We Remember Ronald Reagan, the Father of Crack and a Supporter of Apartheid
by Davey D
So yesterday Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger strolled into Simi Valley and with the stroke of a pen he made February 6th Ronald Reagan Day. He also vetoed a bill that would allow Farm Workers to be paid overtime. I found it interesting but not all that surprising that we would have that sort of coupling. After all, we’re honoring a man who was all about exploitation and sadly that trait was underscored with a veto. But let’s not digress..
Governor Schwarzenegger said we need to use Feb 6th as a day to teach school kids about the great accomplishments of Ronald Wilson Reagan. He said we need to teach the kids about this man’s legacy.I guess he feels kids should grow up to be like Reagan. I had to laugh because there’s so much to say and its hard to know where to begin.
Should we start by reminding the kids how Reagan ignored the AIDs epidemic that sprung up during his two terms? I contrast Reagan’s ignoring of HIV and AIDs when people suffering from the then unknown disease were begging for help with how we went all out for the Swine Flu. Ronnie was out to lunch on that crises.
Maybe I should teach the kids about how he insisted that ketchup and relish were vegetables as he aggressively fought to push inner city school lunch programs to cut cooked and fresh vegetables from their menus.
I could always teach the kids about Reagan’s trickle down economic theory where he fought to allow rich corporations and businesses to cut taxes which would allow them to create new jobs thus benefitting the masses. I guess I should also teach the kids how many of those rich folks who got those tax breaks promptly took their American jobs overseas where they continued to enjoy tax breaks while our economy was turned upside down..
I’ll be sure to teach the kids how Reagan opposed the Equal Rights Amendment even though women at that time and even today still make less than men.
We could also talk about how he was vehemently opposed to the Black Panthers and pushed for the Mulford Act which was specifically designed to target and disarm them
The Father of Crack
I guess because so many kids are enamored with rap star Rick Ross, perhaps I could use his popularity as a teachable moment. I could start by letting kids know that Ross the rapper from Miami derived his name from Freeway Rick the drug dealer out of Los Angeles.
Freeway Rick who has been touring the country lecturing against the harmful impact of drugs is erroneously called the Father of Crack. His South Central operations is legendary as he’s reported to have moved up to 3 million dollars worth of product a week, but that’s only part of the story. Freeway Rick was not the Father but the proverbial God son.. The real Father of Crack was Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. The man we came to affectionately call the ‘Great Communicator‘.
You see Freeway Rick was allowed to flourish because our government at the time had some dirty war business they wanted to conduct and found it difficult to circumvent the law and limits set up by Congress. Freeway Rick was able to lavish the hood with tons of crack cocaine because of little scheme we came to know as the Iran Contra Scandal . It was the biggest scandal this country had ever known. Even bigger than Richard Nixon’s Watergate.
To sum it up what you had was in the early 80s, the US was beefing with Iran and the US was beefing with left leaning factions in Nicaragua called the Sandinistas. Reagan and his boys wanted to knock off the Sandinistas because they didn’t like their politics and the populus movement they represented. Latin America was on the rise and overthrowing dictators who were backed by the US. Reagan wanted to overthrow the Sandinistas by arming a bunch of CIA backed rebels called the Contras. Since we’re supposed to be Freedom Loving country we couldn’t do our bidding publicly, and as I noted Congress wasnt with the program, so Reagan’s senior advisors launched a secret war.
What they did was covertly sell arms to Iran and take the money and use it to fund Contra operations in Nicaragua. Additional money was netted for the Contras through the sale of crack cocaine which suddenly overnight gained huge popularity in hoods throughout the country. Freeway Rick and South Central, LA was ground zero.
LAs notorious gangs became the main traffickers who spread all out the country with Freeway Rick being the kingpen. Some of this is out lined in Ice Cube’s song ‘Summer Vacation‘.
Freeway Rick’s connection to all the cocaine was a notorious drug supplier named Oscar Danilo Blandón who worked with the CIA and was a key link to the Contras. This is where the whole CIA-Crack connection story emerged . They were outlined in the explosive 1996 San Jose Mercury expose and book called Dark Alliances written by the late Gary Webb.
