The House I Live In
Eugene Jarecki’s award-winning documentary, “The House I Live In,” is necessary viewing for anyone who mistakenly thinks continuing our disastrous War on Drugs, declared by Richard Nixon in 1971, is a good idea. The genius of this film is that it examines the toll our national folly and hypocrisy takes not only on entire communities of poor people, but also on the law enforcement personnel who do the manual labor for America’s splendid Prison Industry. By systematically dismantling the Drug War’s lies and propaganda, “The House I Live In” speaks truth to power. There’s plenty of shame to go around — but the bulk of it rests on the conscience of anyone (such as Barack Obama) who thinks incarcerating drug users accomplishes anything but the destruction of lives.
