When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era

by Donovan X. Ramsey

The 1970s had marked a period of “benign neglect” on behalf of the government, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then a Nixon advisor, put it. Black Americans found themselves further isolated in ghettos as whites fled to the suburbs in response to integration efforts. Deindustrialization and an economic recession also did away with a number of meaningful opportunities for work, causing the Black unemployment rate to double from 7 percent to 14 percent during the decade. As the 1980s approached, it seemed America was a nation unwilling to make social, political, and economic room for its Black citizens. Their backs were against the wall and their neighborhoods were ready to explode. All it would take was a catalyst, and cocaine seemed tailor-made for the moment. The stimulant was associated with pleasure and escape. It flooded the brain with dopamine, leaving users feeling euphoric. It was the ideal drug for a grief-stricken people.