100:1 The Crack Legacy investigates the war on crack in the mid-1980s and the devastation left in its wake. Host Christopher Johnson shares the experiences of the men and women who were on the frontlines - narcotics cops, ex- dealers, and artists, community activists - to help explain the rise in incarceration, hyper-aggressive policing, and police shootings of unarmed people of colour that we are experiencing now.
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(100:1 The Crack Legacy & Audible Original, 27 October 2017, 4 hours, audiobook, Audible Original Podcast from @audibleuk)
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I found this podcast fascinating. I'm vaguely familiar with some of the events discussed here but it was good to get the whole story. This podcast shows the vast difference between the black and white communities in America, some of which still exists today. I was shocked to learn that dealing crack cocaine was considered 100 times worse than dealing powder cocaine even though there wasn't much of a difference between them. The show suggests this is because crack cocaine was sold and used by poor, mostly black communities. I found it quite distressing how much disconnect there was between the police and the black communities. This still happens. I've read more than one news article about a white cope killing unarmed black people. This is the most chilling thing about the podcast. It was a real eye-opened listening to a judge who was forced to hand down harsh, unfair sentences or risk losing her job. The podcast discusses one high court judge who was so against it he resigned. It's clear there was an issue with crack cocaine in the 80's but the way the law dealt with it was completely wrong.
