Ready Rock

March 6, 2015 1:32 AM

How did we get from the glorious battles of the Civil Rights Movement to the devastation of the crack plague? From the police crackdown on the marchers on the Selma bridge to the police killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner? From the nonviolence movement of courageous civil rights activists to the gang violence that has made homicide the number one cause of death for young black men? And finally from the impassioned eloquence of Dr. King’s “I have a dream” to the drug kingpin’s “I have a life sentence?” The War on Drugs.

Marc Levin writes about Freeway Rick Ross’s connection to Selma and a generation of prisoners.
posted by mannequito (9 comments total)

I'd certainly heard about the CIA cocaine connection before, but didn't know there was this one guy at the center of it.

I shall have to set my DVR and watch both parts of the documentary. Quite fascinating. Thanks for posting!
posted by hippybear at 1:45 AM on March 6, 2015

The real 'one guy at the center of it' was another Californian with the same initials.
 
posted by Herodios at 3:47 AM on March 6, 2015 [13 favorites]

Land of the free, home of the brave.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:50 AM on March 6, 2015

I'd also recommend the documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America. Pretty powerful and a good compliment to this subject.
posted by CincyBlues at 7:23 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'd also recommend the documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America. Pretty powerful and a good compliment to this subject.

This is a great documentary. One starling point made was that more people have died from the civil war between street gangs than were killed in the conflict in North Ireland. The Clinton administration directly intervened to bring the warring parties in North Ireland together to broker a peace deal. It is inconceivable that a sitting President would take the same level of interest in brokering peace in this more profound and violent conflict happening in our own country.
posted by vorpal bunny at 8:16 AM on March 6, 2015

It is inconceivable that a sitting President would take the same level of interest in brokering peace in this more profound and violent conflict happening in our own country.
posted by vorpal bunny

Completely agree with you. And as a thought experiment, imagine the level-10 shitfit that various news outlets would have if any president - but especially the current one - did work up the inclination to try an initiative like that.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 8:19 AM on March 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

There is too much gang violence, no doubt, but the Northern Ireland comparison seems a little unfair considering NYC alone has five times Northern Ireland's population. It's kind of like saying "more people are murdered in Minneapolis each month than were killed by the Manson family!"
posted by mellow seas at 8:30 AM on March 6, 2015

Ok, well, the math on that doesn't work out exactly but I think the point stands.
posted by mellow seas at 8:32 AM on March 6, 2015

Go to it Rick Ross, but "they" really don't like it when you sharpen what they consider to be, "their" tools.
posted by Oyéah at 8:48 AM on March 6, 2015