By the 1990's, the War on Drugs continued fiercely. By the late 1980's and early 1990's, a new generation of anti-War on Drugs activists developed though. One group was the Drug Policy Foundation created by Arnold Trebach and Kevin Zeese. They wanted to end the War on Drugs. Even some conservatives like William F. Buckley and Milton Friedman desired an end to drug prohibition. ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser, Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, Federal Judge Robert Sweet, Princeton professor Ethan Nadelmann, and other scholars, activists, policymakers, etc. wanted the same goal too. George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton were faithful followers of the War on Drugs. After Noriega was brought down and sent to prison, we lived in a new era. After Bush Sr. was out of office in early 1993, William Jefferson Clinton was President. As time has gone by, we realize more and more realize that Clinton was a centrist President despite the red baiting by far right Republicans who accuse him of being near socialist (which is false obviously). Bill Clinton worked with Republicans to pass the Crime Act of 1994. Back then, many thought that the new law would eliminate the crime rates of the early 1990's. The consequences of the law was an expansion of the prison industrial complex, the growth of the War on Drugs, and the ruin of so many lives (especially black lives and other people of color lives). The 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill was supported by then Senator Joe Biden too. It had a provision that allowed for federal execution of drug kingpins. The 1990's saw a skyrocketing amount of human beings sent into prison for long periods of time, even those with nonviolent drug offenses. In fact, people in prison from nonviolent drug law offenses increased from 50,000 in 1980 to over 400,000 in 1997. President William Jefferson Clinton also passed the Welfare Reform Act in 1996 that cut many services for the poor and was another attack by a neoliberal moderate President on the New Deal progressive policies. It proves that Clinton wasn't the progressive superhero that some have claimed. Back in 1992, Clinton actually advocated treatment instead of incarceration during his 1992 Presidential campaign. He reverted to the drug war policies form his Republican predecessors when he got into office. Clinton rejected a U.S. Sentencing Commission recommendation to eliminate the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences. He rejected the end of the federal ban on funding for syringe access programs (which has been even promoted by drug czar General Barry McCaffrey and Health Secretary Donna Shalala). Ironically, a month before leaving office, Bill Clinton told words in a Rolling Stone interview that he wanted "a re-examination of our entire policy on imprisonment" of people who used drugs. He said that he marijuana use "should be decriminalized."
As the 21st Century developed, we have seen a gradual change into more progressive drug policies. More of the American public since 2000 are progressive on drug issues. George W. Bush was in office by 2001. He knew that the War on Drugs wasn't working conclusively to end drug addiction. Yet, he still put in more money than previous Presidents to advance War on Drugs policies. His drug czar was John Walter. He was a zealot against marijuana. He promoted student drug testing. We know that illicit drug use was plateauing, but many people suffered overdoses. George W. Bush also advanced the escalation of the militarization of drug law enforcement groups. By the end of Bush's 2nd term in 2009, we saw about 40,000 paramilitary SWAT style raids on Americans every year (mostly for nonviolent drug law offenses or misdemeanors). Federal drug reform struggled in Congress. That is why state level reforms slowly existed to start to end the War on Drugs. The culture shifted. More political leaders as diverse as Barack Obama and Michael Bloomberg have admitted to using drugs. Most Americans now support health based approaches to deal with drug issues. In our time in 2021, the legalization of marijuana has existed in Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington state, and the District of Columbia. In December of 2014, Uruguay was the first country on Earth to legally regulate marijuana. Canada legalized marijuana for adults in 2018. Even my state of Virginia is the first Southern state of America to legalize marijuana. Virginia is the most progressive Southern state of the Union now. States have worked hard to combat drug addiction and the opoid crisis. Many states have passed law to increase access to the overdose antidote called naloxone. There are 911 Good Samaritan laws that promote people to get medical help in the event of an overdose. Yet, we have a long way to go, even in 2021. Every year, about 700,000 people in America are arrested for marijuana offenses. Also, almost 500,000 people are still behind bars for just a drug law violation. When Barack Obama was in office, he promoted the reduction of crack/power sentencing disparities, he ended the ban on federal funding for syringe access programs, and he ended federal interference with state medical marijuana laws. Yet, President Obama didn't go to fully caused a health based approach for the majority of his drug policy. The Trump administration obviously was much worst than Barack Obama on drug policy.
