Review by Mr-Fusion

An unflinching study of the '80s inner-city crack epidemic; how a government could manufacture a drug crisis, ignore those suffering and then lock up the addicts when crime skyrocketed. Basically the same response to the AIDS epidemic with the added secret sauce of authoritarianism.

As infuriating as this story is, I loved hearing from these people, and it reframed the problem from a sociological perspective. These communities didn't ask for substance abuse, and they sure as hell didn't deserve punitive measures. Corruption blazed through police departments while medical personnel sold out their patients to law enforcement. Black women were uniquely targeted here, vilified in popular culture and subjected to harsher punishment. Households were destroyed and neighborhoods decimated. Reagan's indifference gave way to Biden's crime bill, and prisons were summarily filled so that white people could sleep easier. It was systemic failure all the way down.

Just like "LA92", I knew this was going to be good and that I'd probably be pissed, it's just the extent that surprised me. It's a sucker-punch but for all of the right reasons, and I'd recommend this in a heartbeat; it's comprehensive, insightful and brutally honest.