Angela Davis: Prisons perpetuate oppression of minorities
By CLYNTON NAMUONew Hampshire Union Leader Correspondent
DURHAM – After the inauguration of the first black president, America is now on the precipice of changes that were never before possible, 1960s radical turned academic Angela Davis told a crowd of hundreds at the University of New Hampshire last night.
The vestiges of slavery, colonization and exploitation remain rife throughout America, as is evidenced by the over-representation of minorities in prison, Davis said. The prison population, now estimated to be one in 100 adult Americans, only contributes to the oppression of minorities, she said.
It is a pattern seen across the country, even in New Hampshire, Davis said.
In the Granite State, white men are arrested at a rate of 289 per 100,000, but for black men it is more than 2,000 per 100,000, Davis said.
Angela Davis
"That means a black man in this state is 10 times more likely to be discovered behind bars," she said.
Minorities are often over-represented in prison because police surveillance in their communities is higher, Davis said.
Around the world, the same thing is happening as people who were once unashamedly beat down continue to live below others both socially and economically. While blacks and other minorities are over-represented in American prisons, in Australia, it is aborigines, she said.
Davis spoke before a crowd of more than 500 last night as she keynoted UNH's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations at the Johnson Theatre. Her topic: Education or Incarceration: The Future of Democracy.
Davis said prisons in America help to perpetuate a cycle that keeps minorities down and contributes to a lack of education for them.
"Of course, more funds are channeled into prisons so that education suffers and because education suffers, more people end up along trajectories that lead them into prison, which means more funds have to be channeled into the prisons; it's this vicious circle," she said.
But now, with a black President in office, America may finally have the momentum to disassemble what she called the "prison industrial complex," one where incarceration is privatized and profited from.
"This is the moment to think about the different modes of justice," she sai. "Justice that is compassionate, justice that is community building, not community destroying."
Davis was once a radical and member of the Black Panthers, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Communist party. She gained notoriety for a headline-making 1972 trial in California, where she was acquitted of murder and kidnapping charges.
Since then, she has become a respected university professor and does extensive research on prisons and minorities.
3 comments:
I like the reporter's comment: "Davis was once a radical.."
What is she now--a centrist Democrat?
It is alright for the white man to kill a black man and not go to prison.... Will you please address this? This is really what Dr. Davis is talking about. Let's address the obvious if you really want to put Dr. Davis' argument to rest, because you haven't convinced me.
fass52
What kind of foolishness are you suggesting? When's the last time a white killed a black without punishment? Most balcks are killed by blacks. As I asked in my post should they not be punished because it was black on black crime. As for inter-racial crime more whites are the victims of black criminals then the other way round. That's not opinion, it's fact.
If Ms. Davis wanted to talk about white on black crime why didn't she mention it. All she wanted to do is to stir up racists like yourself. People who cling to what was and no longer is. As Jesse Jackson said a long time ago about walking in Brooklyn: he's more worried about a group of black teenagers walking behind him then if it were a group of orthodox Jews.
To answer your question no one no matter their skin color should get away with murder (not even O.J. Simpson)
Angela Davis is a murderer why no offense at her being free and unpunished?
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