"The whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to." said Richard Nixon. "Look, we understood we couldn't make it illegal to be young or poor or black in the United States, but we could criminalize their common pleasure. We understood that drugs were not the health problem we were making them out to be, but it was such a perfect issue...that we couldn't resist it."
-John Ehrlichman, White House counsel to President Nixon on the rationale of the War on Drugs.
Reference: NY Times - Haldeman Diary Shows Nixon Was Wary of Blacks and "Jews"
I find it interesting that the comments about 'Jews' are even added to the document. Perhaps it would have been in poor taste to bluntly say that the government was persecuting a particular race?
ReplyDeleteAnd given the quote included on the page explaining that Nixon did not want to see any 'Jews' about 'Israel' - it seems he did not accept the fallacious 'right to exist' argument and wanted to have none it.
This is a clear case of dilution of an issue, because we know that they are simply referring to Arthur Sulzberger, owner of the Times, though out of context.