African American
Related: About this forumThe Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration--Ta-Nehisi Coates
<...> From the mid-1970s to the mid-80s, Americas incarceration rate doubled, from about 150 people per 100,000 to about 300 per 100,000. From the mid-80s to the mid-90s, it doubled again. By 2007, it had reached a historic high of 767 people per 100,000, before registering a modest decline to 707 people per 100,000 in 2012. In absolute terms, Americas prison and jail population from 1970 until today has increased sevenfold, from some 300,000 people to 2.2 million. The United States now accounts for less than 5 percent of the worlds inhabitantsand about 25 percent of its incarcerated inhabitants. In 2000, one in 10 black males between the ages of 20 and 40 was incarcerated10 times the rate of their white peers. In 2010, a third of all black male high-school dropouts between the ages of 20 and 39 were imprisoned, compared with only 13 percent of their white peers.
Our carceral state banishes American citizens to a gray wasteland far beyond the promises and protections the government grants its other citizens. Banishment continues long after ones actual time behind bars has ended, making housing and employment hard to secure. And banishment was not simply a well-intended response to rising crime. It was the method by which we chose to address the problems that preoccupied Moynihan, problems resulting from three centuries of sometimes unimaginable mistreatment. At a cost of $80 billion a year, American correctional facilities are a social-service programproviding health care, meals, and shelter for a whole class of people.
As the civil-rights movement wound down, Moynihan looked out and saw a black population reeling under the effects of 350 years of bondage and plunder. He believed that these effects could be addressed through state action. They werethrough the mass incarceration of millions of black people.<...>
As always, an excellent piece of writing from Ta-Nahisi.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)K&R
tishaLA
(14,176 posts)really thorough and well-researched. It takes a long view, from antebellum America to the present day with a special emphasis on the role Patrick Moynihan played in this, from his "The Negro Family" to his support for the 94 crime bill.
Number23
(24,544 posts)related info and it's taking me forever to read!!!
Coates does that to me almost every time though.
Tarheel_Dem
(31,234 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)gwheezie
(3,580 posts)This is an important article to be saved and reread and a starting point for further learning. Like his case for reparations, I will use this article to explore references and find this history we don't learn when it's written by white men. I know I will be sending this off to a few people I've been having a long standing discussion.
I've been carrying on 2 different conversations with 2 different friends based mostly on Coates writing. One friend is white, one is black. We've also explored critiques of his writing. It's like a Coates book club. Coates has been a catalyst for really dynamic debate among my friends and I can't thank him enough.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Gutting and full of clarity and eye-opening history. I wish he'd teach a class or get into politics, though I understand his reasons for wanting to stick with writing (which he does with such beauty.)
We almost need to have a Cabinet level post for working on issues of race and inequality. It is so eye-opening that Moynihan was able to spread his ideology through so many channels while working in DC circles, without ever having a specific office that said he was in charge of policies dealing with race relations.
tishaLA
(14,176 posts)This year, I was going to teach Coates's "The Case for Reparations," but decided not to. I decided yesterday, after I finished that essay, that next summer I was going to teach it alongside Moynihan's "The Negro Family." Were it not for the fact that I want the course to have a broader range, I would make this essay the central one of the course and use it as a way of talking about DuBois, Douglass, Obama, etc.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)I wish I could take your class. (I teach Ceramics, and always wonder if there is a way I can get social justice issues in there somehow. So far it has eluded me.)
AllFieldsRequired
(489 posts)As to Coates
portlander23
(2,078 posts)I found this article today and posted it to the general discussion forum. It's a bit of an eye opener to have history put into clear context.
I assume the mainstream Democratic Party isn't too keen to talk about reparations. The last time I had a conversation about that with anyone was when I was speaking with someone from the D.C. Statehood Green Party.
You should cross-post this stuff to higher traffic forums. I think everyone should read this.