- Originally published in the University Wire September 21, 2004
Copyright 2004 Daily Kent Stater via U-Wire
By Damareo Cooper, Daily Kent Stater; SOURCE: Kent State U.
America
currently claims the title of supreme ruler of countries that jail its
citizens. There are 702 prisoners for every 100,000 people, making this
country the undisputed world prison population champions.
In
2003, almost 6.9 million adults in "our" country were either
incarcerated, on parole or on probation. This number amounts to 3.2
percent of the adult U.S. population and an increase of 130,700 adults
since 2002. Put it like this: An estimated one out of every 32 U.S.
adult citizens are caught up in the criminal "justice" system.
In
1980, there were about 40,000 people in jail for some kind of drug
offense. Today there are about 450,000 nonviolent drug offenders
incarcerated within our prison system. Three-fourths of them are either
Black or Latino Americans.
America's
prison boom is mainly a result of the "war on drugs" launched by
President Reagan. The subsequent mandatory minimum sentencing called
for stiffer penalties for non-violent drug offenses and
disproportionately targeted minorities, mainly black men between the ages of 18 and 35.
According
to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are
white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all
users), 2 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998."
African Americans make up about 13 percent of the nation's population, yet we make up about 60 percent of the prison population.
Young black men
are being targeted by the media, police and society as a whole as being
violent murdering drug dealers. These stereotypes make it possible for
black college students to be pulled over by the police for no real
reason. Most times, the officer treats you like you have already
committed some crime. If he/she finds some "probable cause," they will
pull you out and rummage through your personal belongings.
America
claims race relations are getting better, and white people always tell
me, "blacks have it better now than 50 years ago." I agree with that --
blacks are better off now. But I wasn't born 50 years ago. Things
happening to my people right now are what concern me.
The
prison industrial complex is a major phenomenon facing the black
community, in which private corporations control the prison system.
Some prisons are privately owned by corporations whose main objective
is to make money. They pay prisoners low wages and sell the products
they make at market value. Considering that more than 60 percent of the
prison male population is black and convicted of non-violent drug
offenses, it's pretty safe to say that somebody's trying to trap us.
Today, for every 100,000 black males between the ages of
25 and 29, 12,877 are in prison. That's 12.9 percent of Black men in
their late 20s, compared to 1,615 for every 100,000 white men. It's
easy to say "well, black men are committing more crimes that white
men." The majority of these black men
are in jail for drug offenses, and if this campus is a microcosm of the
larger society, it would be impossible for blacks to use more drugs
than whites. Just on this campus there's a good chance that there are
more white people smoking weed than there are black students enrolled.
When the number of black men in school is higher that than the number
of black men in prison, you can talk to me about how much race
relations in our society have improved.