Former President Bill Clinton was formerly regarded as the first Black president by the African-American community when the thought of electing a black president was still a pipe dream. During his 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns, Clinton had a solid relationship with the African-American community.
Clinton won the support of the Black community, particularly southern African-Americans, and his Arkansas roots aided him greatly. This was clear, according to the editorial board of the New York Times, when Clinton received 75% of the black vote on Super Tuesday in 1992. However, he is now regarded as one of the scapegoats for the widespread incarceration of Black people, particularly Black men, as a result of the crime bill he approved in 1994.
The law in question was the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which resulted in a rise in Black men’s incarceration rates. In addition, the law established a three-strike policy. According to ncjrs.gov, “the Three Strikes statute provides for mandatory life imprisonment if a convicted felon: (1) has been convicted in federal court of a “serious violent felony,” (2) has two or more previous convictions in federal or state courts, at least one of which is a “serious violent felony” (the other offense may be a serious drug offense), and (3) has two or more previous convictions in federal or state courts, at least one of which The three-strike policy was designed to significantly enhance the penalties for people convicted of more than two severe offenses.
This law reinforced America’s long-standing policy of incarcerating Black men. The war on drugs, as well as Bill Clinton’s 1994 crime bill, are two of the main reasons for the so-called prison industrial complex, in which the US has privatized the criminal system, resulting in massive profits for enormous firms. Who then use their prestige and resources to sway lawmakers on which legislation and bills to support. Some of those decisions about crime have a disproportionately negative impact on the Black community.
To say that mass incarceration and the drug war had a significant impact on the Black family is an understatement. A child whose parent is in prison, according to statistics, is at a disadvantage compared to a child who has both parents in their lives. The consequences for the Black family may be traced all the way back to slavery when the father was frequently removed from his wife and children.
Mass incarceration was another manifestation of the US government’s discrimination towards Black people and their communities. Regardless of the propaganda pushed out by many mainstream media channels, the concept that Black people are naturally criminals and dangerous is simply false. We cannot overlook the fact that the number of persons incarcerated in the United States is abnormally high, owing to years of incarcerating Black males for nonviolent drug charges (See Chart Below).
According to Pew Research, 2.7 million children in the United States have a parent who is incarcerated. According to the research, 11.4 percent of Black children have a parent who is incarcerated, compared to 1.8 percent of white children who have a parent who is incarcerated. According to the data, “nonviolent offenses account for two-thirds of the convictions indicated in these incarceration rates, with drug offenses accounting for around a quarter.”