How was the 94 Crime Bill viewed by black Americans during that time period

[HarlemHottie]

I was 13 in 1994. I remember the older kids expressing concern about the Crime Bill and Welfare Reform. Of course nobody gon believe me, but when you live and die by the government (projects, section 8, WIC and welfare for young mothers, etc), you pay attention. I remember a good % of the young boys I knew cycling in and out of Rikers. Some were actual criminals, some were not. (The worst ones never got locked up and been free the whole time, interestingly enough.) I remember a bestie, age 14, fukking the welfare man (a late 20's black guy) for benefits and getting pregnant.

It would probably be a useful exercise to delineate who exactly we're talking about. Middle class, church- going bp with good jobs have very different politics when compared to poor people on the margins of society. Nobody ever asks the latter group how they feel about shyt. In Harlem, the political clubhouses were a mostly bougie affair. Even my mother, who is known to most of the local politicians by name and face, didn't get involved and she was the do- gooder of our block. So when you ask 'How did black people of the time feel?', you have to remember, they were 'polling' a very small percentage of black people. The reason it seems like all these Johnny- come- lately millenials are acting brand new with the Crime Bill is bc they're the children of those who were never 'polled'. Their reaction should be read as a belated, multi-generational fukk you to the Dem establishment, black AND white.

Those white supremacist crackers posing as friends to the black community completed eradicated & decimated the black family structure or what remnants & vestiges was left over after the "Crack era" this is a classic case of the Hegelian Dialectic they gave us a problem , we reacted, & they gave us a preplanned solution with the "Crime Bill" written by none other than Joe Biden himself.

Exactly. Like we all didn't watch the Iran Contra hearings. And I notice everybody talking about the Crime Bill glosses right over that shyt. We literally all watched the evidence of them giving us the problem and reacted like dummies anyway, probably because there were financial incentives to that subset of black people. They were the property owners who wanted values to go back up, they were the social workers whose jobs depended on more broken black families, etc.

 

[ultraflexed]

I was 16 or 17 when Clinton first got elected so I came of age during his two terms as well. Clinton wasn’t liked; he was damn near worshipped. Then and now.

Hell for a quick minute there was actually talk about the possibility of him running for President again after a 4 year period had passed until that shyt was shut down because the man was so popular.

I know the first Black President shyt was a joke, but the only other white man I’ve seen Black people worship as much as Bill Clinton is the white Jesus that hangs up in the kinds of Black churches Bill Clinton made his name in all across the country and the world.

Clinton was liked by all even republic, infact colin Powell decided not to run against him because he felt Clinton was doing a great job.

Clinton was elected on the heels of the end of the first Iraq war.
Clinton balanced the budget (hasn't been done since).
And that crime bill (three strike law)

I would say bill was probably the most popular president we had since roosevelt and Kennedy

 

[CoryMack]

Clinton was liked by all even republic, infact colin Powell decided not to run against him because he felt Clinton was doing a great job.

Clinton was elected on the heels of the end of the first Iraq war.
Clinton balanced the budget (hasn't been done since).
And that crime bill (three strike law)

I would say bill was probably the most popular president we had since roosevelt and Kennedy

Exactly. Not too familiar with our interactions with Roosevelt, but you’re dead-on with Kennedy.

The reality is most people probably didn’t know too much about what legislation what passed back then because it was supposed to be such a prosperous era. Plus the media wasn’t what it is today, and we didn’t have the internet for alternative sources of info on what this legislation really meant. That’s why I said if we could check the Final Call’s archives I’d almost guarantee they’ll have articles about it. They’ve always been an excellent source of info on what’s happening in our communities.

 

[Big Boss]

Most of us on this site were either two young to even be thinking about politics or in the age bracket being targeted which more than likely wasn’t the group voting for this.

Alot of the people who were for this kind of stuff was our grandparents generation who were big on respectability politics and crime was out of control and were down to do anything to lower crime.

