Ronald Reagan Sold Crack!

“The Hidden Cost: How Iran-Contra Betrayed Black and Brown America”

Ladies and gentlemen,

We gather today not just to remember a scandal, but to confront a truth—a truth buried beneath covert operations, political maneuvering, and televised denials. The Iran-Contra affair wasn’t just a foreign policy blunder. It was a domestic betrayal. And its consequences didn’t just echo through the halls of Congress—they thundered through the streets of South Central Los Angeles, Harlem, and countless Black and Brown neighborhoods across this nation.

While President Reagan’s administration secretly sold arms to Iran and funneled the profits to the Contras in Nicaragua, another pipeline was being built—one that trafficked crack cocaine into our communities. The same administration that declared a “War on Drugs” was complicit in fueling it. The hypocrisy is staggering.

Let me be clear: this wasn’t just about drugs. It was about devastation. Families torn apart. Futures stolen. Generations criminalized. The profits from these illicit sales helped fund a foreign war, while the cost was paid in American lives—Black and Brown lives.

Danilo Blandón, a Nicaraguan drug trafficker, admitted under oath that profits from his cocaine operation in Los Angeles were funneled directly to the Contras. And yet, while the architects of this scheme walked free, our communities were left to pick up the pieces. The Reagan administration’s policies led to mass incarceration, with sentencing laws that disproportionately targeted crack cocaine—used predominantly in Black neighborhoods—over powder cocaine, favored by white users.

This wasn’t just negligence. It was systemic violence.

And what did we get in return? A generation of young Black men locked away. Mothers grieving sons. Children growing up without fathers. Entire communities destabilized. All while the government denied, deflected, and delayed accountability.

We must name this for what it was: a betrayal of justice. A betrayal of trust. A betrayal of the very citizens our government is sworn to protect.

But we are not here to mourn—we are here to mobilize. To demand transparency. To rewrite the narrative. To ensure that history does not repeat itself in silence.

Let this be our call to action: to educate, to advocate, and to hold power accountable. Because the cost of silence is too high. And the time for truth is now.

Thank you.