Oliver North
When all was said and done damn near all of Reagan’s senior advisors were convicted, like National Security Council member Oliver North who played a central role and was later pardoned. Reagan the Great Communicator was protected with folks saying he had no idea all this was happening on his watch. The exact term used was Reagan was ‘disengaged’
Supporter of Apartheid
Thats an interesting term because it’s in opposition to what Ronald Reagan prided himself on. Here was a guy who supported South Africa’s Apartheid Regime. He aggressively opposed Nelson Mandela who was in jail as a political prisoner during Reagan’s presidency. Reagan called Mandela and his and the African National Congress a ‘terrorist organization‘.
During the early 80s, worldwide resistance to South Africa emerged including a call from the UN to have an embargo. Recording artists all over the world launched a boycott to Sun City which was a popular resort in South Africa where some of the Apartheid laws were relaxed.
Ronald Reagan Opposed Nelson Mandela. He saw him and the Adfrican national Congress as Terrorists
Ronald Reagan along with Israel and Great Britain opposed all of it. Reagan said he supported South Africa because they stood alongside us during all our wars.. He said the best way to get rid of Apartheid was not through embargos but through this term he coined called ‘Constructive engagement‘. When he first used it left everyone stunned and asking WTF? There was nothing to engage. People were calling for an end to the brutal Apartheid regime and Reagan was opposing it. It was so bad that after he vetoed sanctions, Congress did a rare thing and over rode his veto. This man who supposedly loved freedom was on the wrong side of history when it came to making sure it was a reality for Black South Africans. It’s no wonder Nelson Mandela didn’t attend his funeral in 2004.
We can go on and on when talking about Ronald Reagan. He was a hero for those who yearned for the days when many people in marginalized communities were behind the 8 ball not in front of it. Yes when February 6th rolls around.. I will say Happy Ronald Reagan Day and commence to undo the revisionist history the power elite in this country have spent years constructing. I’ll leave with two musical heros who went in hard on Reagan back in the days. Gil Scott Heron with the song B-Movie and Melle-Mel with his song Jesse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56ipWM3DWe4
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/54175/
Click HERE to peep song..
Ronald Reagan wasn’t the father of crack anymore than he was the father of aids. He was just some figure head that draped his image and words over situations he had no control over, and did it in a manner that pleased his constituency …. like all people in the media.
Including you.
Iran contra was Reagan.. Drug sales was used to help carry out that illegal war.. It was on his watch.. His people, many who got indicted.. Sorry my friend you can attempt to defend this all you want.. but the label is clear and accurate.. the Great Communicator was the Great Drug Dealer..And yes, you’re correct he was a figurehead.. What does a figurehead do? He absorbs the the success and failures of what they represent.. You cant have it both ways.. If things were great under Reagan and we give him credit for those things.. We name libraries and airports after him for those successes.. then we also must lay blame on him.. Crack happned on his watch and with the help of shady people he had on his payroll..He’s the father of crack..
This was awesome, thanks for the links, otherwise his fanatics might never be forced to realize he was a fucker to the Nth degree.
Yopur welcome Evin Maria.. yes people have hardtime believing that he was Bush before Bush came along.. a nice smiling devil of a man..
I think Reagan is a joke , but my point is still more clear and concise than your misleading sensationalist article title.
The crack trade is still going on…would you agree that Obama is the “perpetrator” of the crack trade? Would you write a sensationalist article titled:
“Obama – Perpetuator of the Crack Trade!”
Of course not, it’s obvious he is just one person and those things aren’t in his control…so why would you believe any less about Reagan or Bush or anyone else in those presidential “roles”.
I think people who have progressive or dissident views have a tendency to believe these individuals have more power than they actually do, I know because I use to be like that….until I grew up.
I’m not debating the rest of the actual content of the article…just the misleading “bait the audience” title.
I guess Bush and Obama are the fathers of herion since 90 some odd percent comes from Afghanistan and we STILL have US troops guarding the opium field 24/7?!?
All this crap is a joke and we are all pawns!
