Purchase or borrow the
Four That Got Away Display

The Four That Got Away Campaign - exposing drug war hypocrisy

A display and new broadside

Imagine these familiar faces at your drug war event. The happy faces in the Four That Got Away Display -- George W. Bush, Al Gore, Newt Gingrich, and Bill Clinton -- contrast sharply with the outrageous prison sentences of ten drug war prisoners who make up this laminated graphic display.

Using the display is easy. Visually powerful, it will help you, or your group educate others about drug war hypocrisy. The laminated drug law violators are just about life sized, and fit in to just about any event - just like other people do.

Invited to a party? Ask your host if you can bring some extra friends. They don't eat or drink a thing, but they keep the conversation going. Participating in a demonstration? These folks will ride in the trunk and double the size of your protest - without protest. These life-sized volunteers love to hang out with activists wherever you meet.

Order Four That Got Away Broadsides

Download and print your own Broadside!

The Message?

Not in prison, in power!

When the rich and politically connected buy and use illegal drugs, they rarely face criminal sanctions. In the United States it's "alive and in graduate school" for one class of citizens - prison and stigma for another.

It wasn't until a major news reporter said that G.W. Bush "certainly did drugs until 1974"(1), that the presidential candidate told reporters he "had not used illegal drugs for the past 25 years."(2)

Few have forgotten Bill Clinton's MTV, "I didn't inhale, didn't try it again . . . but I wish I had," lines.

Al Gore admits to illegal drug use in college and the Army. A co-worker, and close friend at the Tennessean newspaper, supported allegations of regular recreational marijuana use by Gore.(3)

The most candid admission of past illegal drug use is from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who declared, "Smoking marijuana was a sign we were alive and in graduate school in that era." (4) Today he is a 'senior fellow' with the American Enterprise Institute.

These four men, equally representing Democrats and Republicans, used their political office to intensify the war on drugs by broadening police powers, search and seizure, and mandatory prison sentences. Each are responsible for expanding prosecutorial authority - all at the cost of ordinary citizens' civil liberties.

When Bush dodged questions of illegal drug use he said people could "go find somebody else to vote for" and that "voters are weary of the politics of personal destruction."(5)

Why must ordinary people's families be destroyed by drug arrest and imprisonment?

The drug war has produced millions upon millions of life-long felons. Today, on any given day in our country there are over two million prisoners.

Incarceration rates of the last twenty years have made the United States the world's leading jailer. The U.S. imprisons its citizens at rates three to ten times higher than other democratic societies. Punitive drug laws enacted in the 1980s, and to the present, have resulted in 25% of all prisoners in the United States serving time for a drug law violation. In the federal system, these people make up about 60% of the prison population.

Many states, struggling to balance their budgets, are beginning to release drug war and other nonviolent prisoners early. Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is growing faster than any state prison system in the country, with no parole or hope of early release.

Use your power! Stop the hypocrisy!

• Become a member of the November Coalition for $25 a year; $15 students; $6 prisoners
• Call, and visit your representatives
• Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper
• Speak out when leaders lie
• Invite us to speak in your community
• Share your views about the war on drugs with your friends and associates
• Call talk radio stations and speak up
• Register and never forget to vote
• Be involved in your government

The Four That Got Away Broadside is sure to make an impact with your audience. Use alone or with the full display.

Insert a Four That Got Away Broadside in your bill payments, correspondence to friends and family, or set up an informational table and hand them out to the public.

How November Coalition members use the display

The five-foot high, laminated figures, taped to an urban school hallway, drew attention from dozens of curious students and their parents at a recent public event. "Look, children," one teacher said to her assembled class, "these famous white men didn't go to prison, but these ordinary black and brown people are locked up for the same use of illegal drugs."

A smiling Bill Clinton laminate stood tall in the middle of a large community demonstration, easily held aloft by a marching volunteer. At a rally on the capitol steps of a southern state a visiting television crew was drawn immediately to the laminated faces for filming that later appeared on nightly news. As organizer, you can assume without much risk that many film reporters are artists at heart, and will be fascinated with this artistic ridicule of famous politicians' hypocrisy.

At a Sunday church service The Four display was carefully taped to the back windows of the meeting room. The sunlight through the windows left the human outlines of the display easily seen at a distance. Duct tape was used for this event, and with careful handling the removal from glass surfaces is not a problem. You will have to assess with care any other surface on which you plan to tape laminates. Taped side by side The Four display can take up about 20 feet of vertical surface, takes about 15 minutes to set up, and another 15-20 minutes to take down and pack.

It's been suggested that attaching a small lath or stick to the back of a laminate would make it easier to handle. Other ways to handle and display The Four include devising how to hang them side by side from a line or rope. These human posters are carefully laminated to withstand a certain amount of rough handling and rolling into a cylinder's shape for easy removal and storage.

The Four That Got Away Display is a dramatic eye-catcher, a quick, visual lesson for children and adults alike on drug war hypocrisy, and a special tool you may want for your planned event.

Don't forget to order broadsides to give to the public that view the display or use on their own.

This campaign was inspired by The DC Action Committee.

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