Those residing in ghetto communities were particularly ill equipped to adapt to the seismic changes taking place in the U.S. economy; they were left isolated and jobless. One study indicates that as late as 1970, more than 70 percent of all blacks working in metropolitan areas held blue-collar jobs.79 Yet by 1987, when the drug war hit high gear, the industrial employment of black men had plummeted to 28 percent.
