AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Panic Exceeded Evidence
- Early small studies and sensational media created the 'crack baby' panic more than solid evidence did.
- That panic mapped onto existing white fears about black urban communities and amplified racist narratives.
Childhood TV Propaganda Image
- Sarah recalls seeing a TV segment of a tiny, fragile baby used as anti-drug propaganda when she was a child.
- That image shaped her childhood impression that crack babies were numerous and doomed.
Medical Language Fueled Racial Fears
- Medical elites described dramatic social deficits in exposed children, language that played directly into racial fears.
- Those claims often lacked robust data and reflected racialized assumptions about humanity and socialization.