Caged Bird

I would like to further build on Alexander's idea of the caged bird.  While we focused on the War on Drugs and the growing disparity of African Americans in jail, I would like to call attention to the communities from where these Black men are being plucked.

Earlier in the semester, I posted about my being native to the city, and if you've travelled outside of Foggy Bottom into my neighborhood, or the "lower income" part of the District also known as Ward 8, you'd probably agree with this hypothetical.  While in recent years, gentrification has become more evident, prior to this influx of White residents, the city has largely existed in segregation; the White population remained in the limits of the Northwest quadrant in neighborhoods like Dupont Circle, Woodley Park, Georgetown and Tenleytown.  There's shopping, grocery, restaurants, florists, metro access, you name it-- they've got it.  However, on a drive down Martin Luther King Avenue, the only thing you can bet on seeing on every block in a liquor store and a carry out.  Needless to say, MLK Avenue runs through Southeast.

Aside from Sidwell Friends, Banneker and The School Without Walls, all of which are in Northwest DC, High Schools in the district fail to prepare students for college.  There are growing numbers of Teach for America members in schools who do not know how to reach the children and they are being promoted in order to make it seem like the school systems are improving. Thus you have large numbers of young Black males who have either not made it to college or have dropped out because they were not prepared academically.  Their fathers? They may or may not be present in their lives, but let's focus on this generation.

Now there's Black males hanging out in their "low-income" neighborhoods during most of the day and night.  If they're working, it's for minimal pay, because we all know that a high school diploma isn't enough to gain employment for a decent salary.  Like your average college student, they probably smoke weed. BUT, there's patrol cars and jump outs in this neighborhood because a congregation of Black people means trouble, apparently.  One of the guys gets arrested for possession of an illegal substance, does a small sentence and then is released.  He's lost his job and is having trouble finding another one because of the felony.  There are no small businesses or retail stores in HIS neighborhood that might hire him, but there are liquor stores.  So now he's drinking, if he wasn't already.  Finds a job in Georgetown, but can't afford the uniform or the travel expenses to and from work, so he starts selling drugs in order to get himself on his feet.

A crime alert is issued for a suspect near Foggy Bottom snatching iPhones, he's Black and thus fits every detail of the description "Black Male", and is stopped, questioned and frisked.  No iPhone, but they find more drugs, and he's arrested yet again.  If he had a child or family, the struggle and need for money would increase, and thus the cycle continues.

REFORM. REHABILITATION. Unlock the cage.  

The United States vs. The Netherlands

My favorite reading so far has been Alexander's "The New Jim Crow" because I have found it so enlightening. Although I have long recognized the generality that the US has a lot of jails and a lot of people filling them, I never been aware of systematic racism involved. I am now conscious of the fact that mass incarceration unfairly targets black communities and that going to jail for petty, non-violent crimes can ruin lives by barring individuals from mainstream society. The cycle that has arisen from The War on Drugs is more than disturbing.

The War on Drugs began before I was born and I was not aware of its existence before doing the reading. This approach to ameliorating the drug situation in the United States is so characteristic of American policies for "fixing" problems.  The War on Drugs creates more problems just as abstinence-only education causes more teen pregnancies and prohibition caused more organized crime.  By ignoring the root causes of social problems and by inflicting the most serious punishment for these non-violent acts, the drug problem is not alleviated in the United States.

Our class discussion reminded me of the first time I visited the Netherlands in 2008.  I was visiting my sister while she studied abroad, and I ended up learning a lot about the country while I was there.  Although the Netherlands is perhaps best known for its legalization of marijuana, what I found more shocking was the over all approach to drug problems.  In opposition to the US policy, the dutch policy focuses on "diversion to care".  If a person is found with drugs the approach is to seize the drug with no further prosecution.  If prosecution takes place, the goal is not to punish but to enter the drug user into a rehabilitation program so that he or she can re-enter society.  In addition, there is a public program in the Netherlands to provide drug users with clean needles as to prevent the transmission of such diseases as HIV.  This approach may seem very radical to Americans, but statistics demonstrate that it is an effective program:

Social Indicator	Comparison Year	USA	Netherlands
Lifetime prevalence of marijuana use	2005	40.6% (ages 12 and up)1	22.6% (ages 15-64)2
Past year prevalence of marijuana use	2005	10.3% (ages 12 and up)1	5.4% (ages 15-64)2
Lifetime prevalence of heroin use	2005	1.5% (ages 12 and up)1	0.6% (ages 15-64)2
Incarceration Rate per 100,000 population	2008	756 3	100 4
Per capita spending on criminal justice system (in Euros)	1998	€379 5	€223 5
Homicide rate per 100,000 population	2009	5.06	1.16

- See more at: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/netherlands_v_us#sthash.i35tLXQw.2O6s7O8C.dpuf

As you can see, a comparison between drug policy in the United States and the Netherlands is astounding in many ways. Why wouldn't the United States use an approach that is more effective, if the concern is to help the drug problem in the United States? 

