Disgusting! America has found many ways to capitalize on poverty, this has to be the vilest!

[socialsecurityisAAA]

For profit prisons? FOR PROFIT PRISONS! The very idea is appalling. It is an accepted fact that poverty can drive people to crime. If you have a large family and are poor, well, you will find a way to take care of them, and that "way" may not be legal. This problem is age old! Literally biblical! However we have developed new ways to increase incarceration. We criminalize NON-VIOLENT acts. Drug use, debt, and even homelessness! Is this a direct result of unchecked capitalism, corruption and a greedy society? Are we loosing the ability to sympathize with our fellow man? These questions may not be directly addressed but they are something to discuss in the comments and keep in mind while watching this video!
Michelle Alexander does a great job highlighting the detrimental affects of America's sky high incarceration rate on the family, the economy, the individual and society at large.


Civil rights lawyer and activist Michelle Alexander—author of The New Jim Crow—delivers the 15th Annual Eqbal Ahmad Lecture on November 1 at Hampshire College.

Alexander’s 2010 book The New Jim Crow received the NAACP Image Award for outstanding literary work of nonfiction. It has been featured on national radio and television media outlets including the Bill Moyers Journal, Tavis Smiley Show, C-SPAN’sWashington Journal, and National Public Radio. Professor Alexander holds a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University. She was previously a professor at Stanford Law School, where she directed the Civil Rights Clinics.
Michelle Alexander Lecture: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

[arcane1]

1. I read The New Jim Crow earlier this year. Excellent book!

[socialsecurityisAAA]

2. Have you checked out the website? Its flush with resources and information

Even links to get people involved in the movement!
http://newjimcrow.com/

http://newjimcrow.com/take-action

[arcane1]

3. Thanks for the links!!!

[socialsecurityisAAA]

4. I have my kids reading this(my class and the kids in my therapy group).

Your welcome!

We read it in class and discuss. I don't want them to leave with questions. A girl in my class asked "Why doesn't the government just take control of the prisons?". I explained that that wouldn't solve the problem completely, but it might lessen the abuses and neglect of the prisoners. We have got to dig out the corruption and greed, then look at and amend our laws to deal with this problem. Unfortunately I can't broach the subject of how evil our drug laws are in my classroom. FORTUNATELY, I was allowed have them read this book for class.