Nafari Vanaski, wrote for Gateway newspapers 18 August 2011,
NAACP calling for truce in nation’s drug war
If you grew up at the same time that I did, you’ll remember the “Just
Say No” anti-drug campaign that became popular in the mid-1980s and
early 1990s.
It manifested itself in many ways, from the posters and talks in class
to the “very special episodes” of shows such as “Blossom” and “The
Facts of Life,” where a character encounters a kid from the wrong side
of the tracks who is pressuring him or her to try drugs. Inevitably,
good prevailed and the druggie turned out to be from a broken family
and needed only a good face-to-face with Nancy Reagan, the driving
force behind the campaign, to overcome his addiction. (She appeared on
“Diff’rent Strokes,” and considering the real-life histories of Gary
Coleman, Todd Bridges and Dana Plato, she probably should have stuck
around for a five-episode story arc.)
“Just Say No” was part of the larger war on drugs the Nixon administration
declared in 1971. For grown-ups, that war symbolized a lot more than
sappy primetime television. Especially for black adults. For them, it
meant stricter laws for those found buying, selling and distributing
illegal drugs.
To that end, the NAACP took an interesting step at its national convention
last month. It approved a resolution to end the war on drugs because of
its devastating effect on the black community.
Interesting how the headline writer watered that down:
NAACP called
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