“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America!’”
“No, no, no, God Damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people. ‘God Damn America’ for treating our citizens as less than human. God Damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”

Now what in the world could Rev. Wright be talking about?

The government gives them drugs?

wRIGHT!!!: It is an absolute 100 % fact that United States government officials knowingly allowed tons of cocaine to enter the continental U.S. during the 1980’s, thus spawning the "crack" epidemic. But you don’t have to take my word for it; I’ll let the government officials who investigated these crimes tell you all about it, in their own words.
In a 1993 "60 Minutes" interview, Mike Wallace asked Judge Robert Bonner, the former head of the DEA, and a man who served in both Bush Administrations, the following question:
"Let me understand what you’re saying, a ton of cocaine was smuggled into the United States of America, in cooperation with the CIA?"
Judge Bonner replied: "That’s exactly what appears to have happened."
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In the same “60 Minutes” segment, former U.S. Senator, Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ) agreed with Judge Bonner and had the following exchange with Mike Wallace:
Sen. Dennis DeConcini (Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee): “It was an operation that I don't think they (the CIA) should've been involved in.”

Wallace: “No question, the drugs got in?”

Sen. DeConcini: “I don't doubt that the drugs got in here.”

Wallace: “You'd think that maybe the agency would want to say, ‘OK, we made a mistake.’”

Sen. DeConcini: “I think they made a mistake.”
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In 1988, the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, chaired by John Kerry (D-MA), concluded that:
“Throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, Gen. Manuel Noriega was able to manipulate U.S. policy toward his country, while skillfully accumulating near-absolute power in Panama. It is clear that each U.S. government agency which had a relationship with Noriega turned a blind eye to his corruption and drug dealing.”
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In 1989, the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, chaired by John Kerry (D-MA), concluded a three-year investigation by stating: "There was substantial evidence of drug smuggling through the war zones on the part of individual Contras, Contra suppliers, Contra pilots, mercenaries who worked with the Contras, and Contra supporters throughout the region. ... U.S. officials involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war efforts against Nicaragua. ... In each case, one or another agency of the U.S. government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter. ... Senior U.S. policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems."

From the Kerry Report: Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy, a Report of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, 1989, pp. 2, 36, 41.
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“If you ask: In the process of fighting a war against the Sandinistas, did people connected with the US government open channels which allowed drug traffickers to move drugs to the United States, did they know the drug traffickers were doing it, and did they protect them from law enforcement? The answer to all those questions is yes.”

Jack Blum, chief investigator for the Kerry Senate subcommittee.
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“I do think it was a terrible mistake to say that ‘We're going to allow drug trafficking to destroy American citizens’ as a consequence of believing that the ‘Nicaraguan Contra effort’ was a higher priority.”

Sen. Robert Kerrey (D-NE): Not to be confused with 2004 Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry (D-MA).
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"If you're focused on winning an ideological war, you're probably not focused at the same time on the law enforcement consequences of what you're doing. And certainly, our government in the 1980s was not focused on that problem. It actively resisted being focused on that problem. If it's your job to check out food at the supermarket counter ... you're not worrying about the person who's supposed to be stocking the shelves. It's not your job. Oliver North's diaries are filled with references to drug trafficking and people associated with his enterprise drug trafficking--filled with it. Oliver North can say, 'I never hired or worked with any drug traffickers.' His organization did."

Jonathan Winer, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Matters.
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“The time I spent investigating these allegations led me to the undeniable conclusion that the CIA, DEA, DIA, and FBI knew about drug trafficking in South Central Los Angeles. They were either part of the trafficking or turned a blind eye to it, in an effort to fund the Contra war. I am convinced that drug money played a role in the Contra war and that drug money was used by both sides.”

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), from the Gary Webb book “Dark Alliance.”
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On July 22, 1987, the Washington Post ran an article with the following headline:
“Hill Panel Finds No Evidence Linking Contras to Drug Smuggling”

But Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY), chairman of the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, wrote to the Washington Post and complained: “Your headline says we drew one conclusion, while in fact we reached quite a different one.”

Rep. Rangel's letter ended up buried in the Congressional Record (August 6, 1987), and the Washington Post refused to publish it in its entirety, opting instead to correct the number of witnesses printed in its original article.
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"Despite requests for information from Congress, the Central Intelligence Agency repeatedly ignored or failed to investigate allegations of drug trafficking by the anti-Sandinista rebels of Nicaragua in the 1980's, according to a newly declassified report.

In a blunt and often critical report, the C.I.A.'s inspector general determined that the agency 'did not inform Congress of all allegations or information it received indicating that contra-related organizations or individuals were involved in drug trafficking.'"

This article was in response to the Oct. 8th release of the report/investigation by the CIA’s Inspector General, Frederick Hitz. This article was also buried in the N.Y. Times because during this particular period the media was obsessed with Monica Lewinsky.
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Recent documentaries such as "American Drug War: The Last White Hope" (aired on Showtime), "Bastards of the Party" (aired on HBO), Robert Parry’s book LOST HISTORY (Contras, Cocaine, The Press & Project Truth) and Gary Webb’s book Dark Alliance, all provide overwhelming evidence of what Black folks knew and openly discussed for years. U.S. government officials knowingly allowed cocaine to enter our country from Central America, period.

