The New Jim Crow

The percentages of Blacks and Whites being incarcerated are converging. Nationally, Black incarceration rates are dropping, while Whites are on the increase, according to a Marshall Project analysis of yearly reports by the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The report found that between 2000 and 2015, the imprisonment rate of Black men dropped by more than 24 percent. At the same time, the White male rate increased slightly.

The narrowing of the gap between White and Black incarceration rates is “definitely optimistic news,” John Pfaff, a law professor at Fordham University, told The Washington Post.

Among women, the trend is even more dramatic. From 2000 to 2015, the Black female imprisonment rate dropped by nearly 50 percent. During the same period, the White female rate rose by 53 percent.

The racial disparity between Black and White women’s incarceration was once 6 to 1, according to the Sentencing Project. Now, it’s 2 to 1.

“If we want to continue or accelerate [that trend], we need to acknowledge it and figure out why it’s happening,” said Adam Gelb, director of the public safety performance program at The Pew Charitable Trusts and an expert on prison data.

“Tennessee is 17.1 percent Black, but Blacks make up 69 percent of all drug-free school zone offenders…”REASON Magazine, January 2018

Prison system experts attribute the narrowing gap between Black and White incarceration to a number of reasons, including a general decline in crime and arrests; a significant drop in violent crime, which means fewer substantial prison sentences; a shift away from crack and marijuana toward meth and opioids in the war on drugs; and, the fact that criminal justice reform has occurred in cities, where more Black people live, while less progressive change has occurred in rural areas.

Another possibility: White people have faced declining socioeconomic prospects, leading to an increase in law-breaking among that population. From 2000 to 2009, Black incarceration for property offenses fell 9 percent, while White incarceration for those crimes increased 21 percent.

“African American families comprise 42 percent of welfare recipients…but are 59 percent of poor people shown on television are African American.” “Sustaining Stereotypes” by Lanien Frush Holt in QUILL Summer 2018 www.spj.org/quill

Even so, racial inequality in the prison system remains a serious issue. At the current rate, the disparities would not fully disappear for many decades, according to the Washington Post.

“Until we learn the true value of the lives we have wasted, and until we truly reckon with our nation’s history,” Michelle Alexander (author of The New Jim Crow) told the Marshall Project in 2015, “… we will find ourselves in an endless cycle of reform and retrenchment—periods of apparent progress followed by the creation of new systems of racial and social control.”

http://sanquentinnews.com/optionb-org-support-group-overcoming-effects-incarceration/

2017 domestic extremist-related killings

Race Still a Factor in Determining Police Stops

Jessica Jackson-Sloan and Shaka Senghor in the SQ newsroom

Shaka Senghor, 45, a consulting producer for Oprah Winfrey’s new program, Released, which debuted on the OWN cable television network, visited San Quentin State Prison in November 2017.

Senghor said he wants to collaborate with men in prison. He knows about incarceration because he served time, 19 years in prison for second-degree murder in Michigan. Seven of those years were in solitary confinement.

“I spent two decades with these men,” said Senghor. “Friends don’t leave friends behind.”

He said there’s no turning back to that past life, but “I had to come to see the brothers in (San Quentin). That’s important to me.”

Dressed in all black, wearing neatly groomed dreadlocks and a closely trimmed gray beard, he entered the prison’s media center recognizing that the men there were doing “serious stuff,” in a positive way.

“Tennessee is 17.1 percent Black, but Blacks make up 69 percent of all drug-free school zone offenders…” REASON Magazine, January 2018

“Guys in here have some kind of responsibility for what they send home,” said Senghor, adding that recidivism hurts their efforts. “Our biggest battle is when one guy gets out and f**** up.” That, he said, reflects on everyone who is incarcerated. Still, he likes working with people who “get it.”

Senghor also collaborates with Van Jones, of #CUT50, whom he met at MIT’s media lab during a fellowship. He said they sometimes discuss the spiritual aspect of their work. “Van always wants to know how we can get better.”

Recently, Senghor, Jones and Michelle Alexander, attorney and author of The New Jim Crow, spoke at the Ella Baker Center in Oakland, California. “This raises the importance of men and women coming home,” he said. “It’s about accountability to keep ourselves sharp.”

(38)SQ-Media-Center_Shaka-_8-Nov.-2017_e

“The premiere episode of Released follows three black former inmates who each committed different offenses but face similar experiences of fighting to stay out of prison after being released,” the Huffington Post reported.

The episode follows the journey of Sam Johnson and Kevin Carr, recently paroled from San Quentin State Prison, and explores how they reconnect with their families after years of incarceration.

Senghor said he never imagined that he would do this kind of work. “Some days it seems all surreal.”

Not too long ago, Senghor was invited to Germany to visit a prison with a contingent of prison activists and wardens. He admitted to having prejudices going to a German prison—thinking of Auschwitz—but when he arrived he said it was “mind blowing” because it wasn’t an “antagonistic atmosphere.”

According to Senghor, German prisoners are allowed to go out into society and return to the prison to serve their sentences. He said in Germany, prisoners are treated like citizens.

“If this is happening in Germany, what can we do here?” Senghor said. He said in Germany, they have “life-long sentences” where people are not sentenced to die in prison.

One poignant experience he recounted was discussing his years of confinement in U.S. prisons with a German prison warden. Upon hearing that Senghor spent seven years in solitary confinement, the warden cried, “We would never do that to one of our citizens.”

Senghor wrote the book Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison, which has appeared on The New York Times best-seller list. “Sometimes it’s emotionally draining when you have to reflect on your worst moment,” he said. “It’s about my journey and growing up on the streets of Detroit. It’s also about going to prison and coming out on the other side.”

Senghor had many interesting stories to share with the men at San Quentin. He spoke of meeting President Obama when he was invited to the White House. Initially, he was not allowed in because of his criminal record. However, Jones spoke up, mentioning that Senghor was forced to stay outside. Jones then looked directly at the president.

Senghor said “they scrambled to get me in.” Later, the White House apologized and changed its policy.

“I always keep (my) book with me when I’m traveling,” Senghor said. When he met Obama, however—who he said is “super cool and cares about the issues,”—he didn’t have a copy of his book. It didn’t help when Obama said, “So, I heard you wrote a book.” (He was able to send him a copy later.)

Senghor recalled reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X in prison and imagining getting Oprah to read one of his own books.

Commenting on his writing and his connection with Released, Senghor said, “I believe I have a voice in this space, and I have a responsibility to say something positive. You can’t get through tough times without having someone inspire it.”

San Quentin News Launches Wall City Magazine

At-Risk Youths Visit San Quentin

Black incarceration on the decline

Shaka Senghor visits prison to speak about change