Please read the article "Nixon Invented the Drug War to Decimate Hippies and Black People: Former Adviser Confesses" at the following link:

http://reason.com/blog/2016/03/22/nixon-invented-the-drug-war-to-decimate

and answer the following questions:

1. Remember the critical constuctionist perspective says that it is elites who get to decide what is and is not a social problem. Who is the elite in this article?
2. Why did the elite mentioned make drug usage a social problem?
3. Who was it who exposed the true intention of the elite featured in the article?
4. Declaring a War on Drugs allowed elites to do what?
5. What are some unintended consequences of the War on Drugs mentioned in the article?

• Michael Javen Fortner is the author of Black Silent Majority: The Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment. Please read his article at this link

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/28/opinion/the-real-roots-of-70s-drug-laws.html

and answer the following questions:

1. Why is the idea of a "white supremacist social order" too convenient a narrative?
2. There are social structures and there is individual human agency. Which one is ignored if we don't think about how blacks fought to feel safe in their own neighborhoods?
3. What were the social problems that degraded black neighborhoods in New York in the 1960s that led to black support of the draconian Rockefeller drug laws?
4. What organization did Roy Wilkins lead when he called for stricter policing in black communities?
5. What did Vincent Baker's research say about the use of stop and frisk?
6. What did some black silent majority leaders say we should do to drug dealers and pushers?
7. Black Lives Matter is an important social movement but we shouldn't forget what that continues to happen in some black communities?
8. The sociologist Robert J. Sampson says we must bolster 'social infrastructure' and gives what examples?
9. Civil liberties are extremely important but so is what else?

• Please watch "Michelle Alexander: Locked Out of the American Dream" at the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om2hx6Xm2JE

and answer the following questions:

1. What percentage of incarcerated men are men of color and what percentage of people are incarcerated due to drug charges?
2. What is the 'ban the box' movement and how does it apply to looking for a job?
3. Is it easy to return to regular life after incarceration?
4. Is it fair to be reincarcerated or have one's wages garnished if you cannot afford to pay back the costs of your original incarceration?
5. Does our society truly support "second chances?"
6. According to Dr. Alexander, who led the 'law and Order' movement?
7. We ended what social problem war as we began which new one?
8. What type of construction has boomed in the US?
9. Judges used to have power in sentencing but mandatory minimums give power to whom?
10. Why is it important to point out the US has higher rates of incarceration than even China, Russia, and Iran?
11. Who are hurt most by mandatory minimums?
12. What was the 'Southern Strategy?'
13. What were some concerns of the white working class that has led to mass incarceration?
14. What is ironic about mass deportation?
15. What is ironic about the War on Drugs under President Clinton?