Slog - Comments on Black Man http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man Another statistic: More black men in the United States are behind bars than are in higher education, according to a new study by a Washington DC thinktank. Following a boom in prison construction and an increase in the numbers of people being incarcerated for non-violent crimes, there were 791,600 black men in American prisons and county jails in 2000, and only 603,032 enrolled in colleges and universities, according to the Justice Policy Institute, which favours alternatives to imprisonment.... Copyright 2008 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:51:33 -0800 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:55:32 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by jmr This is news? This "news" was in an Ice Cube song 15+ years ago:

And motherfuckers that say they too black
Put em overseas they be begging to come back
They say keep em on gangs and drugs
Yyou wanna sweep a nigga like me up under the rug
Kicking shit called street knowledge
Why more niggas in the pen than in college?

]]> jmr http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094674 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094674 Politics Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:03:36 -0800 Comment by MediaMentions Here is a link to an article with more statistics and general information on US jails today.

http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/showlink.aspx?bookmarkid=RV8C50TF2T73&preview=article&linkid=49dfbead-ed4a-4ae3-9c32-b92b78800fde&pdaffid=ZVFwBG5jk4Kvl9OaBJc5%2bg%3d%3d

BEst regards,
MediaMentions

]]> MediaMentions http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094677 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094677 Politics Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:05:36 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo I honestly believe that this is reason #1 that the War On Drugs was declared by Nixon in the first place -- to roll back the Great Society policies of the LBJ era and negate the advances of the Civil Rights movement. And of course the rise of privatization means that the modern prison system is a corporatized version of the Jim Crow tradition in the South of trumping up charges against black men, throwing them on chain gangs, and using that labor to build roads for next to no cost. An updated form of slavery, basically. Free labor, no rights, you're not allowed to leave, there's a chain around your leg, etc.

Providing college educations for everybody would obviously be cheaper than incarcerating such a large portion of the population, but if maintaining a permanent exploitable underclass is the whole idea then education would just be counterproductive.

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094692 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094692 Politics Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:16:23 -0800 Comment by Will in Seattle The War on Drugs was created to give employment (way before Nixon) to all the anti-moonshine cops right after Prohibition was repealed.

And it's been a continual farce ever since.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094704 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094704 Politics Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:23:32 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo Will: Okay, fair enough, but it was my understanding that the term "War on Drugs" was first used by Nixon, picking up on Johnson's "War on Poverty." And that the spike in incarceration rates that characterizes it followed.

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094816 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094816 Politics Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:20:45 -0800 Comment by max solomon charles, care to speculate on the reasons for this statistic?

is that the mayor of detroit heading for the hoosgow?

]]> max solomon http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094874 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094874 Politics Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:56:33 -0800 Comment by COMTE @5:

I think that's probably correct, but it only tells half the story, the other half being that incarcerations have also increased in concert with the privatization of the penal system.

Just like any other Capitalistic system, the corporate Incarceration Industry relies on an environment of steady, continual growth. And the easiest way to "grow the industry" is to simply find more excuses for throwing otherwise harmless people into prison - and KEEPING THEM THERE (or, which at least provides a mechanism that essentially guarantees recidivism.)

So long as putting people in jail is a for-profit enterprise, low-risk offenders, and particularly people of color who generally lack access to the sorts of legal resources educated/white people take for granted, will continue to flood into the system.

]]> COMTE http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094881 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094881 Politics Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:00:56 -0800 Comment by Beth Delaney Does anyone know what the corresponding number of Caucasians, Asians, Hispanics in jail and higher education are for comparison, or what percentage of the whole these numbers are?

]]> Beth Delaney http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094899 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094899 Politics Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:10:53 -0800 Comment by flamingbanjo Comte: Indeed. In California the Prison Guards union is one of the most powerful lobbying groups, and they consistently vote for every tough-on-crime, three-strikes-and-you're-out measure to come down the pike. We've created an economic incentive to increase crime -- the more criminals, the more tax dollars are funneled into private pockets and the more free labor is available for their prison sweatshops. Much like property forfeiture laws create an economic incentive for police departments to raid as many suspected drug dealers as possible, especially since the property seizures precede any convictions and the burden of proof is on the accused. All of which diverts resources away from fighting the sort of crime which is not a direct result of prohibition in the first place.

It's a neat little system. And nobody seems the least bit concerned that it has nothing to do with making us safer.

]]> flamingbanjo http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094930 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094930 Politics Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:30:41 -0800 Comment by keshmeshi No mention of the fact that almost all of those 600,000 black men in college are in their late teens/early 20s? Meanwhile, those almost 800,000 black men in prison likely run the gamut in ages, from teenagers to very old men.

]]> keshmeshi http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094959 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1094959 Politics Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:55:16 -0800 Comment by Trevor That's from an article reposted from 6 years ago. Still relevant. But worth noting the source.

]]> Trevor http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1095264 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/08/black_man#c1095264 Politics Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:55:32 -0800