>I believe it was Nixon who said the drug war was a way to "target the
>blacks without seeming like we're targeting the blacks".
It started well before Nixon. Here are some quotes from Henry Anslinger, the first drug czar whose tenure was contemporary with and about as long as Hoover's:
>"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are
>Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic
>music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana
>causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes,
>entertainers, and any others."
>
>"...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the
>degenerate races."
>
>"Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users
>insanity, criminality, and death."
>
>"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."
>
>"Marihuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing"
>
>"You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother."
>
>"Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind."
>
>And he loved to pull out his own version of the "assassin" definition:
>
>"In the year 1090, there was founded in Persia the religious and
>military order of the Assassins, whose history is one of cruelty,
>barbarity, and murder, and for good reason: the members were
>confirmed users of hashish, or marihuana, and it is from the Arabs'
>'hashashin' that we have the English word 'assassin.'"