Political equality may have been improving but economic conditions in black communities were as bleak as ever. The black community of the 1970s was just emerging from the race riots of 1964-1968 that spread through over 100 American cities. The black community also suffered a blow with the assassination of Martin Luther King Junior on April 4, 1968. In 1972 Richard Nixon started the war on drugs by declaring that drug abuse was "public enemy number one". However, this war on drugs was waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color. In the 1970s (and still today) citizens of color were far more likely to get stopped, searched, and arrested, than privileged white Americans.

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Being a person of color trying to get a job was not easy, especially in entertainment. Black actors, dancers, and singers, struggled to find a place they would be accepted for not only their skin color, but their humanity and their culture. Black performers were expected to "act white" to make it big. Sure, diversity was something the entertainment industry was starting to look for, but only at skin level. There was very little room for diverse storytelling and representation of other cultures.

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In the movie industry in the 1970s, a few black directors finally got the change to tell their own stories. Many of these films targeted young people of color encouraging them to rise up against their oppressors by depicting common forms of racism. Unfortunately, many white directing began using this film genre to perpetuate the stereotype already so problematic in America: that black people were violent by nature.