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/21-afghan-opiate-use-has-doubled-in-5+years-sk-06
http://towkg.blogspot.com/2010/06/opium-fields-guarded-by-us-troops.html
Great history re: father of crack [aka war on drugs], and HIV [not]. Don’t forget that John Poindexter, Elliot Abrams, John Bolton, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were around the WH in those days, and were involved in the Iran/Contra adventures. Present day fiscal troubles owe their ramping up during Reagan’s reign. One of the worst aspects of Reagan and co. was their persecution of artists and assault on the NEA, leading to increased commodification of art. You are so right about what we need to do on future Feb 6.
Have you seen Michael Moore’s film “Capitalism: A Love Story”? Reagan may as well have been a mannequin in comparison to who was really in charge. As far as him being honored with a day, you say that like you don’t realize we already have slaveowners with holidays and photos on dollar bills. It’s the American way. You can give all the examples in the world and then walk into any store and pull out your wallet. Everyday we’re reminded who the “leaders” are. I agree with you, but I’m just not surprised.
Yeah, just a case of another hypocrite gets a holiday. Welcome to Hollywood, er America.
I always wonder though… Do the people that are staunch supporters of this sort of praise actually, truly believe that these people are so great and without enough fault to discredit something like a holiday? Or are they just into the dirty political game that deep?
Yes, Reagan was the father of crack and every prez after him was the perpetuator of the crack trade. Including Obama. It is what it is. If this government truly did all it could to stop cocaine from entering this country and crack being manufactured and sold, the economy would fall even further into hell than it is now. And the state of Florida would straight up disappear! Its one big game with two rule books. Which one are YOU playing from??
Yes, Reagan was the father of crack and every prez after him was the perpetuator of the crack trade. Including Obama. It is what it is. If this government truly did all it could to stop cocaine from entering this country and crack being manufactured and sold, the economy would fall even further into hell than it is now. And the state of Florida would straight up disappear! Its one big game. with two rule books. Which one are YOU playing from??
xlerple, on July 29, 2010 at 5:42 pm Said:
why would you believe any less about Reagan or Bush or anyone else in those presidential “roles”.
………………….
Because Reagan was president when the crack trade first became widespread in America.
I think people who have conservative or complacent views have a tendency to believe these individuals have less power than they actually do, I know because I use to be like that….until I grew up.
Dave is a middle aged gay man living in the closet and trying to remain relevant in today’s world. He hasn’t earned an honest dollar in his life. Play the victim, race card forever and you fools eat it up. It will hold you down forever.
First of all, inventing freebase cocaine would have initially required an intense knowledge of chemistry, and insatiable desire to experiment, a strong foundation in the “hard sciences” and an intense Machiavellian drive that was so powerful one would have had to risk paralysis and possibly death to insure the results were worth disseminating to others.
This means the true inventor(s) were not only smart, but intense thrill seekers.
I think it’s disrespectful to even insinuate this yokal cowboy dementia victim had an ounce of the intellectual capacity to participate in such an intense activity. It would be more likely to suggest that Jimmy Carter was the father of crack since he at least has noted graduate work in the field of nuclear physics. Additionally, his presidential candidacy predated Reagan by four years which also accounts for the inherent delay between cultivation and public recognition.
So take that motherfucker!
Dude, he didn’t invent crack. He passed the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which gave 100,000’s of my “illegal” people amnesty here in the States. Ronald Reagan is guilty of some serious evil but the whole “father of crack” charge smells like paranoid 911 truther type hyperbole.
It does make for a nice headline though.
Uh, like, dude, totally, nobody said Reagan invented crack, just that he’s the “godfather” of it. He is. And speaking of gay, everyone knows about Reagan and Rock Hudson. Deny it all you want. Reagan had a few dudes on the low that ran up in him. His son’s going to write about it in his next book.
All these BS replies and my post get censored?!? Wow! Be that as it may, it still does not negate the fact that Bush and Obama were/are allowing heroin to be shipped from the world’s largest supplier 24/7. I still got love for you brother!
Peace!?!
Goldie what post got censored??
