“Then the Feds made distinctions between people who sold powder cocaine and crack cocaine — even though they were the same drug. Only difference is how you take it,” Jay Z says. “And even though white people used and sold crack more than black people, somehow it was black people who went to prison. The media ignored actual data. To this day, crack is still talked about as a black problem.”
“The war on drugs exploded the U.S. prison population, disproportionately locking away black and Latinos,” he continues. “Our prison population grew more than 900 percent. When the war on drugs began in 1971, our prison population was 200,000; today it is over 2
“The war on drugs exploded the U.S. prison population, disproportionately locking away black and Latinos,” he continues. “Our prison population grew more than 900 percent. When the war on drugs began in 1971, our prison population was 200,000; today it is over 2