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Often seen as a political sop to the racial fears of white voters, aggressive policing and draconian sentencing for illegal drug possession and related crimes have led to the imprisonment of millions of African Americansfar in excess of their representation in the population as a whole. Michael Javen Fortner shows in this eye-opening account that these punitive policies also enjoyed the support of many working-class and middle-class blacks, who were angry about decline and disorder in their communities. Black Silent Majority uncovers the role African Americans played in creating todays system of mass incarceration.Current anti-drug policies are based on a set of controversial laws first adopted in New York in the early 1970s and championed by the states Republican governor, Nelson Rockefeller.