Genocide as Representative Anecdote: Crack Cocaine, the CIA, and the Nation of Islam in Gary Webb's “Dark Alliance”

Abstract

In 1996, a journalist at the San Jose Mercury News wrote a series of articles claiming CIA complicity in the circulation of crack cocaine among African Americans in South Central Los Angeles. I argue that this series functioned within the representative anecdote genocide that has long resonated with the experiences of many Black Americans and supported the rhetorical strategies of groups like the Nation of Islam. By interrogating the Nation of Islam's deployment of the so-called “Dark Alliance” narrative, I highlight how the threat of erasure functions as a central, if flawed, rhetorical tool in the constitution of a people.

Keywords:

• Black Nationalism
• Crack Cocaine
• Genocide
• Kenneth Burke
• Nation of Islam
• Representative Anecdote

The author wishes to thank Barry Brummett, Dana Cloud, Ashley Mack, editor Brian Ott, and two blind reviewers for indespensible feedback.

Notes

For critiques of the mainstream media attack on Webb, see Grim (2009a; 2009b) and Solomon (1997).

While my analysis does not hinge on the credibility of Webb's journalism, a 1998 Senate Committee Report and subsequent journalistic investigations have largely vindicated his claims (see Grim, 2009a; 2009b; Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, 1998).

Initially, Muhammad's son, Warith ud-Deen Muhammad, assumed the mantle of the NOI. However, after he took the organization in a more mainstream political direction and changed its name, Farrakhan broke with him and reformed the NOI with a renewed allegiance to Black Nationalism and Muslim orthodoxy (Walker, 2005).

Scholars such as John Sloop (1996) and Carol Stabile (2006) provide excellent analyses of the racialized discourses associated with mass incarceration.

Burke (1941/1973) recognized nothing less in his study of Hitler's rhetoric.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bryan J. McCann

Bryan J. McCann (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin) is Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Communication at Marian University.