Former President Ronald Reagan criminalizes economic inequality, drug abuse and hypersegregation in America in the form of "waging war on drugs". Mass amounts of African American's and people of color gain large sentences during the crack epidemic.
The poor relationship between the black community and the police is long standing, it's generational. The Law and Order Branch tends to operate against the liberties of people of color.
Chief Hopper teaches his kind not to underestimate small ants for they can unite into a mass group and defeat the grasshoppers. To Hopper, the core to control smaller species is to manipulate their mentality: continually frightening them, imprinting in their minds that they are powerless, keeping them away from the thought of uniting.
After smoking tobacco for quite some time, the gang (Robin, Lily, Ted, Marshall, and Barney) starts to have health issues. Lily's voice becomes hoarse, Ted is easily fatigued due to the reduced flow of oxygen in his blood stream, and Arthur Hobbs, in an extreme situation, has a heart attack.