The end of prohibition in New Jersey and beyond should be a moment of healing rather than a money grab.

By Adam Uzialko

The War on Drugs will inevitably come to an end, but the multi-generational damage left in its wake will still remain. In cannabis legalization, the seeds of a post-War on Drugs world exist. But, like cannabis plants themselves, the industry that emerges from these seeds will be shaped by the conditions that surround it. 

The emerging legal cannabis industry must promote healing and reparation rather than reinforcing exclusion and perpetuating the harm wrought by prohibition era policies. In New Jersey, where lawmakers now work to craft a legal framework for adult-use cannabis, it is critical that social equity advocates continue to use their voice to shape the industry.

New Jersey and cannabis legalization: What was proposed, and what changed?

New Jersey won a major victory in the movement for drug reform when voters approved a cannabis legalization referendum on Election Day. At this pivotal time, it is important to remember that the first steps toward ameliorating the decades of harm caused by prohibition begins with establishing an equitable cannabis industry coupled with public investment in rebuilding communities targeted by the War on Drugs.

The first cannabis bills proposed by lawmakers fell short of the mark. 

The bills, A-21 and S-21, lacked critical social equity measures that were included in other state-legal programs throughout the country. The bills:

• Failed to allocate cannabis-derived tax revenue to communities targeted under the War on Drugs;
• Established law enforcement training programs to identify and apprehend high drivers, funding these programs through cannabis-derived tax revenue;
• Lacked any social equity designations for licensing, such as reduced application fees for BIPOC applicants;
• Narrowly defined “impact zones” as towns with a population of 120,000 or more that ranked in the top 40% of possession arrests. Dispensaries would open in these impact zones first, but no tax revenue would be allocated for community programs and services.

Naturally, social equity advocates (including many directly involved in the cannabis industry) recoiled at this prospect. More than a dozen cannabis businesses and industry organizations signed onto a letter dated Dec. 7 that demanded several revisions to the original bill, including:

• Social equity excise fee: Advocates called on lawmakers to include a social equity excise fee on cultivators, which would largely be directed toward impact zones recognized by the state as disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs.
  
• Cannabis equity applicant status: Advocates also pursued social equity in terms of licensing, calling for the prioritization of licenses for individuals residing in impact zones and those with prior cannabis-related records.
  
• Removal of licensing caps: Advocates also sought the removal of licensing caps, arguing that less available licenses inevitably favored a limited group of well-connected individuals, and suggested that limiting the cultivation licenses could mean New Jersey failed to meet consumer demand when legal sales begin. 

Lawmakers were forced to go back to the drawing board to do better. 

On December 17, the New Jersey state legislature approved a package of bills, including a revised version of S-21, which establishes the legal framework for the industry. The revised version of S-21 includes the social equity fee advocates lobbied for, 70% of which would be directed toward the previously defined impact zones. However, it does not include a cannabis equity applicant status and would also cap the number of cannabis cultivation licenses in the state at 37 for the first two years of the industry’s existence.

S-21 passed in the Senate by a vote of 23 to 17, while the Assembly approved the bill by a vote of 49 to 24, with six abstentions.

The other bills, S-3256 and S-2875, reduce the penalties associated with possession of psilocybin mushrooms and allow investors to fund licenses for minorities, women, and disabled veterans, respectively.

Why is social equity in the cannabis industry important?

The outcry by social equity advocates in response to NJ legislators’ first attempt at drafting a bill begs the question “why should social equity be a priority in cannabis legalization at all?” The history of the War on Drugs is one of racist persecution and disproportionate enforcement targeting BIPOC communities.

Cannabis prohibition has played an important role in marginalizing these same communities long before the commencement of the War on Drugs, as well. In the lead up to the signing of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, the law that outlawed cannabis federally, anti-cannabis propaganda depicted Black people and immigrants as dangerous reefer fiends eager to commit violent crime and introduce drugs to white youth (spoiler alert: white youth already did drugs).

These origins contributed to unjust enforcement of short-sighted anti-drug policies, leading to a boom in incarceration and police budgets, not to mention the approval of increasingly aggressive tactics and violations of civil rights. 

In New Jersey, for example, a Black person is 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession than a white person, despite similar reported consumption rates across both demographics. Even as the national perspective toward cannabis softened, New Jersey stepped up that enforcement. 