Trump wanted to build a wall in the southern border, because he believed in the xenophobic lie that undocumented immigrants were just drug smuggling criminals mostly. Trump wanted harsher sentences for drug law violations and the death penalty for people who sell drugs. He promoted the ineffective "Just Say No Campaign" message being aimed at young people. It is no secret that former Attorney General Jeff Sessoms was fiercely in favor of the War on Drugs. When the pandemic rose up, Trump made a terrible response which is one major reason why Trump lost the 2020 election. The coronavirus made more people aware of the health disparities in society and how the drug war promotes this disparities unfairly. The crisis made it more difficult for the homeless, the poor, those with drug addictions, etc. to have adequate medical treatment. The 2020 election saw massive changes involving drug policy. For example, after the 2020 elections, Oregon voted to pass Measure 110. That was the nations' first all-drug decriminalization measure. Voters in Arizona, New Jersey, Montana, and South Dakota passed measures to legalize marijuana for adult use. Medical marijuana was passed in Mississippi and South Dakota. Both red and blue states enacted policies in saving lives literally. Today, President Joe Biden is here since 2021. Biden said that it was a mistake to support legislation that increased the prison industrial complex and the War on Drugs like the 1994 Crime Law. Biden said that he wants a compassionate approach to problematic drug use. One mistake Biden has made is how he extended class wide scheduling of entanyl analouges through October 2021. It makes it easier to go after low level drug dealers. Some critics say that it will disproportionately affect communities of color. The Biden administration is right to invest 2.5 million dollars in grants to help support drug treatment options and reform criminal statues that have harmed black people (and other people color) via the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Ava Duvernay's 13th documentary is one of the greatest modern documentary that exposes the prison industrial complex and the War on Drugs. We shall see what the future will hold.
It has been over 50 years since the Richard Nixon call for his War on Drugs plans. Now, we have witness the fruits of it. The fruits of it have seen massive drug trafficking, violations to human civil liberties, and the expansion of the prison industrial complex. The pandemic causing social isolation has contributed to suffering involving drug overdoses. Last year in 2020, more than 93,000 Americans have died of drug overdoses. That is the highest number ever. We see the increase usage of fentanyl which is 25 to 40 times more potent than heroin. Fentanyl now has taken the lives of more people as the illicit drug market has used it on other drugs causes mayhem to suffering human beings. This problem is a worldwide problem. We know of oxycotin in the Rust Belt. Like always, a real solution to help people to get drug treatment and medical care instead of locking people up all over the place. Corporations and governments have been complicit in drug trafficking for generations. For example, Iran Contra was about certain people in the Reagan administration (during his 2nd term) secretly facilitating the sale of arms to the Khomeini government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (which was the subject of an arms embargo). The administration used the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. The Contras were involved in drug trafficking in California, and that spread the crack epidemic all across America. The Boland Amendment banned the funding of the Contra by the U.S. government. Gary Webb, Maxine Waters, Cynthia McKinney, and Michael Ruppert accused the CIA of involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking. To this day, the CIA denies these allegations. It is true that the CIA has been involved in voting rigging, supporting coups of progressive governments, and other nefarious acts (like infiltrating the media via Operation Mockingbird) for decades. The CIA is also complicit in the drug program of MK-Ultra that ruined many lives. Today, we have a long way to go, but we have made great progress in causing the majority of the American people to say clearly that this War on Drugs must end (and progressive alternatives must exist to save lives literally. That is our precise goal).
