The impact of mass incarceration on the African-American community has been absolutely devastating.The book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, has become the Bible of a social movement devoted to reducing the nation's reliance on prisons, jails, and the criminal justice system in general.
According to author Michelle Alexander, an associate professor of law at Ohio State University....
- Today, there are more African Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.
- In some large urban areas, more than half of working age African American men have criminal records and are subject to legalized discrimination for the rest of their lives.
- The Unites States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
- A Black child born today has less of a chance of being raised by both parents than a Black child born during slavery, due largely to the mass incarceration of Black men. This takes men out of the dating pool at the ages they'd be most likely to commit to a partner and start a family. And by branding them criminals and felons, they're rendered permanently unemployable sometimes for the rest of their lives.
- If we were to return to the rates of incarceration we had in the 1970s, before the "war on drugs" and the get-tough movement kicked off, we'd have to release four out of five people who are behind bars today. And a million people employed by the prison system would lose their jobs. Private prison company profits would vanish.
Please join TalkBLACK, Atlanta's premier African-American discussion group, as we take a closer look at the devastating impact that this issue is having on our community. What should we be doing in response? Is it really about do the crime, do the time?
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What:
MASS INCARCERATION, MASS DESTRUCTION: The Impact of the 'Prison Industrial Complex' on the Black Community
Find out what's happening in Cascadewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
When: Saturday, SEPTEMBER 10
Promptly at 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.mm
Where: THE CAJUN CRABHOUSE
3220 Butner Road Atlanta GA 30331
(678) 927-9577
Details: Please respect our panelists by being on time. Plan to FINANCIALLY support our African-American owned host venue by purchasing at least one snack, meal or beverage. BRING A FRIEND!.