It might be of value to you to know the facts of which you not only write, but blame others for: the AIDS/HIV strain was first actually seen in three African countries in the l970’s….it began to present in California and New York with illnesses that were rare and/or usually curable with antibiotics. It was not until the mid 80’s that France recognized that two types of illnesses actually had the same virus, but, as all things medical, there was no history to rely on and so years went by and many deaths before HIV/AIDS was finally recognized and named. The facts are better known today, but many, many questions still remain.
As to “crack”….drug users went from drug to another as they were dreamed up by them or became creative with the drugs they were taking: case in point, cocaine, the drug of choice and popularity in the l980″s was turned into crack to better get the results of the drug. You can’t blame anyone but the drug dealers and users who choose to use whatever is affordable and give the “highest” high.
Having lived through Carter and his 21% interest on mortgages; the blocks long lines for gasoline….were you there and experienced the “even” and “odd” days used by the government to allot fairly what gasoline was available? It helps in many areas to learn from people that were actually alive and would give a fair, unbiased and just reportage of subjects that today are so twisted it is impossible to believe them.
As to racism, Little David, I experienced it in California from both blacks and hispanic because i was Caucasian and today as in the last forty years, it has never stopped, just gotten uglier and worse. I lived it and am living racism of the worst sort from African-Americans and Hispanics. The fact that I am a Hispanic makes no difference…go figure!
Hey Sue… Yawn.. stop defending the father of crack and defender of Apartheid..we don’t have holidays for Jimmy Carter.. we a have day honoring the architect of Iran-Contra-Crack dealing Ronald Reagan..
2 Points:
1. All presidents are the dictators of the executive branch. They control the military, the covert operations of all 16 secret agencies, the budgets, the appointments, the missions, the risks and the PR campaigns. For example, if a naval ship runs aground when the captain is sleeping, it matters NOT who was in charge at the time nor whose fault it was specifically. The captain is fully responsible and will suffer the consequences of being dismissed. The same is true of any president. All wars on his watch, whether inherited or not, are HIS responsibility. If he disagrees with the rationale of the former Commander in Chief, he then must have the courage to immediately implement his own policies, despite what his “advisers” have to say. That’s why they carry the name “advisers.” They have no decision-making power, only advisory. And no president has to listen to his advisers.
2. Reagan was indeed responsible for MANY covert operations, drug dealing operations and arms sales operations. But at the SAME time, the people have two houses of Congress in which we elect our leaders to COUNTER the executive branch and BALANCE the power structure. We cnanot blame the president without ALSO blaming the cowards in Congress who idly stand by and watch the president do whatever he wants while ALSO dismissing the cries of the public who scream for Congress to pay attention to the crap that goes on behind closed doors.
If Congress could create a problem for Reagan to such a degree that he had to use covert operations to get around the “rule of law” instituted by Congress, then those same members of Congress could ALSO ensure they watch for the PREDICTABLE covert ops conducted by the executive branch. Those SAME mebers of Congress could ALSO LISTEN to the people when they cry foul, instead of calling them kooks and conspiracy theorists.
With Congress exercising the will of the people, presidents cannot do the things they do that run counter to the will of the people. In order for Reagan to have achieved ANY of the notorious engagements in which he involved this country, Congress MUST be involved to some degree.
No one can act alone in our government. Even Obama. If the problem exists, and the executive branch is involved, the president is at fault … as is Congress.
So if the American people do not make Congress pay, we will wait 4 years to replace a president who couldn’t have disappointed the American people without a significant amount of help from Congress.
Thus, the people, who continue to elect 90 percent of Congress over and over … are the real problem.
I agree Congress takes blame for being cowards.. and in some instances they overrode Reagan.. like with sanctions of SA.. but if u recall Congress was not abreast of an illegal operation.. Iran Contra.. thats why folks were convicted and later pardoned by the next knucklehead who got in office GH Bush..
Good point Davey. Congress did take steps in the direction of investigating the illegal ops and pushing for convictions. But the reality is that all of that was a performance. When the gig is up there will always be the “fall guys” and Ollie North was one of several.
My main point is that we can’t have ongoing covert operations, out-of-site activities, undisciplined and unaccountable unlawful acts conducted by those who are authorized to conduct unlawful acts without compliance from the lawmaking body, which is Congress.
To this day, Congress is aware that media are promoting a lie about Afghanistan: It is the longest War in American History. Congress knows this is not true. When the U.S. sent 500,000 troops into the land of Mecca and Medina (Saudi Arabia) in 1990 and subsequently invaded Iraq in 1991, the military NEVER left Iraq. Only our ground troops were mostly removed a few months later. The military continued to bomb Iraq every year from 1991 to this very day. By my count that’s 19 years and four different presidents.
Additionally, the U.S. is engaged in an active war inside Pakistan. Congress never authorized any war with Pakistan. Yet, we are there, killing innocent civilians, destroying lands and water resources and pretending all of our efforts are diplomatic on behalf of the Pakistani peoples. Congress is responsible for checking the executive branch. Media are responsible for informing an ignorant populace. If media fail in doing their job, that’s a problem for the American people. If Congress fails in doing its job, we call America a dictatorship.
The bottom line is that while Congress pretends in order to placate the people, it has failed miserably to protect the people from the dictatorial policies of the executive branch. And that spells collusion.
When we get down to blaming one person, it may satisfy the people in the court of public opinion, but replacing one guy only means switching out one lead puppet for another. Meanwhile, the same show goes on.
Mike thats called the system.. so yes one person don’t stop the show..But within a system are individuals.. and so if the name of the game is to purge and hold accountable, simply saying congress is not sufficient..Who in congress? Where did they obstruct and cut deals? Was it Dellums in 81 or Rangel or some one else who cut shady deals.. Was it really all 450 members? With Reagan we know one person who was key along with all his underlings..
I think everyone should be glad if this moron gets a holiday, it’s really just another big inside joke by people who see it objectively. It’s like the “genius bar” at an Apple store. One big sarcastic inside joke.
Kind of the same way that educated outsiders view HipHop “culture”……
yo..bump dat shit yo!
🙁
I agree, Davey. Within the system are individuals. There are 535 individuals in Congress, which is the legislative branch specifically elected by the people to balance the power of the executive branch. When half (or nearly half) of congressional members walk in lockstep with a political party seeking to control the executive branch, the system of checks and balances is already skewed. Thus, whatever the executive branch does is likely to be supported, or ignored / dismissed (if its ugly) by the supporting members of Congress. The minority political power in Congress is afraid of losing its support if it delves too deeply into matters deemed “national security” because it would appear to be “unpatriotic” and cost individual seats in the House and Senate.
The inherent risks of being seen as unpopular help to mitigate any potential rogue congressional members trying to sound alarms on the unlawful, unethical and immoral activities that Americans routinely accept as part of “the system.”
Sometimes a few congressional members will deviate from the status quo. These members are typically dismissed by the majority of members and ignored by those who hold powerful seats in Congress. These members will never rise to great political power no matter how many times they are re-elected by their local constituencies. Dennis Kucinich is a prime example.
The point I’m making is that the president can be blamed for whatever we want to blame him for. And whatever the executive branch does is certainly the responsibility of the president. However, the executive branch cannot conduct covert wars ad nauseam or the numerous unlawful and immoral activities that often come out many years after their occurrence without the support of Congress as a whole.
That support comes in the form of avid praise or unseemly ignorance. In either case, Congress can show its support by pretending it cannot require knowledge of the executive branch’s secret activities. It can ignore such issues when asked by reporters (if such reporters exist anymore who will ask hard questions) and Congress can bog down inquiries in committees, like it did when a majority voted to impeach President George W. Bush. In that case, it was Civil Rights hero John Conyers who forced the issue to die in committee after a vote of the full House saw a majority in favor of sending the impeachment articles to the House Judiciary Committee. That is the first step toward impeachment. The second is for John Conyers (Chair) to hold hearings and determine whether the articles have merit. Then the third step is to send the articles back to the House floor for a vote. But Conyers held the hearings and then refused to allow the impeachment vote to ever occur. Thus, Bush got a pass because a Black man protected him.
When this sort of quid pro quo occurs between branches of government, we must look past the finger-pointing at one guy and recognize the fact that the only way one guy can get away with anything in this system is because a bunch of guys (and gals) have colluded together.
In the case of Reagan and every president after him, congressional members have been involved in coverups. The same is currently true with Obama.
Unfortunately, the day Obama divorced himself from Reverend Jeremiah Wright, he also divorced himself from the truth. Subsequently, he surrounded himself with former Clintonites and began moving down the trail of “go along to get along.”
There are no trustworthy people in the executive branch. And since Congress is divided into two powers, both of which seek to control the White House, there are few trustworthy folks there as well. The ones that are trustworthy have little or no power, are often ignored by mainstream media, and cannot spend their time trying to unravel the mess that is our government while also trying to serve their constituencies. That is a tough dilemma for honest people who find themselves in the midst of a completely dishonest culture and deceptive system that we affectionately call our government.
The system is made of individuals, as you said. And most of those individuals are corrupt … and sadly that also includes most, if not all, of the Black Congressional Caucus.
This is a great story. Here in dayton,ohio folks
still don;t know what has happen. They seem to have a very memory. All the shooting,dying and death of black people can be traced back to this.
I see is aa nazi type genocide in full effect on black
america.
Interesting points, D!
It isn’t a surprise that Arnie would do something like this, especially with the farm worker veto. As far as Reagan is concerned, he was at times a figurehead, but overall knew what the deal was. Just look at his record during his tenure as CA gov. He’s basically the poster boy for conservatism in the US.
Yes Reagan was a puppet like all puppet presidents of the Evil Global Financial Elite. Except maybe JFK he got assassinated because he wasn’t following orders from the Global Elite. So they publicly bumped him off. Reagan did get a few bullets heading his way by the Global Elite because he wouldn’t have their man George H Bush as vice president initially. The Bush family are much much closer to the Global Elite than a former Hollywood actor. Reagan is Evil like all US Presidents and British Prime Ministers. But don’t delude yourselves thinking Reagan was running the show. If you do your research you will find that man who was really ruling America on behalf of the Global Elite was Vice President George H. Bush! Is it coincidence that he became President in 1988? The Father of Crack is actually much much higher up in the power structure than Ronald Reagan! Reagan was just a puppet. A puppet who played his part well like a well seasoned Hollywood actor. He certainly looked good on television in the 1980s. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you like. However its not a conspiracy theory to me when you do the math and it adds up to the same answer. Leaders are not elected they are selected by the Global Elite.
When we look at the body counts of black people dead,insane,locked up and all the babies aborted because of a massive genocide plan. I just shake my head at any fool black,white or any other race that would look up to devil. A devil in the flesh in the real sense.In this crazy 666 sinsinnati they have the nerve to name some highway off this beast.All these black people still selling and using kkkrack need to read the book by Gary Webb and it might could put a stop to all the black on black violence going in the hood that is drug related.All these so-called tough azz so-called gangbangers are busy hustling muscles while in these slave type prison’s need to be reading some serious book’s to find out the real deal.
Black america need’s a new liberation paradigm real bad.The Black Panther’s and the rest of the Pro-Black 60’s are not coming back. We need a new plan fast,since overall black amercia is on it ‘s on for sure.Steve Cokely was one of the first real brother’s that came to the people about the nwo and how many black people took him serious at first ? Not many,a lot of them are suffering because of not listening,so pay attention.Pass the Ammo !!!
I know I’m a many years late but with the new President Trump on the way and the whole reality show of this year’s debates I have become very involved in trying to learn all about current and past politics. The movie the 13th on Netflix opened my eyes in ways I never knew, which also brought me to rapper killer Mike and his song Reagan. From there the ball of questions and digging for answers keeps rolling. So I stumbled on another gem on Netflix about history of rap. They spend a good time talking about its creation on rap, its influence, the pioneers and the Bronx. At a point the talk about the song The Message. And show a clip of Reagan in the Bronx. I’m like look at this fucking guy lol he walked my streets before I was born. Then it mentions about crack epidemic. Which led me to googling Reagan/Bronx/Crack. And finally brought me to your great informative article. Gotta love the internet lol. You broke down the situation very well for someone like me wasn’t around at the time and not even born until the late 80s. Thanks!