Glenn moyer wrote:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20100408_Editorial__Justice_for_all.html
Book: The New Jim Crow. You can find interviews with
author Michelle Alexander in the archives of Democracy
Now and Bill Moyer's Journal.
http://www.thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1617
I watched this very same author speaking on bill moyer's
journal the other night; she was awesome in her clarity. she
and bryan stevenson. basically: the u.s. incarceration
system today is the new jim crow.
here's a summary, with links to video and transcript:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04022010/profile.html
Alexander believes that King would be deeply troubled by
the remaining inequality in America. As she tells Bill
Moyers, "I think Martin Luther King would be thrilled by
some of the individual progress of African Americans, but
stunned, absolutely stunned and saddened, by the state of
African Americans as a whole today."
Stevenson adds that to reach King's dream, America must
address the causes of poverty, "I think in America, the
opposite of poverty is justice. I think there are
structures and systems that have created poverty, and
have made that poverty so permanent, that until we think
in a more just way about how to deal with poverty in this
country, we're never gonna make the progress that Dr.
King envisioned."
Both believe that America's policies of mass
incarceration continue the cycle of poverty. America is
the largest jailer on the planet, with 2.3 million people
behind bars. But the policy of mass imprisonment, unique
among industrialized nations, disproportianatetly affects
minorities, especially African American men. One in 100
adults in America is behind bars, but one in nine African
American men aged 20 to 34 is behind bars. Much of this
arises from the "war on drugs." According to Human Rights
Watch, African American adults have been arrested at a
rate 2.8 to 5.5 times higher than white adults in every
year from 1980 to 2007. Yet, according to government
statistics, African Americans and whites have similar
rates of illicit drug use and dealing.
- - - - - - -
in other news, coming to penn april 14 to speak about public
parks is author alex garvin ("Public Parks: the Key to
Livable Communities"). he'll certainly cover a lot of the
issues about public parks that have been discussed on this
list about clark park, and can provide a precision of
language and a clarity of focus (I'm reading one of his
books now) -- so there might be interest here. one of his
more revealing quotes:
"The most difficult question is whether
publicly owned and managed open space
is *public* if people are excluded?"
details:
http://www.upenn.edu/penniur/events_upcoming.shtml#Apr14
..................
UNIVERSITY*CITOYEN
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