*Last week a political firestorm was set off by the accusation that the recent payment by the United States to Iran in the amount of 400 million dollars was possibly sent in exchange for hostages. The Obama administration’s position is clear that this was not a ransom payment, rather it was funds the U.S. has owed the Islamic republic for over 35 years. A debt that they say dates back to when Iranian funds in U.S. banks were frozen as a result of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
What we are failing to also discuss is the backstory of United States involvement with Iran, a story which must be told through the chapters of the Iran Contra Scandal and its unresolved damage to black America. In an era of #blacklivesmatter no modern scandal more underscores the hypocrisy of our country’s drug policy, and approach to dealing with the resulting mass incarceration of African Americans. To now have the first black president presiding over a 400 million dollar repayment to Iran today, that is even remotely similar, or connected to the scandal that happened under President Ronald Reagan is unthinkable. …
The underbelly of this was the now supported accusation that to fund the Contra revolution the Reagan administration along with the proceeds from Iran arms sales, was also using the profits from cocaine drug sales by Nicaraguans in the United States. When Reagan’s request for funding for those he called the “Nicaraguan freedom fighters” was turned down by Congress, the administration purportedly turned to crack cocaine sales to fund their efforts. Recently our film “Freeway Crack in the System” was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Investigative Journalism, for digging deeper and uncovering truths around this dark history. As we show in our film Nicaraguan Drug Kingpin Danilo Blandon admitted to much of this on the stand during criminal hearings.
In response to a question about cocaine sales in America, “You were running the LA operation, is that correct?”. Blandon stated, “But remember, we were running… Just whatever we were running in L.A. it goes the profit it was going to the Contra Revolution” Read Full Article Here
Antonio Moore, an attorney based in Los Angeles, is one of the producers of the Emmy-nominated documentary Freeway: Crack in the System. Follow him on YouTube Channel Tonetalks.
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