Barry Burch Explains How Mass Incarceration Makes People Rich (677 hits)
by Barry Burch Jr.
Let’s face it, poor people, especially poor black people are considered and portrayed as d**n near worthless in America. That was seen first hand in the recent killing of Black teenager, Trayvon Martin, at the hands of an adult George Zimmerman, who was acquitted of all charges. Contrary to what is told to most children growing up, to some, Blacks are only valuable when they’re in jails and prisons. Inside of these institutions they can generate corporate revenues of $30,000 to $40,000 a year, according to columnist at Truthdig.com, Chris Hedges. “This use of the bodies of the poor to make money for corporations fuels the system of neo-slavery that defines our prison system,” he said.
Sadly America imprisons more of its citizens than anywhere else in the world. For tens of millions of people, America is nothing more than a land of imprisonment, not freedom. There are 2.7 million that have parents behind bars in this country and these children are more likely to be incarcerated themselves. There just isn’t much opportunity in poor communities. Jobs are scarce, there is little to no vocational training, and educational opportunities and support structures are abysmal. Poor neighborhoods are by design, funnels for recidivism, which is the bread and butter of the prison-industrial complex.
With this formula in play in poor neighborhoods throughout America, Blacks have done what Italians and Jews who experienced similar plights during their migration to America did – experience with crime to put food on the table. When you do not have economic engines within your community, you create your own. It was not until Blacks began doing what they had to do; however, that the devastating “War on Drugs” came about. Admittedly, drugs helped destroy the Black family, but evidence has proven the government’s involvement in their existence. Moreover, what drugs did not destroy, the government did with their racist enforcement of the law.
To few people’s knowledge, drugs have always been used to demonize groups of people. Usually the drug will start out “clean” in the hands of Whites and slowly, but surely its reputation will change into that of disdain, and being primarily associated with whatever group of targeted people. For example, cocaine used to be as casual as drinking it in your soda (an ounce of crack can get you 50 years); opium was used at social gatherings (now its a Japanese thing), and marijuana was the former cigarette (” the Mexicans are ruining our country!”). As you can see, the only thing that changed about these drugs were their racial connotations.
So, why were drugs criminalized and made to be seen as substances for non-whites? Well, incarceration has become very lucrative for many private contractors, who regularly send their lobbyist to Washington to promote legislation that will further their interests. Why go through the trouble of dealing with affluent whites who have money for legal representation, when you can lock the poor blacks up who don’t? However, doing nothing to help the disadvantaged now might lead to the advantaged encountering similar treatment in the future. Bottom line, the primary interest of the contractors are to keep the jails and prisons full.
The ongoing hunger strike by inmates in the California prison system is one of the many attempts to draw attention to this fact. It’s simple: Prisoners are being taken advantage of. Most are working for nothing, and those who are being paid earn no more than a dollar an hour. Nonviolent offenders are rotting in jail for staggering periods of time. Guards are routinely using solitary confinement, forms of humiliation and physical abuse to keep prisoners broken and docile. These tactics are considered torture, according to international human rights organizations.
If we do nothing, nothing will happen. Is it so hard to believe that the bottom 15 percent of America will continue suffering? Why not take advantage of what can make you money if you lack morality, and there is no one to hold you accountable? This is modern day slavery. A group of people has been identified (the poor). They have been ostracized and are seen as outside the norm (Trayvon Martin). Their civil liberties are not protected (Gabrielle Conyers). They are concentrated (prisons and ghettos). Finally they are annihilated – (turn on the TV). Another example is in the 1960s when Black women who used crack were given $200 to be sterilized.
Our value will not be defined by the length or our prison sentence. Let’s put an end to this nonsense. What if an innocent you lied rotting in prison? What if a guilty you was there, but the sentence was grossly unfair and now you’re serving 25 years for a nonviolent crime. Wouldn’t you want some help, or would you just say, “I did the crime so let me do the time.” I know you wouldn’t, and neither would I. Wake up. Speak up. Get up. If not us, who?
Barry is a writer, speaker, and political activist. He jokes that when he isn’t reading he’s writing and vice-versa. After serving as President of his University and Fraternity, Barry is now working for the Denver City Council. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/barryburchjr
