Scarface
I saw the 1983 film "Scarface" again on AMC last
week (the edited, clean version). The movie, filmed in Miami,
Florida and Santa Barbara, California, chronicled what was
transpiring in Miami at the time during the violent drug trade. The
lead character in the film "Tony Montana" was an immigrant to Miami,
who wanted to become rich very fast and saw selling cocaine as the
answer to his poverty problems.
"Scarface" is often glorified by rappers, who
completely miss the message of the film, which is to avoid the drug
trade. Director Brian DePalma and writer/director Oliver Stone
showed the dangerous, depraved, paranoid and unhappy life that goes
with being a drug dealer. However, rappers quote sayings from the
film putting a positive spin on what is a very negative and harmful
lifestyle.
Only actress Lindsay Lohan snorts more cocaine than Scarface
Rappers promote the drug trade via music, rapping
positively about what is destructive behavior. This negatively
influences impressionable audiences, who quickly want the homes,
cars, jewelry, clothes and women, then get into the drug trade
trying to live like rappers (many of whom are just pretending for
the cameras, living on credit and rented luxury items).
The terrible consequences of drug dealing is far
more real than what rappers are showing you. Miami had quite a few
Tony Montanas running around in the 190s, who wreaked havoc on the
city. They bought up luxury homes, cars, jewelry and designer
clothes. Some drug dealers were buying several homes and businesses
in cash to launder the money. Their was so much money laundering
going on in Miami from the drug trade the federal government had to
make new rules for how much money one can deposit without it being
flagged and sent to the government for inspection ($5,000). If you
buy a house or car cash, the sale is sent to the government for
inspection to verify it did not come from the drug trade or any
other illegal sources.
While the drug trade did not personally touch my
life, I know someone who was profoundly affected by it. When I moved
to Miami in the 1980s as a kid, the drug trade was in full swing. I
didn't fully understand it, as I was a child, I just knew it was
something negative from what I was told and watched on the news with
my mom.
At the time my mom's friend's daughter was dating a
man a few had assumed to be a drug dealer shifting cocaine. He
bought a house, a Porsche and BMW. He wore a massive gold rope chain
and designer clothes. A young man with no job in possession of said
assets and no explanation as to how he acquired them, will draw
attention. He got my mom's friend's daughter pregnant. They were
both in their early twenties and living in luxury from the drug
trade. However, she and her mom were told his money came from his
dad's business. It wasn't until the police arrested him and all the
material possessions were taken away that it came home to everyone
he was a cocaine dealer. He was sentenced to many years in prison
and missed his daughter growing up.
As the saying goes, drug dealers end up dead or in
jail, if they refuse to leave the drug trade. Some were caught early
by police as small time hustlers and gave up on the trade, not
realizing it saved their lives and futures. Some leave the trade
when something terribly violent happens. I saw an interview with a
former drug dealer, who stated the very expensive watch he was
wearing, saved his life. A rival drug dealer opened fire on his
vehicle, but the bullet hit the watch, damaging his hand that was
covering his chest, but did not go through to his heart. He gave his
life to God after that and became a pastor.
A few years of living in luxury is not worth one's
life or a long stretch in jail. Leave the drug trade alone. If
you're not in it, don't get in it. If you're in it, get out now.
Turn your life around and do something honest with it.
