Pubdate: Fri, 29 Mar 2013
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2013 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/letters.html
Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: T'cha Dunlevy

WAR ON DRUGS UNDER SCRUTINY IN DOCUMENTARY

Blacks Are Systemic Victims In The U.S., Imprisoned In Great Numbers
Than Others

The House I Live In

Documentary Directed by: Eugene Jarecki Duration: 110 minutes 
Parental guidance: for all Playing at: Cinema du Parc

"My family came to America fleeing persecution," says Jewish-American
director Eugene Jarecki, at the outset of his provocative documentary
The House I Live In. They were the lucky ones, he recounts, explaining
that with their fortune came responsibility:

"'Never again' meant not just for us, but for others
either."

While allowing there are clear differences between the Holocaust and
the topic of his film, Jarecki makes striking analogies to America's
decades-spanning war on drugs, which has led to the mass
incarceration, alienation and decimation of the social fabric of the
black community.

The United States is the "jailingest country on the planet," we learn;
while comprising five per cent of the global population, it holds 25
per cent of the world's criminals. African-Americans have been
systemic victims of the drug war, imprisoned in far greater numbers
and at higher rates than their fellow citizens. Jarecki examines how
and why this is true.

The war on drugs began with U.S. president Richard Nixon, who tackled
drug use in a 1968 campaign that got him elected. Despite devoting
two-thirds of funds to treatment programs, he returned to the
hard-line approach in 1972, naming drug abuse public enemy No. 1.

It's a tack that Ronald Reagan took up with a vengeance in the '80s,
which coincided with the emergence of crack cocaine and led to
draconian punishment measures that continue to this day - including
mandatory minimum sentences and dramatically harsher penalties for
crack related offences.

"People are doing a whole lot of time for not much crime," says a
prison guard.

Jarecki doesn't just focus on the bigger picture. He takes a personal
approach, recounting the story of his childhood nanny, Nannie Jeter
(her real name). He reconnects with her and her family, around whom he
grew up, only to learn of their hardships, many related to drugs and
the war on drugs. In one touching scene, she regrets spending so much
time caring for his family at the expense of her own.

He talks to inmates, finding compelling subjects who are stuck in the
system and many of whom were born into a cycle of drugs and drug
related offences.

Attempting to comprehend the breadth of the problem, he interviews
others in the chain, from police officers to lawyers and judges, as
well as academics and historians.

One of the most insightful and oft-used speakers is David Simon,
former investigative journalist and creator of TV show, The Wire. It's
a smart choice, bringing together the disparate elements of this
potentially sprawling, information-packed film.

Somehow, Jarecki pulls it off, circling his subject and revisiting key
themes as he constructs the convincing argument that, while the drug
war may affect only a certain segment of the population, it's
everyone's problem. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D