the house i live in-tragedy of the war on drugs

Premiering April 8, 2013. Check local listings:
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/br...

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary, The House I Live In, David Simon, the creator of The Wire, describes how the strategies behind the War on Drugs have actually destroyed law enforcement's power of deterrance and increased cynicism among enforcement agents and citizens alike.

About the Film

America's War on Drugs has deep roots in the country's history. Chapter by chapter, America's drug laws have been used as political and economic tools against the poor, the ethnic, and the undesirable. Yet to date no single group has been more damaged by such policies than black America for whom — despite the exceptional progress of a handful of black celebrities and the hopeful presidential candidacy of Barack Obama — the war on drugs continues undeterred and persistent in its destructive impact. Amid the War on Drugs, black life is a spiraling crisis of social disintegration, political and economic disenfranchisement, and spiritual decay — a kind of ongoing insult added to the injuries of slavery, Jim Crow, and the short-circuiting of the civil rights movement.

Director Eugene Jarecki, whose film Why We Fight examined the anatomy of the American war machine, will turn the same penetrating lens to the War on Drugs, seeking to lay bare its mechanics, motivations, and contradictions.

Learn more about "Independent Lens":
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens

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