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Racism and Resistance

Racism and Resistance. Public Interest Collective. Wealth Gap Grows – White families have 20 times that of Black families median wealth 1984-2007 npr http://www.npr.org/2011/09/15/140428359/making-it-in-the-u-s-more-than-just-hard-work.

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Racism and Resistance

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  1. Racism and Resistance Public Interest Collective

  2. Wealth Gap Grows – White families have 20 times that of Black familiesmedian wealth 1984-2007 npr http://www.npr.org/2011/09/15/140428359/making-it-in-the-u-s-more-than-just-hard-work

  3. One Example ofInstitutional RacismCriminal “Justice”and Mass Incarceration

  4. The Crime of Criminal “Justice”

  5. USA Prisoners 2010 • Black males were 7 times as likely to be imprisoned as white males • 7% of all black males ages 30-34 were in state or federal prison

  6. Review the system:Use of DrugsPolice StopsArrestBail BondRepresentationTrialSentencingPrisonParoleFreedom

  7. “blacks and whites engage in drug offenses-possession and sales-at roughly comparable rates” May 2008 Targetting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the US - HRW

  8. From 2005 to 2008, 80% of NYPDStop and Frisk actionswere of Blacks and Latinos(who make up 53% of population).Once stopped85% of Blacks and Latinos were frisked compared to 8% of whites.

  9. Arrest

  10. “State-by-state data from 2006 show that blacks were arrested for drug offenses at rates in individual states that were 2 to 11.3 times greater than the rate for whites”March 2, 2009 Decades of Disparity HRW

  11. Blacks are 33% more likely to be detained awaiting felony trials than whites facing felony trials in some parts of NY state.NYState division of criminal justice services, 1995 study in disparities in processing felony arrests.

  12. Once arrested, 80% get

  13. “All too often, defendants plead guilty, even if they are innocent, without really understanding their legal rights or what is occurring…The fundamental right to a lawyer that America assumes applies to everyone accused of criminal conduct effectively does not exist in practice for countless people across the United States.”

  14. American Bar Association 2004Gideon’s Broken Promise

  15. Only 3-5% of criminal cases go to trial – rest are plea bargained.

  16. “Who wouldn’t rather do three years for a crime they didn’t do than risk 25 years for a crime they didn’t do?”

  17. Sentencing?Since 2005 (US v Booker)Black and Latino men receive federal sentences10-23% longer than whites.Report - March 2010

  18. African Americans comprise 13% of population and 14% of monthly drug users but 37% of persons arrested for drug offenses, and 56% of people in state prisons for drug offenses.May 21 2009 testimony before Congress of Marc Mauer The Sentencing Project

  19. Consequences for Drug Felons • No public housing • OK to discriminate against in private housing • OK to yank right to vote • OK to discriminate in employment • No food stamp assistance • No jury service • Prohibitions on associating with others

  20. Criminal “Justice” and Mass IncarcerationRacialized System of Social Control

  21. 1700s - Birth of Slavery1863 - Death of Slavery1877 - Birth of Jim Crow withdrawl of federal troops1950s-60s - Death of Jim Crow1980s - Birth of Mass Incarceration

  22. Stigma of criminality functions in much the same way as Jim Crow: • Legal boundaries between them and us; • Social and economic boundaries between them and us; • Cannot vote; • Can legally discriminate in jobs and housing; • Warehouse a disposable population;

  23. Poor whites and people of other ethnicity are also subjected to this system of social control because if they are out of line they are treated just like poor blacks – the worst possible treatment

  24. Criminal Justice System is Integral Part of the Domestic War on Marginalized

  25. Criminal Justice System is Part of the White Supremacist Domestic War on Marginalized

  26. Domestic War relies onTechnology of Domination (Criminal Justice System)forCaptureImmobilizationPunishmentLiquidation

  27. Thus Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, US jails & prisonsare all the same – domestic & international versions of domination

  28. So What?

  29. Don’t let anyone ever quash your dreams

  30. No Fear of Radical Change

  31. Recognize,This is as much aboutLiberating OurselvesasLiberating OthersIn factWe cannot Liberate OurselvesWithout engaging in Liberation with Others

  32. Anthony Mello:First, realize that you are surrounded by prison walls, that your mind has gone to sleep. It does not even occur to most people to see this, so they live and die as prison inmates. Most people end up being conformists; they adapt to prison life.A few become reformers; they fight for better living conditions in the prison, better lighting, better ventilation. Hardly anyone becomes a rebel, a revolutionary who breaks down the prison walls. You can only be a revolutionary when you see the prison walls in the first place.

  33. A radical approach to injustice means to go to the root of the problemnot trimming the leavesnot pruning the branchesbut ripping up by the roots the injustice.

  34. We need a radical redistribution of economic and political power…

  35. Justice Says People Are More Important Than Property Rights

  36. What to do? • Free Your Mind • Learn How Social Change Happens • Work with Organizations • Immerse Yourself in Human Rights • Solidarity • Love

  37. First, Liberate Your Heart, Mind and Spirit

  38. Refuse to put up with walls in our minds

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