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cover of episode Donovan Ramsey on “When Crack Was King”

Donovan Ramsey on “When Crack Was King”

2023/7/18
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The New Yorker Radio Hour
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Donovan X. Ramsey
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一位匿名受访者
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Donovan X. Ramsey: 本书探讨了80年代和90年代美国可卡因裂缝流行的社会影响，特别是对弱势群体的影响。作者认为，人们对这一时期的普遍认知是将其与犯罪联系起来，而忽略了其对个人和社区的深远影响。本书通过四个不同人物的故事，展现了可卡因裂缝流行的多样性，包括吸毒者、毒贩、市长以及那些间接受到影响的人。作者认为，种族在可卡因裂缝的讨论中扮演着重要角色，媒体和公众对可卡因裂缝的态度存在差异，这反映了种族偏见。作者还探讨了多种外部因素导致可卡因裂缝的流行，例如艾滋病和社会环境，以及严厉打击犯罪的政治立场如何强化。作者反对强制最低刑期等政策，认为可卡因粉末和可卡因裂缝之间的量刑差异是不合理的，并具有种族歧视性质。最后，作者认为可卡因裂缝的遗产在于错失了理解社会和社区层面的破坏性后果的机会，同时也展现了社区的韧性和恢复力。 David Remnick: David Remnick作为访谈主持人，引导Donovan X. Ramsey阐述其研究成果，并提出一些关键问题，例如种族在可卡因裂缝流行中的作用，以及媒体对这一事件的报道偏差。他引导讨论，促使Ramsey深入探讨了可卡因裂缝流行的成因、影响以及相关的政策问题。 一位匿名受访者: 一位匿名受访者分享了其个人对可卡因裂缝成瘾的经历，描述了成瘾的快速发展和对个人生活造成的巨大影响。这部分内容为本书提供了重要的个人视角，补充了作者对可卡因裂缝流行的社会分析。

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The discussion explores how the crack epidemic impacted vulnerable communities, focusing on the personal and societal devastation it caused, and the role of race in its portrayal.

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“When people think of the crack epidemic, they think of crime,” the journalist Donovan X. Ramsey tells David Remnick. “But they don’t necessarily know the ways that it impacted the most vulnerable—the ways that it changed the lives of people who sold it, who were addicted to it, who loved people who sold it or were addicted to it.” Ramsey’s new book, “When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era),” weaves the stories of four people who survived the epidemic into a historical analysis of how crack led to the erosion of dozens of American cities—but also of how the crack epidemic eventually ended. “I didn't know what life was like before crack,” Ramsey, who was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1987, says. “I wanted to understand the ways that it shaped our society.”