• 1979
• August
• media
• print
• magazine
• Chicago
• Illinois
• Jimmy Carter

Chicago, Illionis - The first use of the phrase, 'Black-on-Black Crime' in national print media, was in the August, 1979 special issue of Ebony Magazine.

Since the early 1960s, whites tried to tie Black Americans to crime. Barry Goldwater tried it in the 1964 election for President. It did not work.

Once the 1965 Watts Riot ended, new calls were made for law and order. Yet, they still were not strong enough to join race with crime. That slowly changed as riots increased through 1967 and 1968.

By 1969, Richard Nixon ran for President as a law and order choice. The tactic of tying Black Americans to crime worked and Nixon was elected.

The term 'Black-on-Black Crime' was still limited in use in the early 1970s. Over the course of Nixon's time in office, the term became more widely used. Yet, by the late 1970s, it was still not a commonly used term in public. Ebony Magazine changed that with its special issue on the phrase.

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