By the Reagan era in the 1980s, racially neutral rhetoric was perfected to the point that politicians could have deniability while advocating for policies that were obviously targeting African Americans. Reagan routinely condemned “welfare queens”, otherwise known as black mothers, who allegedly lived in luxury while hardworking white workers lived sub-par lives. While there was little legitimacy in his claims, his words were enough to provoke working class whites to feel resentment toward the African Americans and to create the need for whites to once again fight to ensure that they remained above blacks in class and status. This effort to maintain white power then manifested in Reagan’s War on Drugs that began in 1982. Although promoted as
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Rather than increase funding for drug prevention, Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which could prevent those who were involved in drug related crimes from obtaining housing and receiving many forms of federal aid (Alexander 53). Policies continued to “get tough” on drugs and crime and as a result, prisons began to explode in populations that were unfortunately disproportionately black. African Americans not only suffered loss of their already inferior status as more and more members of their community were labeled as lazy criminals, but they also suffered as a class as housing and federal aid options became more limited for those with criminal …show more content…
The move toward stricter crime policies has created a huge financial burden for the country, with National Defense correction budgets climbing to about $70 billion in 2010 (Gottschalk 66). At the same time, programs that could decrease the immense budget demands by lowering recidivism have been cut in order to allocate more money to correctional programs. On an individual level, prisons have cut service programs that decrease recidivism through education, substance abuse counseling, and vocational programs (Gottschalk 67). On a national level, governments face pressure to keep up with law enforcement and correctional budgets that seem to be doing little to fix mass incarceration. Thus, the issue is perpetuated as U.S. citizens fund the growing incarcerated population through taxes, while the government attempts to reduce financial burdens by cutting funding for the programs that could help decrease
Rather than increase funding for drug prevention, Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which could prevent those who were involved in drug related crimes from obtaining housing and receiving many forms of federal aid (Alexander 53). Policies continued to “get tough” on drugs and crime and as a result, prisons began to explode in populations that were unfortunately disproportionately black. African Americans not only suffered loss of their already inferior status as more and more members of their community were labeled as lazy criminals, but they also suffered as a class as housing and federal aid options became more limited for those with criminal …show more content…
The move toward stricter crime policies has created a huge financial burden for the country, with National Defense correction budgets climbing to about $70 billion in 2010 (Gottschalk 66). At the same time, programs that could decrease the immense budget demands by lowering recidivism have been cut in order to allocate more money to correctional programs. On an individual level, prisons have cut service programs that decrease recidivism through education, substance abuse counseling, and vocational programs (Gottschalk 67). On a national level, governments face pressure to keep up with law enforcement and correctional budgets that seem to be doing little to fix mass incarceration. Thus, the issue is perpetuated as U.S. citizens fund the growing incarcerated population through taxes, while the government attempts to reduce financial burdens by cutting funding for the programs that could help decrease