Filed under: Dr. Boyce Money
The next morning, I happened to be speaking about the prison industrial complex with Rev. Jesse Jackson. Rev. Jackson reminded me of how mass incarceration affects the voting process by keeping inmates and ex-convicts from being part of the political systems of America. He also mentioned how being convicted of a felony isolates the individual from the rest of society by taking away his/her rights to financial aid, jobs, public housing, and all the other things we need in order to survive. I told Rev. Jackson about the young girl's experience, because it is reflective of how families are being harmed by the structure of the justice system. The kind of inter-generational transfer of oppression that the woman at the speech mentioned must be directly confronted. While I am not here to say that the girl's father and brother were innocent, we know that nearly every study shows that black males are far more likely to get long prison sentences than other Americans, even when they commit the same crimes. This kind of disparity in the prison industrial complex is one of the factors that threatens to undermine the strength of the black family and risks ruining the futures of our children.
I've been working with Ryan Mack to create 'Never Going Back,' an initiative to assist felons with their re-entry into society. Mack does interviews with individuals who are concerned with mass incarceration and helps to explore solutions to this very serious problem. Here he interviews Yusef Shakur about the transition that men and women want to make when adjusting to a life outside the prison system. I like working with Ryan because his background as a conscientious financial expert ties the liberation of African Americans to the long-term goal of economic empowerment. His work is simply outstanding.
The prison industrial complex is dangerous primarily because of the use of free labor from prison inmates. The 13th Amendment, which abolishes slavery, actually says that slavery is still allowed when a person is a convicted felon. When corporations profit from the number of inmates under their supervision, it can create a dangerous cycle in which capitalist greed ends up impacting the lives of our fellow human beings.
This interview I did for AOL Black Voices with Dr. Byron Price sheds light on how companies make money from prisoners. We should educate ourselves and others on this process and do all that we can to stop it.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.