My response to this question is that the War on Drugs in the United States combines some seriously flawed notions of capitalism and racism. An increase in jails and the incentive given to police officers to round up as many drug users as possible has created many issues. Most importantly, as Alexander points out, this unstoppable system specifically targets people of color and destroys communities.  It is astounding that, although white men are just as likely or more likely to do drugs, it is black men who are targeted.  

The United States and the Netherlands are different, in my opinion, because they have two different objectives.  The Netherlands wants to rehabilitate drug users and enter them back into society.  The United States wants to destroy drug users and hide them away from society --- especially if those drug users come from low-income communities of color. The War on Drugs demonstrates just one way that institutionalized racism still exists in America. 

Why do you think that the United States and Netherlands approach drugs so differently? 

Same Face, New Mask

This blog post is in response to Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow. After reading portions of the novel, it is apparent to me that majority the American population continues life as usual instead of demanding and protesting the justice system that has become a systematic industry of social control. In the introduction Alexander refers to the adage, “the more things change, the more they stay the same”. Society has gone through several eras of racial and gender inequality in the hopes of achieving equally. Regardless of the strides that were made, the status quo of society reappears in different forms. Much like voter disenfranchisement that occurred during the Jim Crow era, convicted persons often lose their right to vote in local and state elections even after completing their sentence. This issue is pertinent in Florida where individuals who have completed their sentences, parole and probation have to be granted their right to vote; which may be drawn out over a year. The argument is made that individuals who commit crimes forfeit their rights to vote. However if the criminal justice system claims to rehabilitate incarcerated persons, it should be understood that once their provisions are completed they can reenter in society. Withholding the voting rights of formerly incarcerated persons adversely affects the community’s ability to gain and protect their rights. A population with weak voting power often leaves it vulnerable to a sub par education system, and low environmental standards. It needs to be acknowledge that allow the grandfather clause is now longer in effect having a significantly large portion of African American males and other males of color in the correctional system has the same effect. Alexander calls for urgency and action in regards to the justice system. It is the fastest growing private industry in the country. Many studies have shown that the system is biased and targets effects particular individuals. Once an individual has gone through the system, there are lastly effects which makes it difficult for them to get permanent housing, jobs and healthcare. The reality of the justice system can longer be ignored.Open and honest conversations about protocol,policing and sentencing may lead to the root of the biased system then leading to real change.

White role in Black Freedom Movement

What is the role of whites in the black freedom movement? Is there and should there be one? What should the role look like?

The role of white people in the black freedom movement between the 1950’s and 1970’s and even now is one that I honestly ponder on. As a white person, I wonder what is the role for me. To what extent should I lend my voice and hand to the movement? I certainly do not by any means desire to degrade people of color, rather I desire to foster an environment that allows for them to be seen and treated as fully equal with any other human being. At the same time, I understand that the black freedom movement is a black one. The rhetoric and actions in the black freedom movement can certainly influence, aspire, and strengthen other movements, but in the end, one must not forget its uniqueness and goals.

In Alice Walker’s Meridian, the character, Lynne Rabinowitz, interested me the most because I gained some insight to the role of whites in the 1960’s black freedom movement (although I by no means view Lynne as acting the sole representative as to how whites acted in the movement). One passage from the book stuck with me [Trueman’s thought after Tommy shuts him up for mentioning Lynne’s name]:

            By being white, Lynne was guilty of whiteness. He could not reduce the logic any further, in that direction. Then the question was, is it possible to be guilty of a color? Of course black people for years were “guilty” of being black. Slavery was punishment for their “crime.” But even if he abandoned this search for Lynne’s guilt, because it ended, logically enough, in racism, he was forced to search through other levels for it. For bad or worse, and regardless of what this said about himself as a person, he could not –after his friend’s words –keep from thinking Lynne was, in fact, guilty. The thing was to find out how. (Walker 140)

The questions raised by Trueman are valuable ones in my opinion. It’s slightly dismal for me to think about though. By being white, am I automatically going to be racist on some level of interactions with people of color, even in my best interest to not be racist?

