Letter to the President

Letter to the President is a 2005 American documentary feature film directed by Thomas Gibson and produced by Quincy Jones III. The documentary explores the political ties between the inner-city hip-hop movement and national politics.
This film investigates the rise of the Republican right wing in America, and how it has impacted the African-American community. The documentary offers an alternative perspective on how Reagan-era policies led to the devastation of inner-city youth and how the hip-hop movement emerged as a protest. Letter to the President explores the different way in which the policies Reagan and Bush administrations have damaged the lives of black youth, from the government-approved distribution of crack cocaine in inner-city neighborhoods to economic policies that have widened the divide between the rich and the poor.
The documentary includes the last filmed interview with the late Gary Webb, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who wrote a controversial series of stories linking the CIA to crack cocaine trafficking. Webb's 1996 series in the San Jose Mercury News alleged that Nicaraguan drug traffickers had sold tons of crack cocaine in Los Angeles and funneled millions of dollars in profits to the CIA-supported Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s.
Gibson's film also parallels this phenomenon with the rise of rap and hip-hop music, and how their lyrics have provided a voice for disenfranchised youth. The film also includes interviews with KRS-One, 50 Cent, Quincy Jones, Russell Simmons, Damon Dash, Ghostface Killah, Dick Gregory, Amiri Baraka, along with Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Tavis Smiley and publisher Larry Flynt. Snoop Dogg narrates.

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