Tag: prison labor

“Slavery 400 years ago, slavery today. It’s the same, but with a new name. They’re practicing slavery under color of law,” writes Ruchell Cinque Magee. America’s history of prison labor began before slavery ended. After the Civil War, private companies leased prisoners and sold their products for profit. Laws criminalizing harmless activities dramatically increased the number of Blacks in Southern prisons. This set the pattern that today has the prison industry rated #6 of the top 10 fastest growing industries in the U.S.

From it's inception, the juvenile justice system has treated youth of color unfairly: When the first detention facility established a "colored section" in 1834, Black children were excluded from rehabilitation because it would be a "waste" of resources.

America has truly become the land of plenty. There are plenty of Ponzi schemes, plenty of bank failures and plenty of foreclosures. This leaves us with plenty of debt, plenty of crime, plenty of corruption, plenty of inflation, plenty of homelessness, plenty of poverty and plenty of unemployment.

Who IS Angela Davis? Don't miss Angela Carroll's new film, “Angela Y. Davis: Radical Pedagogy,” screening Wednesday, March 10, 1-3 p.m. in the Richard Oakes Room, Cesar Chavez Student Union, SF State University, and 6-7 p.m. and 7-8 p.m., at the Jazz Heritage Center, 1330 Fillmore St., San Francisco; Friday, March 12, 8-9 p.m. and 9-10 p.m., also at the Jazz Heritage Center; and Thursday, April 1, 6:30 p.m., at Barrios Unidos, 1817 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz.