Crack And Black History

[chocolatekss]

Ya'll....I just had the most enlightening and interesting day at work today.

We were all chillin on our morning break eating breakfast and somehow the discussion of crack (the drug) came up. An Asian mut ( I call him that because he's filipino/japanese/brazilian) a black woman and I were ingaged in a conversation which somehow ended up on crack. It went like this...

Me: Crack Really hit the scene in the early 80's..

Asian guy: Are you sure??

Me: Yea, it might have been around prior to, but really blew up then.

Asian guy: Are you sure? I remember the movie Dead Presidents and Chris Tucker was hooked on it (I&#39;m not too sure about that part <_< )

Other woman: Yea it really was popular back then

Asian guy: Sure?? I took a black history class, so don&#39;t try to fool me

:shocker:

Whuuutt....Am I overracting??

This is the same dude who enjoys the same type of consious hip hop as I do,the same dude who has fam(of the caribbean persuasion) working in the same establishment...

I tell ya when those who aren&#39;t of African decent get comfortable around us, their true colours start to show...Unfortunately he isn&#39;t the only co-worker who drops such subtle yet offensive comments like that at work...Our weekend staff is prodominantly of Caribbean descent and no one else seems to be as offended as I am....Am I the only one experiencing this or am I really over-reacting??

[sonce]

Originally posted by chocolatekss@Feb 19 2005, 09:29 PM
Ya&#39;ll....I just had the most enlightening and interesting day at work today.

We were all chillin on our morning break eating breakfast and somehow the discussion of crack (the drug) came up. An Asian mut ( I call him that because he&#39;s filipino/japanese/brazilian) a black woman and I were ingaged in a conversation which somehow ended up on crack. It went like this...

Me: Crack Really hit the scene in the early 80&#39;s..

Asian guy: Are you sure??

Me: Yea, it might have been around prior to, but really blew up then.

Asian guy: Are you sure? I remember the movie Dead Presidents and Chris Tucker was hooked on it (I&#39;m not too sure about that part <_< )

Other woman: Yea it really was popular back then

Asian guy: Sure?? I took a black history class, so don&#39;t try to fool me

:shocker:

Whuuutt....Am I overracting??

This is the same dude who enjoys the same type of consious hip hop as I do,the same dude who has fam(of the caribbean persuasion) working in the same establishment...

I tell ya when those who aren&#39;t of African decent get comfortable around us, their true colours start to show...Unfortunately he isn&#39;t the only co-worker who drops such subtle yet offensive comments like that at work...Our weekend staff is prodominantly of Caribbean descent and no one else seems to be as offended as I am....Am I the only one experiencing this or am I really over-reacting??

725309


I don&#39;t understand what he was insinuating. Is he trying to imply that the black community still has problems with crack nowadays? or is he saying that they had problems with it before the 80s?

And how is either comment offensive? (like was he suggesting that only black people do crack? or that the majority do crack? or that crack is part of our culture?)

Did you just find the association of black people with crack offensive or what was it that was offensive?

[bajanempress]

Yeah I am sorry I don&#39;t follow what the conversation was trying to highlight.

[chocolatekss]

From what I understood 1.he felt like he was an "expert" on black history because he took a course on it..

2. That crack would be brought up in such a course (Maybe I missed the boat on that one). I just think its absurd that crack be linked to the african american/caribbean community, and how is that a part of our history??

I&#39;m sure he wouldnt have said the same thing had we been talking about meth and "white" history( that looks odd)...

Or like I said, perhaps I&#39;m over-reacting.... :dunno:

[librarising]

2. That crack would be brought up in such a course (Maybe I missed the boat on that one). I just think its absurd that crack be linked to the african american/caribbean community, and how is that a part of our history??

Not defending him or anything, but I think it would be interesting to see how that affected African American history. We say it all the time (in the privacy of our own of course :ph34r:) that we had just undergone a revolution, we were all about Black Power and enlightenment, the Afro was in, segregation had legally ended...and then around &#39;78-&#39;80 something strange happened. And that something was followed by the jheri curl, and other things that put the Black Power movement into a tailspin. Even former leaders like Huey Newton succumed to it. Now, I think that that could make for an interesting academic study, including the theory that it was introduced by the government into our communities. Even though I wasn&#39;t alive back then, I have wondered what we would have been like as a people without the intervention of crack. Did it slow us down as a majority or negate any of the benefits of the Civil Rights Movement? It isn&#39;t as if drugs haven&#39;t been studied in the history of other races (i.e. the Opium trade). And maybe the spread of certain drug uses could be discussed as well, such as why crack was always seen as a black drug and something like meth as a white drug. Why is are sentences for crack posession greater than sentences for cocaine posession :rolleyes: ? Those are in-depth academic discussion topics.

[vinny_46]

Originally posted by chocolatekss@Feb 19 2005, 01:29 PM

An Asian mut ( I call him that because he&#39;s filipino/japanese/brazilian)

725309


:bolt:

[librarising]

Originally posted by vinny_46@Feb 19 2005, 05:37 PM
:bolt:

725363


Really. I didn&#39;t see that. You may want to check some of the things you say while you&#39;re at it.

[TrickieTam]

Originally posted by librarising@Feb 19 2005, 04:39 PM
Really. I didn&#39;t see that. You may want to check some of the things you say while you&#39;re at it.

725365



I agree completely!! :o

[AfrikaIzin_My_Hair]

I remember watching something on the history channel last year during black history month, and for some reason they were talking about black people and crack/cocaine, and how whites were the first to abuse it, and once it became considered a real drug, they blamed blacks for abusing it. That&#39;s the closest I&#39;ve ever came towards learning about black people and crack.

[AfroStarDust]

In &#39;Dead Presidents&#39;, Chris Tucker&#39;s character was addicted to heroine.

And as for that "Asian mut" comment - well THAT WAS JUST IGNORANT!

And also just for the record the word "mut" is spelled M-U-T-T! :rolleyes:

[watercolorz]

Freebase hit in the mid 70’s sometime between 74-76. Some believe that Vietnam vets brought the practice of smoking heroine and cocaine home with them from overseas. So if he had taken a contemporary African-American history class, he would have taken a section on how the ‘Nam vets influenced the drug culture of the 80’s in the black community.

Sidenote: A parallel was probably made between the WWI heroin addicts-opium was used for pain and a great many boys came back strung out through the nose.

Just an FYI it doesn’t sound like he was trying to be offensive. ~W

[ScoobyGurl]

Originally posted by watercolorz@Feb 20 2005, 12:27 AM
Freebase hit in the mid 70’s sometime between 74-76. Some believe that Vietnam vets brought the practice of smoking heroine and cocaine home with them from overseas. So if he had taken a contemporary African-American history class, he would have taken a section on how the ‘Nam vets influenced the drug culture of the 80’s in the black community.

Sidenote: A parallel was probably made between the WWI heroin addicts-opium was used for pain and a great many boys came back strung out through the nose.

Just an FYI it doesn’t sound like he was trying to be offensive. ~W

725836


Yeah, I was wondering how freebasing is different from smoking crack or if they&#39;re really the same thing. That always confused me :dunno: . I also don&#39;t think that he was trying to be offensive although I found the OP calling the Asian a Mutt very offensive.

[ScoobyGurl]

Originally posted by AfroStarDust@Feb 19 2005, 11:19 PM
In &#39;Dead Presidents&#39;, Chris Tucker&#39;s character was addicted to heroine.

725751


exactly.

[chocolatekss]

Well as for the mutt( thanx for the correction) thing, we joke about it all the time, he even calls himself that, because he really is thoroughly mixed...and he boasts about it all the time, so I dont see anything ignorant about it..

I guess I&#39;m the only one who saw it as offensive. I guess there is a difference in how racism comes across in Canada and the U.S..I get the distinct feeling that it&#39;s more out in the open in the U.S...If a certain individual doesn&#39;t like a certain race, it will not be in your face, but you will definitely feel it.
In Canada, people tend to keep things behind closed doors and drop very subtle hints from time to time, as my co-workers sometimes do (i.e. jamaicans smoke weed all day and are barbarians etc). It&#39;s just that all my co-workers are so comfortable with eachother, sometimes they don&#39;t pick up on these comments..Anywho thanx for the replies..

[nebula2001]

Originally posted by chocolatekss@Feb 21 2005, 02:03 PM
Well as for the mutt( thanx for the correction) thing, we joke about it all the time, he even calls himself that, because he really is thoroughly mixed...and he boasts about it all the time, so I dont see anything ignorant about it..

I guess I&#39;m the only one who saw it as offensive. I guess there is a difference in how racism comes across in Canada and the U.S..I get the distinct feeling that it&#39;s more out in the open in the U.S...If a certain individual doesn&#39;t like a certain race, it will not be in your face, but you will definitely feel it.
In Canada, people tend to keep things behind closed doors and drop very subtle hints from time to time, as my co-workers sometimes do (i.e. jamaicans smoke weed all day and are barbarians etc). It&#39;s just that all my co-workers are so comfortable with eachother, sometimes they don&#39;t pick up on these comments..Anywho thanx for the replies..

727541


Um. Ok, your Co-worker might joke about it with you but you have to remember that this is a public forum...everyone isn&#39;t &#39;In&#39; on the &#39;joke&#39; so it is still offensive. And the Jamaican comment was just inappropriate. I&#39;m Jamaican and I&#39;m insulted. Your co-workers and you might be comfortable with these remarks and comments but in a public forum be mindful that the majority of the people on here don&#39;t know u personally nor do they have that kind of tolerant relationship with you. And I do think that the comment (Both comments!) were ignorant and insensitive.

[ScoobyGurl]

Just wondering if someone can answer my question about freebasing and crack. I know it&#39;s off topic but I will be eternally grateful for a response. :)

[librarising]

It&#39;s pretty much the same thing, just one is the PC term. "Smoking crack" literally refers to freebasing rock cocaine, but freebasing in general is smoking any drug using that method (for example, you can freebase heroin using those glass tube things).