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Today's Top News
Get Justice Out From Behind Bars
In London, on the 200th anniversary of the outlawing of the slave trade, I found the media focused not on the anniversary or on the war in Iraq or even on Tony Blair's leaving the world stage. What garnered the most attention this weekend were the travails of Paris Hilton. As in America, Paris Hilton's jail sentencing gets virtually 24/7 coverage.
What's most interesting about the Hilton saga is the light it shines on the unmentionable. Some argue that she should not have to do time in jail; that jails aren't the place for a person like her. Beautiful, young, wealthy white women, we are told, could be at risk in these jails.
Unspoken, of course, is the assumption that jails are meant for poor, young people of color, particularly young African-American males. And no country locks up as many of its young as the United States. For African Americans, the numbers are staggering. According to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, one in seven African-American males are currently or permanently disqualified from voting because of criminal charges. One in three young black males between the ages of 18 and 39 will spend time in prison, on parole or probation.
Is that because African-American men are particularly violent and murderous? No, 70 percent of the young people in prison are there for nonviolent crimes -- largely drugs, petty theft, alcohol or status abuses (violation of curfew, etc.). These are the crimes of the poor, the struggling, the left behind. This country chooses not to treat them, educate them or lift them up, but to lock them up.
Presidential candidate John Edwards was asked if he thought Hilton's treatment was proof that there are two Americas. Edwards honorably said he didn't want to get in the middle of the Hilton craze. But, of course, there are two Americas. The children of the affluent are tracked toward Yale. Their parents are committed and educated. They are taught to read when they are young. They are taken to museums. They see the world. They get preschool, after-school and summer programs.
For one in five children growing up in poverty, the world is different. Too often they live in one-parent households. Money is short; streets are mean. Their parent has little time and too often little knowledge about how to stimulate infants. These kids are often deprived of basic nutrition and health care. There are no books in the house. The TV is the baby-sitter. The streets are the summer program. They move from place to place, but don' t have a chance to see the world. They are tracked toward jail, not Yale.
No other industrial nation locks people up as America does. And no other industrial nation does such an abysmal job treating those who are arrested. The most successful jail program in terms of breaking the cycle of crime, and the revolving door inside and outside of prison, is high school and college education. Those who take advantage of jail-education programs have a much better shot at going straight when they come out. But funding for college-degree programs for prisoners has dried up.
Paris Hilton -- young, beautiful, wealthy and white -- has come into contact with America's criminal justice system. However discomfited, she has little to fear. She has lawyers, shrinks, reporters and fans. She'll be protected wherever she ends up. But literally millions of young men and women her age, charged with nonviolent crimes, will end up in that same system, without lawyers, without psychiatrists, without much hope. Hilton's scrape with jail will only add to her celebrity. For the poor, their time served will only dig them deeper toward the bottom. We can do better than that.
Jesse Jackson: jjackson@rainbowpush.org
© Copyright 2007 Sun-Times News Group
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11 Comments so far
Show Allso, uncle jesse, care to explain to me WHY this crap happens in our country? racism? sure. fear of alternative consciousness (aka war on non-profit making, non-Big Pharma drugs)? sure. economics? sure, that's part of it, but imprisoning massive amounts of people is a colossal economic waste (e.g., how much does a year in jail cost vs a year of school)?
part of it may be 2 things: 1) make an example of uppity, unruly people. step out of line by smoking a j and what the hell do you think is gonna happen to you for taking on the pentagon? crack the whip, publicly, repeatedly, brutally, for the "enlightenment" of us all.
2) capitalism requires the myth that people are getting what they deserve. the rich are rich b/c of their "virtue", the poor are poor b/c of their "vice." so a penal code is devised to reinforce the myth.
anyway, another stellar example of how utterly wasteful capitalism is. of $$ and life.
America has a lot of people who are punitive. They can only see from their own projection, so if an individual is caught in a petty crime, they just see that he or she is "guilty." There is no insight into the conditions that may have caused the behavior, little wish on the part of most to help or show compassion, in short everything Jesus would NOT do. Then they call themselves Christian, but we are living in Orwellian times where the Decider can determine if good is bad and bad is good, if fair is foul and foul is fair. Gotta keep your minds strong my friends, the twists and turns on the cognitive wheel are ripe for crazy making. Wonder why so many veg out at the TV, or get fat, or ingest prosac, or booze out? This is a really PAINFUL reality to navigate when so many are becoming inured to FEELING and can care LESS about other people and their welfare. I seem to remember a Bible story about this type of behavior and how Cosmic agencies (i.e. what most call GOD) gave mankind a few tests and a chance to clean up its behavior: You know, "whatsoever you do unto the least of these you do unto me." And when nothing changed, when the mean got meaner, when the rich made money FROM war, when the planet was burning and the seas rising and those living comfortably could not be bothered to change an iota of behavior... well then, big things like great floods begin a bursting.
Jesse, you could help by urging black ministers not to accept money from the drug warriors to keep the drug war raging in the guise of getting kids off drugs. And by fighting for drug legalization and treating drug addiction as the medical problem it is, not the criminal problem the fascists want it to be. Some countries have done just that very successfully. But you already knew that. I simply wonder why your article doesn't mention drug legalization. Politicians...
