Look Who it Was Random video

1988 UNCUT: "George H.W. Bush Tours Raided L.A. CRACK HOUSE" (Archive)

4,796 views · Published 1 December 2018 · 8:39 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: Hezakya Newz & Films · 2018 · News & Politics

Watch on YouTube

The footage captures then-Vice President (and presidential candidate) George H.W. Bush touring a recently raided Los Angeles "crack house" alongside LAPD Chief Daryl Gates, the notorious architect of modern paramilitary policing.

​Bypassing the media's framing of a "tough on crime" politician seeking ground-level truth, the archive exposes the exact mechanics of carceral propaganda. 

The destroyed, inner-city home is not treated as a site of communal tragedy; it is utilized purely as a movie set for federal and local elites. 

The police officers casually describe the drug operation's "teller window," accidentally highlighting the sociological reality of the drug trade: 

It is simply hyper-capitalism operating in the underground market, mirroring legitimate banking structures because the state has criminalized the commodity.

​Furthermore, the archive documents the terrifying normalization of the militarized police state. 

The officers and Bush casually discuss the deployment of SWAT and the infamous LAPD motorized battering ram—a literal armored military vehicle used to smash through residential walls. 

This represents the definitive moment when domestic police departments fully transitioned from civilian peacekeepers to an occupying military force. When Bush finally turns to the camera and claims, "It's not show business," it is the ultimate gaslighting. 

The entire event—a Vice President flying to Los Angeles to walk through a shattered home surrounded by cameras and armored police to boost his election polling—is the very definition of political show business, manufactured on the backs of a marginalized, heavily policed community.

​Key Archival & Sociological Moments:

​[01:05] – The Economics of Prohibition: 

An officer describes a gun next to the "teller window... it reminded me of a bank, you know, you put your money in a tray and you get your drugs out." 

Sociologically, this illustrates that the underground economy perfectly mimics the structure of American capitalism. 

The violence and fortification are not inherent to the community; they are the direct, structural requirements of protecting untaxed capital in a criminalized market.

​[03:16] – The Militarization of the Neighborhood: 

The officers discuss the tactical deployment of SWAT and how the "ram" (the LAPD's V-100 armored vehicle) got stuck penetrating the steel doors. 

This casually exposes the extreme, disproportionate force normalized under Daryl Gates. 

The state deployed weapons of war against a residential structure, treating an American neighborhood like a foreign combat zone.

​[05:55] – The Ego of the State: 

An officer explains that the fortification of the house sends a message that "you can't get in to get us... and that just is unacceptable." 

This strips away the moral argument of the War on Drugs, revealing it as a raw, territorial turf war. 

The police are offended not primarily by the drugs, but by the brazen challenge to their absolute authority and monopoly on violence.

​[06:57] – The Political Gaslighting: 

George H.W. Bush states, "It's not show business, it's trying to learn and understand and then take action... if I'm elected." 

This is a masterpiece of political cynicism. 

He explicitly links the tour of the destroyed home to his electoral ambitions, seamlessly transforming the trauma of the crack epidemic into a campaign advertisement for the expansion of the carceral state.
​
#1988Archive #UrbanSociology #HezakyaNewzAndFilms #RawArchive #WarOnDrugs #SystemicCritique #DarylGates #LAPDHistory #CarceralState #DocumentaryFootage

More from this channel