From 2010 to 2018, cannabis possession arrests increased by 45.6%, the ninth fastest increase in the U.S. In 2018, New Jersey ranked 8^th in the nation for cannabis possession arrests per 100,000 people. That same year, the Garden State ranked 11^th in the nation for the rate of arrests of Black residents for cannabis possession. 

The legal cannabis industry could be a central component of ameliorating the historic harm caused by the War on Drugs. Cannabis legalization has set the tone for decriminalization of other drugs listed on the CSA, such as psilocybin, and the industry that emerges will help shape how we move on as a society from the War on Drugs. 

To this end, cannabis-derived tax revenue should be directed toward education, healthcare, and public services, particularly in the communities that were targeted for persecution under the War on Drugs. Licensing should be prioritized for those who have lived and worked in communities victimized by police, especially those who spent time incarcerated for non-violent cannabis-related crimes. 

In New Jersey and beyond, cannabis legalization should include:

• Automatic and immediate expungement for all non-violent cannabis-related convictions
• Social equity licensing considerations, such as application fee reduction or state-sponsored support for BIPOC applicants
• Prioritization of small business applications from state residents over large multi-state operators
• Allocation of cannabis-derived tax revenues for communities targeted under the War on Drugs

While some of that is present in the New Jersey bill now headed to Gov. Murphy’s desk, social equity advocates have their work cut out for them if we are to realize the full potential of what legalization means for social equity and justice.

What’s next for New Jersey cannabis legalization?

Bill S-21 (not yet signed by Gov. Phil Murphy at the time of this writing but expected to be signed shortly) establishes a legal framework under which the newly legal adult-use cannabis industry can evolve. And while advocates were successful in pushing lawmakers to include stronger social equity measures in their second draft of the bill, New Jersey’s cannabis legislation is far from perfect. However, the allocation of tax revenue to impacted communities represents a victory achieved only because of public demands for more impactful social justice measures. 

Moreover, the work of social equity advocates is far from finished. Even Senate President Stephen Sweeney admitted that “we will be back in a year or two saying ‘there was an unintended consequence,’ and we will fix that.” It is critical for proponents of social equity and racial justice to keep the pressure on from now until then, when additional social equity gains can be made.

The history of the War on Drugs is a blight on the human rights track record of the U.S. Not only has it been a gross violation of civil liberties, it has also been enforced in an intentionally racist manner. As drug laws are reformed across the country, it is critical that public policy stay closely linked to this fact. Only through an inclusive cannabis industry and public investment in community programs can the harm of prohibition begin to be repaired. 

Make no mistake, we’re building a new, post-War on Drugs world, and it starts with cannabis. It will take sustained pressure to ensure the legal cannabis industry is grounded in equality and solidarity.

Adam Uzialko is the co-founder and vice president of CannaContent, a digital marketing agency dedicated to hemp, CBD, and cannabis businesses. The opinions expressed in this article are his own.

A conversation with Shevone Torres

By W.B. Minerd

Black Lives Matter is an urgent and inspiring national movement, a reaction to far too many Black lives ending at the hands of an over-aggressive, racist American police force.

While most prominently known for their national protests, it’s important to understand what they’re working toward in local communities. They are trying to truly embody their name. Black lives matter everywhere, in South Jersey, and in a lot more places than major American cities.

Far, far too many Black lives are ended by police violence. But there are other dangers to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness lurking in the decrepit late-stage capitalism of twenty first century America. Poverty kills. Malnutrition kills. Lack of access to healthcare kills. And it kills more Black lives than others.

Shevone Torres is a core member of Black Lives Matter New Jersey. She is on the front lines of a battlefield that national figures too often ignore.  “We don’t just focus on police violence. It’s violence on Black people in general,” says Torres. “So, whether its food apartheid, whether its education, income inequality. These are things we want to change.”

These are things that are addressed with direct action, not just protests. 

“Tangible things that we can do now is establish community gardens, to give access to food, to fresh fruit and vegetables, to communities that live in food apartheid, where they have to travel miles to get to a grocery store. Another thing we can do is family dinners. We need to do smaller tangible things and have it snowball to something where it can actually make change throughout the state and throughout the country and hopefully globally.”

While mutual aid is a major focus, BLM NJ is also there to protest police violence, wherever it happens. On May 25^th 2020, George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis. On May 31^st and June 1^st, there were hundreds of protests across New Jersey.

Shevone was there. Protesting gave her a perspective on her neighbors. There is still much work to do, even in one of the bluest, most Democratic-leaning states in the country.

