Jay Z is calling the USA government’s war on drugs an “epic fail”.
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The film is the result of a collaboration between filmmaker and author Dream Hampton, the Drug Policy Alliance and Rvolve Impact.
The four-minute video for The New York Times argues that the government’s global fight against drugs has caused mass incarceration and unfairly targeted ethnic minorities.
In the video, he complains “young men like me who hustled became the sole villain” when strict drug laws were introduced in the 1980s.
Paired perfectly with Crabapple’s vivid animations, Jay Z critiques the double standards existing between drug dealers-more specifically between poor people of color and their wealthy white counterparts.
Jay Z then explains how drug dealers were victimized and thrown in jail for long sentences, raising the United States incarceration rates to rise higher then those seen in China, Cuba, Iran and Russian Federation.
“Rates of drug use are as high as they were when Nixon declared this so-called war in 1971”, he adds. The 45-year-old asks, “Why are white men poised to get rich doing the same thing African-Americans have been going to prison for?”
It’s a potted history of the campaign with Carter highlighting that the United States incarceration rate being higher than China, Cuba, Iran and Russian Federation, and also the sentencing laws which saw many people handed mandatory life sentences.
“Venture capitalists migrate to [states where weed is legal] to open multibillion dollar operations, but former felons can’t open a dispensary”, he continues.
The multi-media piece made the requisite rounds yesterday, with Vermont Senator and one time presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders supporting Hov for his stance. “Jay Z is right”, he said on Twitter. “The War on Drugs is an epic fail”.
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The rap mogul, whose real name is Shawn Carter, concluded the US’ tough stance has failed as drug usage rates are as high as they were when the laws were implemented and urged for a rethink on the policies.
