I sold crack in the 80s. It WAS that bad. NYC had 2600 murders in 1990 alone. Last year they had 318 which was the highest since 2016. What part was overblown? The crackheads wandering the streets allllll day begging? The dope boys shooting up blocks? If you weren't there...shhh

I just want to reiterate...2600 murders. And the whole country is ready to send the national guard to Chicago because they have 6-700. That era was chaos. And the crime bill was still awful. But not because that era wasn't out of control. It tf was

One more thing...i was already in prison when the crime bill happened. People who were earning degrees in prison lost access to education. You know, the thing everyone keeps saying helps reduce recidivism? We knew it was a trash bill AND we knew the streets were reckless.

I was eligible for parole and statistically would have made it, prior to the crime bill. But once it passed, violent felons were denied parole consistently regardless of what they'd done inside to "rehabilitate." We were the "super predators" that you guys tak about symbolically.

We were real people. The crime bill screwed us in real time. And yes, there were Black people who supported that bill back then (just like there are Black people who want everyone and their momma locked up NOW.) But there were tons back then who knew.

We can hold both thoughts in our heads. The crack era was crazy. Mad people died both from overdoses AND from drug dealers trying g to control sections of the city. Also, the crime bill was a racist bill, even if some Black people supported it. Impact over intent, ho.