The Irony of Incarceration

Human beings aeek validation or status. If the "officially approved" system won't do it they will seek it elsewhere. The official system isn't that greay anyway. Watch the movie The Shawshank Redemption.

The system is rigged so there must be losers. Do you expect them to shrivel up and die? We need a third route.

umbra

quote:

Originally posted by MBM:
Isn't it ironic, though, that in parts of the black community - that incarceration is actually an incentive for some? Parts of the hip hop community actually value the experience of "doing time". One earns "street cred" by going to jail. You gain stature and esteem by having survived jail.

Any thoughts about this dichotomy?

In "Race, Crime, and the Law", by Randall Kennedy, he details this dichotomy very well. In short, the law has never been our friend. From the beginning of slavery, we have been grossly underprotected by the law. Murder, rape, theft, kidnapping, assault, ect, were not considered crimes if they were commited against slaves. They were only crimes if the victim was white.

Then, there is unequal enforcement of the law. The "Slave Codes" were ridiculus to any rational mind. One of the ironies I find the most grievous is that the same crimes that the law would not protect us from, actually became crimes when we tried to protect ourselves, with Whites ending up as victims. When a Black man tries to defend a Black woman from the rape of a White man, or the Black woman tries to defend herself, then the White man becomes the victim, and the Black man or woman is sentenced to death.

In many ways, this has caused us, through centuries of conditioning, to not see criminals as criminals, but as heroes. We understand, on a very deep level, that the law is not on our side. Even though the law has evolved much in the last 100 years (arguably), the 400 years of precident before that is more difficult to shake than many believe.

We tend to idolize criminals because by standing up to "the man", they are in some psychological way standing up for us all.

What is so impressive about being a former slave in the 20th and 21st centuries? If they really knew what going to jail was about, they wouldn't want to go. Forget "street cred". All of this is because of the white controlled media and allowing our kids to sit in front of the boob tube all day and we don't know what they're watching.
What I find truly saddening is that when people go to jail, especially when they are young people, they are conditioned to not be able to function in society and they are in many ways pushed out of society by their crimes. Just like slaves were back in the day. The majority of the crimes commited by our young folks are drug related.

quote:

All of this is because of the white controlled media and allowing our kids to sit in front of the boob tube all day and we don't know what they're watching.

I think that is bullsh!t.

I have listened to a Black man say he was 41 years old say he never had a job. The Black criminal underclass is a separate socila environment from the aspiring Black middle class. The kids born into that environment are going to have much stronger negative influences than television.

umbra

quote:

Originally posted by MBM:
Incarceration is desinged to be a major disincetive - encouraging people to not do certain anti-social behaviors. Isn't it ironic, though, that in parts of the black community - that incarceration is actually an incentive for some? Parts of the hip hop community actually value the experience of "doing time". One earns "street cred" by going to jail. You gain stature and esteem by having survived jail.

Any thoughts about this dichotomy?

I don't think it's ironic ... I think it's pretty damn sad.

And a testament as to how we are obviously failing our children.

quote:

Originally posted by MBM:
Incarceration is desinged to be a major disincetive - encouraging people to not do certain anti-social behaviors. Isn't it ironic, though, that in parts of the black community - that incarceration is actually an incentive for some? Parts of the hip hop community actually value the experience of "doing time". One earns "street cred" by going to jail. You gain stature and esteem by having survived jail.

Any thoughts about this dichotomy?

The dichotomy is not really a dichotomy but a coalescence of two problems brought to you my the mind control machine of the State.

Young black men and all men need Rites of passage in order to enter adult society. Because of the breakdown of the black family, and American black society/fellowship, young black men are left to the whims of the media, who whole heartedly pushes Jail (along with getting shot, See Fifty cents, committing violence and law breaking)as a replacement for the passage into black adult male society.

The second problem is that jail is no longer simply a deterrent for crime, It is the cash cow know as The "Prison industrial complex". Did you know the Hiltons (yeah those Hiltons) Lobbyed for a legislature to lower the conviction rate in California, Why? Becase in addition to hotels they also build Prisons. Also you should double check the labels on your jeans, chances are if it says, "made in America", that they were made from the free labors of incarcerated people.

http://www.thetalkingdrum.com/prison.html