“South Jersey is in a precarious situation. You have some towns that are liberal, but for the most part you do have people in certain towns that are very conservative that still believe that we are a terrorist organization. Which, I don’t know any terrorist that actually feeds people and takes care of babies, but that’s just me,” says Torres.

“There is still a lot of work to be done, and in order to get that work done, people have to acknowledge that this is a real thing and that it’s actually happening. Until they can acknowledge it, there is going to be more performative action than actual tangible changes.”

Whether or not people can admit and understand that police violence against Black lives is real, it is still happening. On August 6^th of 2020, a 30-year-old man named Amir Johnson was walking in Ventnor. He was having a mental crisis, but his first contact was not with any mental health professional, it was with armed police. When Amir got agitated, the police tased him, then shot him. He died soon after.

I asked Shevone about him. She was too frustrated to answer. Decades of evidence, studies and statistics give her a good reason to be upset. If Amir were not Black, he had a better chance of surviving an encounter with police. 

She knows that Amir Johnson’s life mattered, and in a better world, he would be alive today.

“It’s not a choice for me. For Black people, this is an everyday thing. I can’t be black on Monday and a woman on Tuesday. For Black people, this is something we can’t walk away from.”

So, she and countless others keep working, to educate, to protest, and to perform direct action.

If you would like to donate, donate locally. Shevone recommends Surge New Jersey. And BLM NJ has a list at https://www.blmnj.com/donate.html.

“I can’t breathe.” Eric Garner said it before he was murdered by police in 2014, and George Floyd said it again in a chilling echo in 2020. 

Meanwhile, COVID-19 has stolen the breath from thousands of black New Jerseyans at a rate far higher than that of their White counterparts.

As of the beginning of December, New Jersey lost 17,306 lives to COVID. The population of New Jersey is about 8,882,000. That means nearly one out of every 500 New Jersey residents has died of COVID-19 complications.

The grief and loss have hit certain communities harder than others. This year, deaths among white New Jerseyans were up 28%. Death rates for Black New Jerseyans increased by 68%. Among Hispanics, deaths increased by 124%, and among Asians, 107%.

Black New Jerseyans make up 14% of the state population, but account for 21.3% of COVID-19 deaths. There are many reasons for this disparity, and it is unfortunately unsurprising that the racist structure of America has manifested itself in higher death rates. Black lives matter not only in terms of our white supremacist criminal justice system, but also in healthcare. We need to understand and address the reasons the pandemic has disproportionately harmed communities of color.

Race, Unemployment, and “Essential Workers”

During the pandemic, many businesses finally owned up to the fact that workers can perform their duties competently from home. (Incidentally, disability advocates have been arguing for remote work policies for years, so the increased accessibility of remote work seemed like a valid proposition to employers only when able bodies were threatened by the pandemic.)

However, we know that not every worker has that privilege. Many people lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Before COVID touched down, the Black unemployment rate nationally was 6.3%, but it would more than double in the coming months. In August, 7.3% of White Americans were unemployed, compared to 13% of Black workers. 

Healthcare is expensive, and health insurance in the United States is frequently tied to one’s employer – lose your job, and you can lose your health insurance. While uninsured New Jerseyans can take a PCR test at no cost through a federal program, you can’t currently self-pay for a rapid-result COVID test at CVS, locking the uninsured out of a test that could provide them fast answers and delaying both their medical care and self-isolation periods. The average hospital stay for COVID-19 will run you between $51,000 and $78,000, depending on your age. Kind of hard to swing without a job.

(In related news, we need Medicare For All.)

For many who remain employed, their jobs incur daily exposure to the virus. Compared to Whites, Black Americans make up a disproportionate number of essential workers in general, and emergency personnel, transportation and delivery workers, warehouse workers, and healthcare workers specifically. Similarly, Latinx workers make up a disproportion number of essential workers in general; and food and agriculture workers; industrial, commercial, and residential facilities and services workers; and critical manufacturing workers, specifically.

Race and Healthcare Disparities

Hospitalization rates for Black NJ residents are more than triple those of White New Jerseyans, and Latinx hospitalization rates are higher still. One reason for this is that those who are less likely to be insured are more likely to go to the hospital, due to a lack of (or inadequate) outpatient care services; in New Jersey, one out of 10 Black residents is uninsured, while one out of 5 Latinx residents has no health insurance, compared to one out of 20 Whites.

