New Arrivals: First Edition of CAPITALISM PLUS DOPE EQUALS GENOCIDE (ca.1970), by Michael &ldqu

New Arrivals: First Edition of CAPITALISM PLUS DOPE EQUALS GENOCIDE (ca.1970), by Michael “Cetewayo” Tabor.

An early critique on the relationship between drugs and the Black community by Tabor, a Harlem-born member of the Black Panther Party and one of the New York 21. The tract was important for its role in stimulating discussion on the role of drugs in marginalized communities, and an important influence in the development of the anti-drug stance taken by other radical groups. Indeed, among the Party’s many national social programs included efforts to combat drug addiction, often led by former addicts who worked with the Party. “Dope, they argued, was part of the oppressor’s plan to "ensure our enslavement”…Improving the health status of blacks thus went hand in hand with improving their political, economic, and social status. In the Party’s view, black political activism and black public health activism were interwoven" (Bloom, Joshua and Waldo E. Martin. Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party, p.188-189). Reprinted in several different forms, this version is preceded only by the shorter, 4-page version published by the Committee to Defend the Panther 21, titled The Plague: Capitalism + Dope = Genocide.