Not just an American phenomenon.

In class today we touched on the debate surrounding of 'missing' African American father figures and Michelle Alexander’s views on Obama’s mentioning of this issue. She discusses Obama’s speech and indicates that it played upon the shallow and damaging stereotype that African American men are incapable or neglectful fathers. She indicates that the president did little to address the historical significance of his statements or to offer a solution. Her assertion that these missing fathers are in prison and that while white America perpetuates the image of the absent black father it is the intrinsically racist penal system that is causing this issue. The point she raises, that more black men are in prison today than were enslaved in 1850, was particularly shocking (though not surprising) to me. As was mentioned in class, the American justice system has manufactures a mode of legalised dehumanisation that is instilling the same form of hopelessness in African American men as slavery.

The debates raised in class encouraged me, once again, to assess whether the situation is comparable in my own country. Is this purely an American phenomenon or has is the hangover from slavery still very much present in the UK? My first search into Google brought up an article from a 2010 copy of The Guardian, a reputable left-wing newspaper.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/11/black-prison-population-increase-england

                The article has since been amended as it originally stated that the UK had a higher proportion of black people in prison than the US. While the paper was quick to correct itself it does provide some useful insights into a contrasting punitive system which experiences an overrepresentation of minorities but on a smaller scale. The article indicates that, like the US, the UK has “not got prison right.” A prominent issue in England in the past few years, particularly in London, has been ‘stop and search.’ Unsurprisingly black people are subjected to a much higher proportion of this interference, as although they make up only 3% of the population they experience 15% of stop and searches.

                One thing I found interesting in this article which is comparable to topics we have discussed in class is the rate at which persecuted young black British men are converting to Islam in prison, particularly in the south east. This is something I found reminiscent of black power.

                There are countless comparable incidents that have occurred in the UK. In class we have discussed the Rodney King, Troy Davis and Trayvon Martin cases which sparked justified outrage in the US. The UK is not without similar events. As some of you may remember, in August 2011 mixed-race father of four Mark Duggan was shot and killed by police in an event surrounded by controversy. The official story is in a state of flux and the immediate aftermath of his death was country-wide riots. The London Riots brought the UK closer to fully discussing the racial biases of the Metropolitan Police, a notoriously discriminatory organisation. Duggan’s young family now adheres to the stereotype of the missing black or mixed-race father yet is clearly the victim of a crime committed by an inherently racist society.

War on Drugs, War on Terror

Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow is generative for many of the reasons Elizabeth flagged for us in class today, not the least of which is the question of audience. As we noted from the preface, Alexander desires to consciousness raise, edify, and support in solidarity her different expected readers. From this perspective, her elision of one major issue is understandable; specifically, the role of US racist incarceration practices domestically in relationship to incarceration abroad. I think that in order to grasp the enormity of this disciplinary project of the modern neoliberal carceral state, we must grapple with the simultaneous explosion of domestic incarceration, mainly of men of color, with international incarceration of mostly Muslim men of color (think the current hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay). These two projects cannot remain in isolation lest the international scope of freedom movements, a theme we’ve discussed all semester, eludes our discussion. I think especially in light of the class discussion on Tuesday, we need to consider the ramifications of wider trends of securitization under the War on Terror and the War on Drugs to theorize how state apparatuses (including private sector contractors/co-conspirators) work to control racialized bodies.

As one consideration for future discussion, I want to suggest reading the media coverage of the recent attacks in Boston as a psychic synthesis of two sorts of national traumatic imaginaries: the foreign Muslim/Arab terrorist (conflated in coverage, not in lived experience of course) and the domestic criminal black male. What does the flurry of reports on a “Saudi national” in custody juxtaposed with the description of a “dark-skinned male” wearing a hoodie reveal about the ways Americans conceptualize crime within and outside the nation? I suggest inhabiting this space between two issues typically treated as discrete concerns as a way to understand the issue of U.S. Black Freedom Movements as already-always international in scope. Especially after reading the article Elizabeth posted about the "person of interest" debacle, I'd like to consider the ways in which racialization operates in an age of colorblindness and mass incarceration.  

"The Saudi Marathon Man" and State Power

Kolton shared this blog post by Amy Davidson for the New Yorker with me via Twitter. It is an important addition to our conversation on Tuesday about how quickly the media latched onto "naming" and identifying a specific type as the perpetrator of the Boston marathon explosions.

Please check it out when you can.