I’m sure most of us have heard much of this before, but during the week of the Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday, and as we ease on down the road of the 2012 campaign season, the bitter subject of mass black incarceration needs to be raised at full volume once again. Many props to one of my favorite shows, Democracy Now!, for airing this recent episode focusing on this topic, featuring longtime activist Randall Robinson and Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow.

A few things to note in the following excerpt of the interview, which should really be heard in full,  and the number one thing to note is that half of all young black men in America (or at least half in major urban areas which is where most of them are) have been incarcerated or are on parole. As Robinson points out, this not only affects their ability to vote, it has the potential to wreck the rest of their lives. If we still cherish the oft-stated belief that our children are our future then we’re either looking forward to a swirling storm or a blank canvas, depending on how your glasses operate.

From Democracy Now!

AMY GOODMAN: And let’s talk about what happens when you have a person going to prison, how that affects the rest of their life. First of all, just the astounding figures. It’s something like half the young black men in this country have been incarcerated or on parole, probation. Half?

MICHELLE ALEXANDER: Yes. Well, you know, in large urban areas, half or more than half of working-age African-American men now have criminal records and are the subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives. In some cities like Chicago, it’s been estimated that nearly 80 percent of working-age African-American men have criminal records and are now part of this undercaste, a group of people, defined largely by race, that are relegated to a permanent second-class status by law.

 

Discrimination is bad enough, but when it becomes legalized then it borders on government-sanctioned terrorism.

This is being cross-posted at Black Liberal Boomer

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