I know many will dismiss this as a bunch of Michael Moore or Oliver Stone conspiracy talk, but the facts are so overwhelming it’s disgusting. The beauty of "American Drug War: The Last White Hope" is that it actually shows the Director of the CIA going to inner-city Los Angeles to refute the wide-spread rumors (only to make matters worse). Now ask yourself, when have you ever heard of the Director of the CIA going to Watts to conduct a town hall meeting with local residents? Folks, it actually happened. And, as Rev. Wright found out, videotaped public discussions can be quite revealing.

On Nov. 15th 1996, the Director of the CIA, John Deutch, made what I’m sure is his first and only appearance to inner-city Los Angeles, and he looked like a fool. The bottom line is, the CIA allowed, and sometimes assisted, the import of cocaine into Southern California, and much of it was converted to "crack" (a cost effective, but more powerful version of cocaine), by Black gangs. This abundant new brand of cocaine was then introduced en mass to a new consumer base, Black folks. The proceeds were then used to fund and arm the Contras (the so-called "freedom fighters") in Nicaragua, which according to the U.S. Congress was illegal. The funding of the Contras was against the law, and spawned the "Iran/Contra" scandal which plagued the final years of the Reagan Administration, and introduced the nation to a U.S. Marine Lt. Colonel named Oliver-Pinocchio-North, and his trusty paper-shredding secretary, Fawn Hall.

Listen, I don’t agree with screaming "God Damn America" to the masses, but where’s the outrage over a government that facilitated a drug epidemic within its masses? Are you going to tell me that the words of a preacher are more harmful to our nation than our government allowing "crack" to infect/infest its own communities, and then eventually our entire nation? It would be like someone pulling a gun out and screaming “God Damn you Sean Hannity!” and then blowing his head off, but his family being more upset about him being ‘Damned’ than ‘shot dead’.

Ironically, three of the most outspoken politicians during this time period have presently remained silent. I can somewhat understand why a White Obama supporter such as Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), would not want to rush to the defense of Rev. Wright, but for the life of me, I can’t understand why Black Congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and Black Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) have chosen to remain silent. Is it because both are ardent Clinton supporters?

To date, no one has ever been held accountable for these crimes, and you’re going to tell me that Rev. Wright is wrong for “Damning” this. Nothing has harmed the Black community more than “crack cocaine,” not even Jim Crow.
1) The physical toll that “crack” has taken on the users and their families is immeasurable.
2) The crime wave, and the generations of felons created by this crime wave, is immeasurable.
3) The generations of felons created by the racially-biased “crack cocaine” laws guarantee the above points, both 1 and 2, will continue. 

As for the bigger prisons comment, Rev. Wright was 100 % correct again, we are building bigger prisons, and the prison industry has become a huge industry which provides thousands of jobs to America’s rural communities.

As for his three-strikes reference, I think he missed an opportunity to speak to a greater injustice. He should’ve pointed out the biased drug laws that consider 5 grams of “crack cocaine” (the drug of choice for Blacks) equal to 500 grams of “powder cocaine” (the drug of choice for Whites). What makes these laws even more biased, besides the fact that 5 packets of sugar is considered equal to a 5 lb. bag of sugar, is the fact that the “War on Drugs” is primarily fought in the inner-city. What this does is give additional shelter to those who use “crack cocaine” the most, Whites. That’s right, Whites. Even though “crack cocaine” is the drug of choice for Blacks, primarily because it’s cheap, in terms of sheer numbers there are more White “crack cocaine” users than Black. They’re just not as aggressively investigated, arrested, prosecuted, convicted or incarcerated as Blacks are, and that’s a fact.

In 1984 there were less than 300,000 Blacks in prison, and 25 years later that number has more than tripled. Drug-related offenses are the primary reason for the explosion of the Black male incarceration rate. Former Johnson and Carter administration official, Joseph Califano, wrote the following in his book HIGH SOCIETY: “Although we [the U.S.] are 4% of the world’s population, we Americans consume 65% of the world’s illegal drugs.” I’m sure many people probably think that Black folks, who by the way, only make-up 13% of the U.S. population, are probably the bulk of those Americans who consume 65% of the world’s illegal drugs. This is the same kind of indifference, dismissal, and denial that allowed the AIDS epidemic to explode; it’s the attitude that “it’s their problem, not ours.”
The bottom line is, the central-front in the so-called “War on Drugs” is the inner-city. Rev. Wright has seen the unfairness of the War on Drugs -- a War that focuses on incarceration, and not education or rehabilitation -- and he’s seen it at the grass-roots level. To see the damage created by the War on Drugs, coupled with the damage created by the actual drugs, you’d think most fair-minded people would not only empathize, but share Rev. Wright's frustration.     

That said, I would've preferred to hear Rev. Wright discuss how the nation’s supposed-first Black president, Bill Clinton, refused to address these biased laws, which helped to triple the incarceration rate for Black men during his administration. This issue was indeed brought before Congress, but under the guise of being tough on crime, the entire debate was mis-focused on whether or not to lower the sentences for “crack cocaine” users and dealers. This allowed Congress and Pres. Clinton to dismiss their own experts and their own study (all of whom concluded these laws are biased), and also divert attention from the only apparent fair solution to this injustice: “Why not just increase the sentences for “powder cocaine” users?”

Hmmmmmmm………?