32 min
Healing through Harp- battle of the Opioid Crisis- Baltimore Md The Village Drum
-
- Music Interviews
I wanted to share a community gathering I attended last week at Shiloh Baptist Church on August 16, 2019. Jeff Majors, a fellow harpist gave a concert called Healing through Music, along with singers and Elijah Cummings and his supporters. After Baltimore was headline news for weeks due to recent comments that were negative and spread bad vibes across the world, this was a time to reflect and forgive and heal through music, worship and praise. Sponsored by New Shiloh Baptist Church - speakers included Dr. Harold A. Carter, Jr. Pastor and therapeutic practitioners and Endorsed By US House of Representatives Congressman Elijah Cummings MD 7th District.
This gathering was to bring light to the current Opioid Crisis--which now has not included the African American community at all. There is a prevalent divide in the current overdose epidemic. Many blacks challenge the way the media and government has previously and recently responded to Opioid overdose deaths with a compassionate public campaign. Many African Americans reasonably ask: Where was that compassion when black communities were dealing with crack cocaine in the 1980s and 90's? The compassionate public campaign now is due to the increasing number of rural white communities having a problem with drugs. As of 2017- 37,113 white americans have died from Opioid use. 5513 African americans and 3932 Latino Americans. However, The Reagan administration responded worse than the media to the crack epidemic with the so-called “War on Drugs.” This was a institution of policies that criminalized crack use and possession with zero tolerance penalties. The purpose was to treat drug use, as “public enemy number one.” With $1.7 billion allocated to these efforts, the federal government was more than ready to imprison, and of course not to rehabilitate, drug users and people who had drugs or were found with them.
As a result, incarceration rates increased 8x's. In 1980, the number of people in prison for nonviolent drug offenses was 50,000. By 1997, that number ballooned to 400,000. The overwhelming majority of those locked up were black as reportedly, 80% of crack users were African-American. But instead, the Reagan administration simply continued a set of policies from the Nixon era that were specifically designed to target and incarcerate black people. See this article for more that puts this issue to light eloquently! https://thewitnessbcc.com/crack-epidemic-opioid-crisis-race-america/
Listen to it and leave your thoughts and comments. What can we do? What this gathering did. Over and over again! Leave a message to let me know your thoughts! Eager to keep the conversation going! https://anchor.fm/thevillagedrum/message
---
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thevillagedrum/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thevillagedrum/support
I wanted to share a community gathering I attended last week at Shiloh Baptist Church on August 16, 2019. Jeff Majors, a fellow harpist gave a concert called Healing through Music, along with singers and Elijah Cummings and his supporters. After Baltimore was headline news for weeks due to recent comments that were negative and spread bad vibes across the world, this was a time to reflect and forgive and heal through music, worship and praise. Sponsored by New Shiloh Baptist Church - speakers included Dr. Harold A. Carter, Jr. Pastor and therapeutic practitioners and Endorsed By US House of Representatives Congressman Elijah Cummings MD 7th District.
This gathering was to bring light to the current Opioid Crisis--which now has not included the African American community at all. There is a prevalent divide in the current overdose epidemic. Many blacks challenge the way the media and government has previously and recently responded to Opioid overdose deaths with a compassionate public campaign. Many African Americans reasonably ask: Where was that compassion when black communities were dealing with crack cocaine in the 1980s and 90's? The compassionate public campaign now is due to the increasing number of rural white communities having a problem with drugs. As of 2017- 37,113 white americans have died from Opioid use. 5513 African americans and 3932 Latino Americans. However, The Reagan administration responded worse than the media to the crack epidemic with the so-called “War on Drugs.” This was a institution of policies that criminalized crack use and possession with zero tolerance penalties. The purpose was to treat drug use, as “public enemy number one.” With $1.7 billion allocated to these efforts, the federal government was more than ready to imprison, and of course not to rehabilitate, drug users and people who had drugs or were found with them.
As a result, incarceration rates increased 8x's. In 1980, the number of people in prison for nonviolent drug offenses was 50,000. By 1997, that number ballooned to 400,000. The overwhelming majority of those locked up were black as reportedly, 80% of crack users were African-American. But instead, the Reagan administration simply continued a set of policies from the Nixon era that were specifically designed to target and incarcerate black people. See this article for more that puts this issue to light eloquently! https://thewitnessbcc.com/crack-epidemic-opioid-crisis-race-america/
Listen to it and leave your thoughts and comments. What can we do? What this gathering did. Over and over again! Leave a message to let me know your thoughts! Eager to keep the conversation going! https://anchor.fm/thevillagedrum/message
---
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thevillagedrum/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thevillagedrum/support
32 min