Black Men in America, and The Devastating Effects of the "War on Drugs"

STORY BY: Cheyenne Morgan
YEAR: 1986
LOCATION: Freeport, IL

Cheyenne is an American from Freeport, IL. She shares her difficult experience with the "War on Drugs", which began ravaging marginalized communities in the late 1970s and all through the 1980s. Her father would sit down the other men in her family - her young cousins, mostly - and would try to explain what life was like before the War on Drugs. They didn't get it. "We don't have mechanics in our family anymore", says Cheyenne, "we don't have businessmen, we don't have lawyers, we don't have teachers". Most of the men in her family are involved in drugs, because it's all that life expected from them. And those who chose a different route are still thought of as "something else". From the moment they enter elementary school, they're not even allowed to think of themselves as a "person". According to Cheyenne, before the War on Drugs, the situation of the black man in America was far better - wealth, status, ideals - and now, "it's something horrible that they can't get out of". Thanks for sharing, Cheyenne.