Here Diff'rent Strokes was graced with a cameo appearance by the then First Lady, Nancy Reagan, who promotes "Just say no", which was a friendly sub-set of her husband's War On Drugs which was being fought here in the USA.
This was all well-intentioned, as this is a high stakes matter, but given Ronald Reagan's drug policies were (intentionally or unintentionally) targeted to the black community, it's kind of ironic that Arnold Jackson became an enabler of this policy. I'm not sure if the producers recognized this at the time, but looking back, they must be looking askance at how they were co-opted by the White House to promote Reagan's drug policies that targeted the black community.
This was all well-intentioned, as this is a high stakes matter, but given Ronald Reagan's drug policies were (intentionally or unintentionally) targeted to the black community, it's kind of ironic that Arnold Jackson became an enabler of this policy. I'm not sure if the producers recognized this at the time, but looking back, they must be looking askance at how they were co-opted by the White House to promote Reagan's drug policies that targeted the black community.