Facts

 

[JamesJabdi]

"The bill is an extension of the militarization of the police and the expansion of the prison system at the expense of addressing the needs of the poor."
Source: Cornel West, "Race Matters" (1993)

"This crime bill is nothing but a ‘get-tough-on-crime’ initiative that will only serve to criminalize young Black and Latino men."
Source: The New York Times, 1994

"We support efforts to reduce crime, but we must ensure that these efforts do not unfairly target Black Americans or lead to an increase in racial profiling."
Source: NAACP Position Paper, 1994

 

[Ski Mask]

From ChatGPT:

In 1994, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, commonly known as the 1994 Crime Bill, garnered notable support from Black Americans, though opinions were divided.

Support Among Black Americans:

Congressional Black Caucus (CBC): A majority of the CBC members voted in favor of the bill. In August 1994, President Clinton met with three previously opposing CBC members, convincing them to support the bill as the best available option.

Public Opinion: A 1994 Gallup survey found that 58% of African Americans supported the crime bill, compared to 49% of white Americans.


Opposition and Criticism:

Alternative Proposals: Some CBC members criticized the bill and introduced an alternative that emphasized prevention and alternatives to incarceration, allocating more funds to drug treatment and early intervention programs.

Concerns Over Harsh Sentencing: Critics within the Black community were concerned about the bill's provisions, such as mandatory minimum sentences and the "three strikes" rule, fearing they would disproportionately impact Black individuals.


In summary, while the 1994 Crime Bill received significant support from Black leaders and the broader community, there was also substantial criticism and concern regarding its potential adverse effects on Black Americans.

Seems like the majority of us supported it, tho those who criticized it and saw what was going to happen cant be ignored as well.

 

[WIA20XX]

I don’t want the hindsight opinion or viewpoint, plenty of people say they regret it now. I’m speaking strictly about 1994. How did the majority of African Americans view bill when it first passed?

What a resurrected thread! Wow.

Crime is a complicated topic in the "community". And there was definitely more of a community in 1994 than 2024.

On the one hand

• Nobody was feeling 3 strikes. 3 Strikes references were all over Cali hip hop in this era, and now they were gonna take that national.
• In terms of Broken Windows - that showed up with Nas saying that Giuliani is 666. AZ name dropped Gov Pataki on the same steez as well

On the other hand - most Black people in the most affected/violent neighborhoods - don't like gun shots, death, and thefts.

“We’re not against rap. We’re not against rappers. But we are against those thugs.”

So this is a basic tension in the community.

Cause demographically, the thugs are US, our brothers, uncles, fathers, sons, etc.
But not every cat that gets caught up was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I digress.

The prison-to-pipeline and the "lost generation" narratives (IMO) really come from memories of this era. In terms of the mental space, this wasn't too far from "super predators", crack babies, and the Central Park 5.

So when you look back at the press coverage - which is generally biased towards white norms in my estimation - there's gonna be Black Pols pushing for it as well as Black Pols pushing against it. There really wasn't much in terms of "word on the street" and "general sentiment" that you can stand on business wise.

 

[KillerPups]

to be honest i was more tormented by the 1996 TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT signed by BILL CLINTON

Because at the time i was working as an intern in radio for a black owned AM radio station in the south during the summers

and it changed EVERYTHING LITERALY OVER NIGHT...

corporations like Clear Channel came in and bought up everything especially indys like the one i worked for

and before you know it the landscape of black music changed forever....especially with independent local acts

its like you couldn't get on the radio at all if you didn't have a major distributor ....nobody was taking changes with breaking records by new acts

like Mr. Magic of WBLS and Greg Mack of KDAY were doing

it became super corporate and basically gentrified urban music and the community as well...

we use to have Farrakhan speeches broadcasted on the air late at night.......there was black talk shows all over the urban dial at the time..

all that died ...thanks to the so called first black president "bill clinton" :mjsad:

Good information brah