In 1998 and in 1999, gospel was widespread in America plus in other places of the world. For those who loved large singing groups, there was Sounds of Blackness, Colorado Mss Choir, and O'Landa Draper and the Associates. Solos came strong like William Becton, Oleta Adams, CeCe Winans, Hezekiah Walker, Fred Hammond & Radical For Christ, and God's Property. By the year of 2000, Kirk Franklin released the album called Kirk Franklin Present 1NC (or the One Nation Crew). In 1999, Yolanda Adams released the album of Mountain High ...Valley Low. Dottie Peoples in 1999 had the album of God Can and God Will. Take 6 and Steven Curtis Chapman released albums too. The group of Trini-I-Tee 5:& released the album of Spiritual Love. The group of Tini-i-tee 5:7 was a group originally made up of Chanelle Haynes, Angel Taylor, and Terri Brown-Britton. They were based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They would soon win one Stellar Award, two Grammy nominations, and 2 BET Award nominations. By 2020, they released their complication album of Story of My Life with unreleased songs from previous albums. People have compared them to Destiny's Child vocally. They have used charities to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina via Trin-i-tee 5:7 Ambassador of Hope and Triumph Campaign. They gave back to places of Los Angeles and Houston. Adrian Anderson has sent supplies and assistance to struggling families in Sacramento, California.
By the year of 2000, we saw Marvin Sapp with the song of Give Thanks. There has been Montrell Darrett, New Direction, Commissioned, and other artists. The song of Shackles was released by Mary Mary. Mary Mary is a singing duo made up of 2 sisters. They are from Ingelside California. Their famous songs are Shckles in 2000, God in Me from 2008, Can't Give Up Now in 2000, Yesterday from 2005, Go Get It in 2012, In the Morning in 2002, Heaven in 2005, and other hits like Thank You in 2001. They represent a futuristic, new school song with R&B influences. Their names are Erica Campbell and Trecina Atkins-Campbell. Both have made solo records and songs too. Their debut album was Thankful which was released in the year of 2000. In 2005, Tamela Mann and her husband David created their own label, Tillymann Music Group, which they have released several projects through. In 2005, Tamela Mann's solo album, Gotta Keep Movin', was released. In 2007 she released her first live album, The Live Experience. Mann's songs "Father Can You hear Me" and "Take It To Jesus." In the 2000's, we saw diverse artists like Chris Tomlin, BeBe Winans, Bernard Williams, and other people. The 2010's and 2020's saw further gospel artist who desire to inspire souls and praise the Lord. Some of the new school gospel artists are human beings like Michele Williams, Anthony Brown, Jamie Grace, Tasha Cobbs, Jonathan McReynolds, Lecrae, Elevation Worshp, Anointed (made up of Steve and Da'dra Crawford), Evvie McKinney, Bri Babineaux, and other human beings.
One of the most important, unsung moments of R&B history was the Summer of Soul celebration in 1969. It was a black cultural festival in Harlem, New York City. Back then, Black Power cultural power was prominent, the I'm Black and I'm Proud song (expressed by James Brown) was in the atmosphere, and black heroes continued to fight for justice. Stevie Wonder and the Isley Brothers performed. Also, the events is shown in the documentary called "Summer of Love: Or When the Revolution Could Not be Televised. The 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival was very historic. It had stars perform soul, R&B, blues, jazz, and soul music. More than 300,000 people showed up for over 6 free concerts being held at Marcus Garvey Park. Other performers were Nina Simone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, the Staples Singers, B.B. King, Ray Barretto, David Ruffin, the 5th Dimension, and more musicians. Harlem remains one of the great cultural places of black America. The documentary of Summer of Love is a documentary that was directed by Questlove or Ahmir Thompson. Ahmir Thompson is the famous drummer of the iconic group of The Roots. Questlove gives his insights, shows new interviews, and musicians tell their stories about going into the festival. Marilyn McCoo of The 5th Dimension told the truth that her music is part of real music being in love with black people. Many people cried in showing their experiences at the festival. Producer Musa Jackson said that it was tons of black people there like the ultimate black barbecue. Other people spoke their minds in the documentary like Chris Rock, Luis Miranda, and Sheila E. Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples sang Take My Hand, Precious Lord. That was the favorite gospel song of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated a year before. David Dinerstein, Robert Fyvolent, and Joseph Patel produced the film. Questlove promoted this documentary, because he wanted to stop black erasure. 40 hours of footage was kept from the public until now in 2021. Today, we can further appreciate a great part of musical history filled with Black Excellence to the Fullest.
