Friday marks the 40th anniversary of President Nixon's "War on
Drugs." And this weekend is African American emancipation day,
otherwise known as Juneteenth. For some there's a connection
easily drawn between the two anniversaries. A hundred or so
people gathered during the Friday lunch hour in the food court
of the Thompson Center. They were there to commemorate the end
of U.S. slavery in 1865. Chicago radio personality Darryll S.
King emceed the event. At one point she remarked, "But ladies
and gentlemen, boys and girls - were the slaves really free?
When they were free did they have education, could they write
could they read? No." Just up the escalator and out the door at
the Thompson center, hundreds rallied for an end to the War on
Drugs. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Father
Michael Pfleger and other community leaders lent their voices.
Pfleger whipped up the crowd and said, "There is not a war on
drugs, there is a war on the poor and a war on people of color!"
Nancy Michaels works at the