fighting for a fair chance in America before drugs hit our streets. The crack era was a devastating blow and set us back tremendously as we are currently working to gain control over the drug issues in our communities.
• Drug dealers recruited young Black men to work for them and taught them the drug game; embedding this way of life into the minds of our men, generation after generation.
• Mass incarceration, overdosed-related deaths, and murder stemming from drug wars left many Black households without fathers, forcing women to step up to fill this void.
• Many Black children who had no choice but to grow up in this environment later became the only examples of role models they had growing up; drug dealers, drug users, and menaces to society.

When I think about a possible solution for these issues, oftentimes I become overwhelmed by the lack of ideas I come up with. What I do know is, these are the Black community’s problems to handle. White America has made it utterly clear that they do not care about issues affecting minority communities unless we force our issues on them. It is up to us to show up to political meetings, start our own organizations to help our people, and put ourselves on the front lines to physically put in the work needed to help each other.

Drug addiction is a lifelong disease of the brain and can be very difficult to battle. I watched my father battle drug addiction for most of my life. Seeing this, I never had the desire to do drugs because I saw how destructive they were on him. Other children who grew up witnessing drug abuse later became comfortable with using drugs. Everyone else around them was doing it, even their parents. This is how the cycle continues from generation to generation. If the cycle starts with children, I think it should end with children. We should be focusing a lot of our resources on making a better environment for children of the ghetto. A child should not be in a setting where adults smoke weed, are high on pills (nodding), and act belligerent and irrationally due to intoxication. Seeing this behavior regularly is how it becomes normal to them, allowing them to be more comfortable doing the same things.

Black media should also take some responsibility in the message they are putting out to our children. There is no way a song chanting ‘molly, Percocet’ should be allowed to be played on the radio without being censored. Many music artists will argue that they make music for adults, not children. This means, as parents we have to do a better job at controlling the type of music our kids are exposed to. It’s as simple as changing the radio station when an inappropriate song comes on.

I do not have all the answers. No one person can fix these issues on their own. We have to decide, as a community, when we will be ready to clean up our neighborhoods.

What are your thoughts on the bottom line of this topic? If you enjoyed reading this leave a like or comment. Thank you for reading!

Citations

Turner , Deonna S. “Crack Epidemic.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 3 Oct. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/topic/crack-epidemic.

Holmes, Charles. “Future on Juice Wrld’s Death: ‘I’m Heartbroken’.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 8 Apr. 2020, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/future-juice-wrlds-death-im-heartbroke-980076/.

“Crack Cocaine Use ‘Skyrockets’ as Drug Becomes ‘Fashionable’.” Sky News, Sky, 26 Mar. 2019, https://news.sky.com/story/crack-cocaine-use-skyrockets-as-drug-becomes-fashionable-11675257?epik=dj0yJnU9cTRRdFJqS3lveDc1WHl2aGhZWUNPcWZCaWVISHp2aHAmcD0wJm49UExWd0pqNzlvdlVNQXl1S1JLV0V2USZ0PUFBQUFBR05fdl93.