By the 1800, STEM inventions and discoveries flourished among the human race. By 1802, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck researched teleological issues. The atomic theory was created in chemistry by John Dalton in 1806. By 1807, Nicéphore Niépce invented the first internal combustion engine capable of doing useful work. Hans Christian Ørsted discovers that a current passed through a wire will deflect the needle of a compass, establishing a deep relationship between electricity and magnetism (electromagnetism) in 1820. By 1820, Michael Faraday and James Stoddart discovered alloying iron with chromium produces a stainless steel resistant to oxidising elements (rust). Thomas Johann Seebeck is the first to observe a property of semiconductors in 1821. Anselme Payen isolated the first enzyme, diastase in 1833. In 1838, Matthias Schleiden proved that all plants are made of cells. By 1842, Christian Doppler discovered the Doppler effect. Louis Pasteur formed the germ theory in 1861. Gregor Mendel established the Mendel's laws of inheritance, basis for genetics in 1865. Dmitri Ivanovsky discovered viruses in 1892. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovers x-rays in 1895. Henri Becquerel discovered radioactivity in 1896. Marie Curie discovered radium and polonium in 1898.
Gospel movies are part of American and world cultures. They can be non-confrontational, controversial, inspiring, and exist in other characterizations. They have many unifying themes of showing a religious message, of mentioning God, and showing the diverse personalities of human beings. From back in the day, there was the 1923 film of The Ten Commandments and the 1925 version of Ben Hur. One underrated movie of the early church was the 1951 film of Quo Vadis (in dealing with Nero and the scapegoating of early Christians for the fire at Rome). Ben Hur and the Ten Commandments of the 1950's were very famous. Ben Hur is about a man who lives under Roman occupation at Judea, and he finds purpose in his life by allying with the love of a woman (and he witnessed Jesus Christ). By the 1960's, there were tons of religious films shown like King of Kings in 1961 and The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1965. The 1970's had youthful films like Jesus Christ Superstar and other films. The 1988 film of The Last Temptation of Christ was controversial because of the obvious reason. By the 1990's, we saw more films like The Preacher's Wife and The Prince of Egypt. The Preacher's Wife starred Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington. The movie is about an angel who helps a religious couple (including a pastor) find their zeal back to show their spirituality. The 2000s saw many films like the famous films of The Gospel (with Nonya Gaye, Clifton Powell, Idris Elba, and Boris Kodjoe), etc. The 2010 film of The Preacher's Kid is an underrated gospel film classic about the daughter of a pastor going through many things plus return back home to reunite with her father. It has everything and a great message of redemption. During the 2010's, we also saw War Room in 2015, Risen in 2015, and Amazing Grace (a concert film of Aretha Franklin's gospel film). In the 2020's, more films are present like 2020's I Still Believe.
My reflections of 2020 are certainly overtly transparent. It was a year that tested many people's souls. Zoom meetings, social distancing, and other new realities dominated the year. Tons of people are not here now as a product of the coronavirus. The economic globally have suffered massively in the worst peacetime decline since the Great Depression. Very few people expected the 2020s would begin in that fashion. Now, we realize the truth. Global ecological crisis have been found globally in America, Brazil, and other places of the world. We have seen massive protests in favor of black human lives not only in places like New York City or Los Angeles in 2020. Protests have been found in London, Madrid, Rome, Richmond (in Virginia), and in other cities of the globe. Many in Hong Kong have protested against anti-democratic legislation. The Space Company of SpaceX sent 2 NASA astronauts to the International Space Station on May 30, 2020. This was the first time when a private company completed a crewed spaceflight mission. Technologically, 5G was everywhere in 2020, foldable phones are available, streaming services have shown entertainment in even more interactive ways. 2020 stopped many things, but it gave more human beings to express themselves in more creative avenues too. For everyday of my life, I will always remember the year of 2020.
By Timothy
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