African American Crack Era

The early 1980's was one of the biggest, most infectious crisis that terrorized urban inner-city communities all over America. The American crack epidemic or " Crack Era", as it is known by swept through predominately poor, African American neighborhoods resulting in a number of drug affiliated arrest. The U.S government launched a highly advertised and publicized project they named "War on Drugs", which was originally set in place to prohibit the abuse and selling of illegal drugs in American communities. Since the "War on Drugs" campaign commenced, inner-city communities have been affected by the extreme elevation in arrest rates that has negatively and disproportionately targeted African American men making them only 13% of the U.S population but 37% of the prison population. African American men from poor, inner-city neighborhoods between the ages of 26-41 whom may or may not have committed a drug offended crime are more likely to be arrested, convicted, and are forced to serve longer prison sentences. Institutional racism, poverty, and the unequal punishment among African American's in urban inner-city communities across the country, continues to be an unfortunate contribution to the increasingly higher rate of incarceration of black men in America. …show more content…
Mass incarceration rates existing at such an in-equivalent number in America's urban inner-city continues to raise questions and curiosity about those communities in particular, and their contributions to the unfair criminal justice