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Vital City | The Drug War: Race and Reality

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At the signing of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, President Ronald Reagan applauded the “real champions” that successfully shepherded the legislation through the House and Senate in a bipartisan effort, including New York’s Charles Rangel. Among many things, the drug control measure instituted the infamous 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between federal penalties for offenses relating to crack and powder cocaine, disproportionately affecting Black drug offenders. Why would a Black Democratic politician representing Harlem — the acclaimed Black cultural capital — stand with a conservative president known for racist dog whistles as he launched a new offensive in the nation’s war on drugs? The answer is dispiriting, if understandable, and tells us much about the racial origins of the war and its consequences in New York City. When Rangel decided to challenge the legendary Adam Clayton Powell for his seat in Congress in 1971, the Harlem that he sought to represent was no longer defined by

What Charlie Rangel’s rise tells us about Black New York and substance abuse Rangel believed that 'everything' that a representative from Harlem might focus on, including housing, education and health, had been 'corrupted either physically or morally by the drug addiction problem.' At the signing of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, President Ronald Reagan applauded the "real champions" that successfully shepherded the legislation through the House and Senate in a bipartisan effort, including New York's Charles Rangel. Among many things , the drug control measure instituted the infamous 100-to-

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