Big Idea

With the launch of the “War on Drugs,” law enforcement profiling and violence against Black Americans intensified. At the same time, leaders such as Shirley Chisholm demonstrated faith and persistence in calling America to a more perfect union.

What’s important to know?

1. “Antiwar Left and Black People:” The War on Drugs was a made-up conflict aimed at targeting anti-Vietnam War protesters and African Americans.

2. Shirley Chisholm: Shirley Chisholm emerged as a key political figure in New York during a time of racial tension, becoming the first African American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she advocated for human rights for everyone.

1: “Antiwar Left and Black People”

Richard M. Nixon, the Republican presidential candidate from California, manipulated social fears to justify launching a “war on drugs,” which targeted Vietnam war demonstrators and African Americans. Race uprisings in the late 1960s and ongoing demonstrations against the war in Vietnam left many American voters feeling uncertain and afraid of the future. Richard M. Nixon, the Republican presidential candidate from California, played on these fears by inventing a “war on drugs,” which targeted war demonstrators and African Americans. A shrewd politician, Nixon used his war on drugs as part of his campaign even though the identified “problem” – drugs – and the articulated strategy in response were based on questionable data.

In an interview for the book Smoke and mirrors: The war on drugs and the politics of failure (1996), Dan Baum interviewed John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s Domestic Affairs Advisor and White House Counsel. During the interview, Ehrlichman revealed the true motivations behind Nixon’s war on drugs strategy: 

The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did (as cited in Baum, 2016, Par. 2).

Legal scholars andre cummings and Stephen Ramirez (2022) wrote of the war on drugs: “the War on Drugs originated with animus against people of color: specifically, with the intent to demonize people of color and to propagate fear within the entire American body politic while assuring disproportionate punishment towards communities of color” (p. 455). Scholar Anne Foster (2023) further argues that “the United States has pursued a War on Drugs approach for more than 100 years” (p. 2).

While racial profiling in America was not new, America’s relationship between race, drugs, and the justice system would never be the same once Nixon took office (Baum, 2016). The impact of the racist approach to drug laws on African Americans has been devastating.

Since 1968, entire Black neighborhoods have been devastated by the racist drug policies which, essentially, have left households devoid of fathers, uncles, brothers, and sons (Coates, 2015). Much like the dissolution of family that occurred under slavery, the incarceration of Black men continued to keep African American families separated.

Students

Want to learn more? Watch the following video about the war on drugs and its impact on the African American community.

2: Shirley Chisholm

Despite law enforcement profiling Black men and politicians underfunding Black communities, Black individuals persevered, asserting their dignity and rights while striving for a more perfect union. Shirley Chisholm represents that tenacity and dignity.

Chisholm spent her early working years in early childhood education and social welfare organizing — she quickly became a leader in both. She entered politics in 1953 when she helped elect the first Black judge in Brooklyn. She served in her first elected position in the New York Assembly from 1965-1968. In 1968 she ran for the U.S. House of Representatives and won becoming the first African American woman to serve in Congress.

In 1972 she announced her candidacy for President of the United States. Upon announcing her candidacy she said, “I am not the candidate of Black America, although I am Black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women's movement of this country, although I am a woman and equally proud of that. I am the candidate of the people and my presence before you symbolizes a new era in American political history” (Chisholm, Equality Archive).

Her speech in support the Equal Rights Amendment has been celebrated as one of the great rhetorical addresses in American political history.

In a recent biography published about Chisholm, biographer Anastasia Curwood (2022) wrote of her, “In resurrecting Chisholm’s complex life, I discovered that heroism and humanity can coexist… Chisholm’s genius was her intersectional and principled pragmatism. Her humanity was in her relationships in Brooklyn and on the Hill, especially pedagogical ones with younger colleagues. She taught her skills to a generation of citizens” (Black Perspective). Chisholm represented the hopes, dreams, patience, frustration, and anger drove the African American community to cultivate thriving communities. Despite the intensification of anti-Black policing efforts, she represented the tireless drive to push the United States toward a more perfect expression of our ideals of freedom and democracy (Curwood, 2023).

Students

Want to learn more? Watch the video below on the life of Shirley Chisholm.

Your Turn

At a time when more Black men were being arrested, Brooklyn elected the first African American woman to Congress. What is the significance of Chisholm’s work in Congress and run for the presidency?