Charles Rangel: the front-line general in the war on drugs

Ebony, March, 1989 by Lynn Norment

That means not only stopping the supply of drugs coming into the country, says Rangel, but going even further and helping poor peasant farmers in the drug-producing countries develop cash crops other than coca leaves and marijuana. And it means attacking the demand created by drug users and establishing drug-treatment centers.

Rangel also emphasizes that we must give young people alternatives to poverty, unemployment and street life if we ant to steer them away from drugs and into the labor market.

Congressman Rangel knows well the underlying problem, for he grew up in the Harlem congressional district he represents. A former high school dropout who got his diploma in the Army, he says he is very proud to be the first in his family and neighborhood with a college degree.

After a stint in the U.S. Army, during which he got several medals, including a Purple Heart, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in New York. After four years, he was elected to the New York State Assembly, where he served four years before he defeated the legendary Congressman Adam Clayton Powell in 1970 and went to Washington to represent Harlem.

On Capitol Hill, Rangel soon made his mark. In 1974, he became the first Black named to the prestigious taxwriting House Ways and Means Committee, where he now is the third-ranking member. Over the years, he increasingly has earned responsibility, power and respect.

But Rangel brushes aside his personal accomplishments, for he feels that the biggest battle--the drug war--has yet to be won.

"You can't get on a train, a plane, you can't do anything now that you aren't in fear that this epidemic is absorbing you," he says. "look at what drug abuse does to life, and look at the heavy burden it is causing you, America.

"We've got to win the war!"