In The House I Live In, the War on Drugs is described as having become the ______.

• A. New Jim Crow
• B. New Red List
• C. New Gerrymandering
• D. New Poverty Class

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is that the War on Drugs functions as a new form of racial control. The House I Live In presents the film’s argument that aggressive policing, harsh sentences, and mass incarceration under drug laws have disproportionately hit Black and Latino communities, creating a caste-like system even as formal civil rights protections persist. Calling this the New Jim Crow captures how the criminal justice system acts as a modern mechanism of social exclusion, shaping who has rights and opportunities.

This framing matters because it moves beyond crime-fighting to show the broader social consequences—loss of civil rights, barriers to employment and housing, disenfranchisement, and family disruption—that sustain racial inequality. The other options don’t fit this portrayal: they refer to different concepts (a Red List, political district manipulation, or a new class of poverty) and don’t describe the documented social control dynamic the film emphasizes.