Too many bad, bad people in high, monied places benefit from the bogus "drug war".
I used to be against drug legalization until I saw all the violent crime associated with it, not to mention all the people being locked up over it.
We can and should fight a drug war, but in a proper way, through education and treatment, as well as preventing whatever stuff we can from getting in our country in the first place. I mean you can't tell me that our gov't doesn't let or bring this stuff in and profit from it.
I do not see any proof that Hilton was "tracked toward Yale". Or that she was "taught to read". Or that she was "taken to museums". Or got "preschool, after-school and summer programs".
Thus, she has ended up in the same place as the 1 in 7 Black/Latino boys.
The system works for all, rich and poor -
now that's democracy for you!
Money talks.
".. For African Americans, the numbers are staggering. According to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, one in seven African-American males are currently or permanently disqualified from voting because of criminal charges. One in three young black males between the ages of 18 and 39 will spend time in prison, on parole or probation."
Jesse you should use your influence to change the laws that keep so many from voting and getting a job.
They should not be treated with injustice and unfairness just because they went to jail.
This is keeping millions of African-Americans in a slave-like situation. We need them all to vote and to keep decent jobs. Please help to stop the abuse !
Indeed. Why do we keep felons from voting but how many convicted felons do we actually have IN congress, the senate or in local government? I'm really not sure of what the current numbers might be but even 1 is indicative of a highly hypocritical system of justice.
On the other hand President Crackhead willy doesn't seem like such a bad idea compared to a President Bush.
WHY do we do this, someone asked, and one answer is that there is profit in imprisonment--it costs society a lot of money, but special interest lobbyists "invest" in campaign donations on this as well as other issues, e.g. California corrections officers association lobbying for the three strikes law.
But I think another reason is cultural--some say it stems form Protestantism: a love of punishment. Siouxrose alluded to projection, and I think she's on the mark. The psychological dynamic is to see anyone found guilty of any crime as GUILTY and EVIL, project all guilt and evil onto such people, and then punish the hell out of them to try to make that ugly sin within go away. I believe this dynamic is the reason politicans find it prudent to be more "tough on crime" than their opponents. A large segment of our population wants everything in black and white, prefers to live in a Saturday-morning cartoon world where viciousness towards "bad guys" is a virtue.
Jesse you know as well as anyone else that the real criminals are the viciously trained animals that continue to pervert our justice system. From the judges to the prosecutors, to the jailers and the street cop. The paid for lawyer who can bribe the court staff and the public defender who plea bargains our brothers lives away. The very system that put you behind bars in the 60's for committing a non-violent act is the same system today that will parade Paris Hilton on TV for months. They are all in bed together! They have no sense of ethics and morality, true brotherhood or what it means to live by the laws. Since they make the laws, they think that they are above the law and will twist and break the law. We are feared still, that is why we are relugated to poverty and put behind bars. They keep us unable to take care of our family's and it continues the stereotype of us as being lazy, shiftless and etc... We know the truth, we know who the real criminals are, they are the ones making weapons of mass destruction, the ones who are dropping bombs on innocent people of different countries with different religions. It is amazing that they can call themselves Christian and know not what it means to "love thy neighbor" (black american brethen).
Look at the Economic system and the unequal distribution of wealth, it tells the story of a greedy and shameful people who will not even share with those whose grandfather's built this blessed land. The corporations continue to measure the land in the smallest lots and put us on top of our neighbors and then charge us rediculous prices that enslave us for 30, 40 and now 50 yrs. They charge $3 a gallon for gasoline and reap profits that just sit and accumulate. Why hoard so much? Why not put a moratorium on corporate profits? Why not give us decent paying jobs to feed are families? Mr. White man that rules, you are not superior, nor are you the majority. You are made from the same dirt whence we all came. Open up your hearts and stop killing people with your guns, man-made diseases, false religion and etc...This earth was made for all of us to enjoy, not just you and your frat brothers or country club friends. Stop oppressing us now! So what, we have bad credit, it is only because we resent your oppressive system that is still unequal. You set it up on a quota system, then give our quota to someone else. Those whom you let participate, you handcuff when they try to move ahead or help someone. Surely you have your non-for profit organizations, but what do they do with their funding, but inflate their officers salaries so that they might have a decent wage. It seems like it all is a scam, so many have turned to alcohol, drugs and tobacco to fill the void. What are you going to do Mr. America to help the less fortunate, the downtrodden and the poor? Continue to kick dirt on them or open your purse and give us a piece of change like you give Haliburton and Associates. Or elect another Republican President? It is time to face the truth and stop making excuses for your injustice, lies and deceit. Every man of color you kill and imprison God has remembered, every person you drugged, God has remembered. Every aborted child you have slaughtered, God has remembered. Every woman you have raped God has remembered. Everything you have stolen, God has remembered, and will not forget until you completely turn around and give back what is not even yours. Remember you have only been a steward of it all and will not rule forever. Until his Kingdom comes, seek Peace and pursue it!
This article is yet another reason why I believe in reparations. It's just the right thing to do.