Modern Day Racism (3) Mass Incarceration

    America... The land of some free, home of the slaves. The concept of a history class fosters the notion that everything we learn is in the past and has no effect on us today, but that couldn't be further from the truth. In 1865 the 13th amendment freed the formerly enslaved Black people and ended slave labor, or so they thought. There was a loophole, the amendment allowed for imprisoned people to be forced into labor. While many people opposed slave labor, southerners had built their wealth on the backs of enslaved Black people. Since their wealth was contingent on a newly outlawed system of oppression, they quickly shifted to a new system, the prison system. Soon after the 13th amendment was ratified all sorts of new laws infamously known as "Black Codes" made being Black terribly hard and often times illegal. Black people had to show proof of employment every year or face jail time, and hard taxes were imposed on them that if they failed to pay would result in jail time, and if they were homeless they could face jail time or be forced into plantation labor. What does this have to do with today?

    We hold over a fifth of the world's prison population while making up less than a twentieth of the world's population. In theory, prisons are supposed to punish bad people, deter other criminal behavior, and most importantly rehabilitate those criminals. Here in America though, we focus a vast majority of our energy and money on punishment and try to ruin criminals' lives as much as possible. We still use cruel and outdated methods of punishment like solitary confinement, even though they are in violation of our constitution and are considered torture by international law. Our prison systems have a history of corruption and cruelty from the guards and prisons are extremely expensive for American's, costing 80 billion dollars annually.

    Different methods have been used throughout the years but it is an undeniable fact that Black people are continually targeted by the Prison system making them second-class citizens. Cocaine is a drug used in large part by rich white communities. Crack is a derivative of cocaine and is much more common in Black communities. Someone convicted of possessing one gram of crack would be sentenced 100 times harsher than someone in possession of one gram of powdered cocaine. This is the legacy of the infamous drug war that locked up thousands of Black men and villainized an entire race. During the drug war in America many laws and policies were created that terribly impacted the Black community and gave rise to massive prison populations encompassd by Black people.

    The prison system we have today is predatory and racist, and while in theory we are supposed to rehabilitate criminals and help reintroduce them into society, in all reality our system makes it as tough as possible for them to create a new life. Stigmas against prisoners prevent many from finding stable employment. Ex-Convicts are denied public housing, public education, access to jobs, and their right to vote. On top of everything that's against them, they can be sent back to Prison for non-crime parole violations forcing them to serve more time without having committed any additional crimes. Jails often stack bail and many fines on people, meaning if you are rich you can often pay for your freedom whereas poor people are stripped of their freedom because of their financial situation. This predatory practice is not limited to people in jail as ex-convicts are refused the right to vote in a majority of states, in part because of fines. Prisoners are often billed for things they have nothing to do with in order to pay off the Prison's extra expenses. Even after they have done their time and gotten past whatever restrictions they have for voting, they can still be denied the right to vote if they have unpaid fines. Our system is backwards, it prays on the poor and attacks Black people.

    Throughout all of these blog posts, it's important to keep in mind that history is not in the past, there are still millions of people in the prison system today. America as a whole is poorer because of this and not just in the monetary sense. Families are broken, the cycle of poverty is perpetuated, society becomes more dangerous, and America becomes less democratic, all because of Mass Incarceration. Our system is also extremely expensive for American taxpayers and preys on the poor. Talking about Mass Incarceration is the first step in solving its problems and racist legacy. We must decouple our beliefs of Blackness and criminality and recognize the damage racist media depictions have had on the Black community. We must fight against racially biased policing and racist laws that attack POC. We must work towards a better future in America where we step away from the unfair punishment system and move towards a better, safer society.


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How will you incorporate Mass Incarceration in your curriculum? (write it out)

What are the first steps in your plan? (take action)


Further Reading:

Podcast - Throughline: Reframing History: Mass Incarceration

Podcast - Throughline: Policing in America

*Podcast - Planet Money: Fine and Punishment

Teachable Content:

Mass Incarceration in the US (3 min) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaPBcUUqbew

The Economics of the Prison Industrial Complex (13 min) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No7HGqJz9Wg

Slavery to Mass Incarceration (5 min) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4e_djVSag4

*Why the US Prison System is the Worst in the Developed World (15 min) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNhlXUBNJPE&t=607s

Questions/Debates/Essay Topics:

(ask before the learning to uncover their biases) Is there a reason so many black people are in our prisons?

(followup after new learning) After this new learning, why do you think there are so many black people in our prisons? What influenced you to give your previous answer?

Does our criminal justice system work?

How does our criminal justice system trap people in poverty?

How would you solve our criminal justice system? (Great essay question to have them do their own research and get passionate about creative solutions to the prison problem)

Is there a link between historical racism and our current criminal justice system? If so, how are they linked?

Why does America have so many people in prison?

Did America always have extremely packed prisons? What caused that change?

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