Angela Davis is adamant about how the prison has become an
evolved form of slavery and ultimately racism. The prison system started out
letting slave owners still have access to "slaves" after slavery had
ended. Slave owners were allowed to have prisoners do labor as a punishment for
their crimes, and most of the time it was African Americans being punished in
this way. Some may argue that our prison system does not work in the same way
that it used to, and that the prison is punishing people for their crimes
regardless of skin color. But if that were the case, white individuals would be
imprisoned at the same rate as individuals of color because, not one race has a
greater chance of committing crimes than others. But, this is not what we see
happening. In prisons in
2016, we saw 1,608 black prisoners for every 100,000 black adults compared
to 274 white prisoners for every 100,000 white adults. This is a vast divide
between black prisoners and white prisoners that does not make sense given our
population. If race does not determine who commits crimes and who does not, why
do we see such a disparity in races in our prison populations?
We see this disparity because of an underlying
notion of racism within how our prison system has been built. Angela Davis
says, "racism surreptitiously defines social and economic structures in
ways that are difficult to identify and thus are much more damaging" (p.
38). Meaning racism is not always visible. Racism is not always obvious. When
this is the case, we assume that the structures that are the most racist are
okay and doing their job. We assume that these structures are not harming
anyone. This is what makes the prison system so dangerous. The general public
will believe that prisons are put into place to keep the "bad guys"
out of society and to make them "learn" their lesson. The public will
believe that if anyone is in the prison system it is because of something they
have done and not because of any social inequalities. So, when racism hides in
the prison system it harms people of color because it directly targets them and
at the same time normalizes this harm by letting the general public believe
that people of color must commit more crimes than other races because there is
such a bigger population of black prisoners than white prisoners.
Another form of racism that may have once been considered
well-hidden is police
shootings. Of course, now police shootings are getting more attention and
individuals are protesting against the use of brutal force by police officers
disproportionately against people of color. Now in a time where social issues
are at the forefront of our news media outlets and other sources of information
is this the best time to also advocate for prison abolition? Can advocates take
advantage of the social change that is already happening and push for more
justice? I would say yes. I would say that now is the perfect time to do so
because people are going to be more willing than ever before to hear you out.
Of course prison abolition will not happen over night, but if prison
abolitionists start the work now and further the work done by past advocates
for prison abolition, this change could occur quicker than if advocates were to
not take advantage of the social change happening already.
Gramlich, J. (2018) The gap between the number
of blacks and whites in prison is shrinking. Pew
Research Center. Retrieved from: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact- tank/2018/01/12/shrinking-gap-between-number-of-blacks-and-whites-in-prison/
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