The material disparities between BIPOC and Whites in NJ, along with the stress of racial oppression, also contribute to a higher rate of preexisting conditions and risk factors among Black residents, including high blood pressure, asthma, and diabetes. Discrimination and mistreatment from healthcare providers also contribute to poorer quality healthcare and outcomes for Black Americans.

COVID, Race, and the Carceral State of New Jersey

39,000 New Jerseyans are incarcerated, and black incarceration rates in the state are more than nine times that of white New Jerseyans. While NJ passed legislation to release around 2,200 incarcerated people in November, the legislature still has not moved to release and expunge the records of marijuana offenders, despite the successful ballot measure legalizing cannabis. (Notably, the legislature moved a week later to draft a legalization bill that earmarked cannabis tax revenue to fund policing – fortunately, that bill was not passed.)

By November, more than 3,000 incarcerated people and 1,000 prison employees contracted the virus, which killed dozens of inmates. The cramped, poorly ventilated quarters of prison, as well as the inhumane ways our incarcerated neighbors are treated, create a perfect home for COVID-19.

Fact Check: Black Lives Matter Protests Did NOT Contribute to a Surge in COVID-19 Cases

This year was defined not only by a deadly pandemic, but also by greater public consciousness of police brutality and alignment with the Black Lives Matter movement, as BLM activists and supporters gathered in cities across the country to protest the extrajudicial execution of black Americans in general, and the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, specifically.

There was no shortage of public commentary critiquing these protests as being a vector for the spread of the virus, but research has shown that this was not the case. This exposes the public misunderstanding of the science of COVID-19. While any large gathering incurs risk of exposure and spread, outdoor gatherings are far safer than those indoors, especially if those participants are wearing masks. At these protests, activists distributed hand sanitizer, wore masks, and took other efforts to reduce the risk. As a result, BLM protests did not cause a spike in COVID cases.

Compare this to the Sturgis bike rally, attracting hundreds of thousands of gatherers – many refusing to wear masks – likely contributing to a surge in COVID cases across the Midwest. 

As of November, North Dakota had the highest per-capita COVID death rates in the world. Contact tracers, overwhelmed by cases, have been forced to reach out only to cases who tested positive with their self-isolation instructions – as of November, they had neither the time nor resources to reach out to their close contacts with quarantine instructions.

Government Has Abandoned Us – We Need Each Other

At no point during the United States’ history have we been able to trust the government to take care of people of color. The lack of a federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the loss of 281,000 American lives, including 17,306 just in New Jersey, at time of writing. Our country has experienced the highest number of COVID deaths in the world. Meanwhile, in New Jersey, tens of thousands of our citizens are incarcerated, indoor restaurants and bars are still open, and the virus shows no signs of slowing down.

The only chance we have right now is in each other. Our neighbors are being evicted. Others are dying. We must advocate for policies that reduce these racial disparities, improve material conditions for those suffering socioeconomically, and protect people with preexisting conditions. Apart from activism, mutual aid is necessary to our survival.

You can find a spreadsheet listing mutual aid organizations helping New Jerseyans hit hard by COVID at bit.ly/NJCovidMutualAid. If you would like to volunteer with the South Jersey Mutual Aid Network, or if you need assistance from them, you can access their contact form at bit.ly/SJMutualAidForm.

And of course, protect yourself and others by continuing to follow COVID-19 best practices as closely as possible. Only leave the house when unavoidable, and when you do, wear a mask. Avoid close contact with those outside of your household and avoid indoor gatherings. Wash your hands with soap and warm water for 30 seconds and use hand sanitizer when you cannot. Disinfect any surfaces you share with others.

Take care of yourself and those around you. We are all we have.

Madison Area DSA’s Labor Working Group will be hosting an online panel with workers from North Carolina Public Service Workers Union, (UE) Local 150 on Feb 1st, 2021 at 6:30pm. UE Local 150 is a public sector union in North Carolina, where collective bargaining in the public sector is illegal. Even without formal rights, the union has organized thousands of state and city workers, and won major victories including a $15 minimum wage for full-time state employees.

In Wisconsin, state workers effectively lost the right to collectively bargain in 2011, union membership has dropped by over 30 percent since. Madison DSA is hosting Local 150 to discuss the history of their union, how they’ve managed to build a vibrant union without bargaining rights, and their campaign to overturn racist Jim Crow laws preventing the fundamental right to collectively bargaining. During our panel, we’ll be having a conversation about Local 150’s approach to organizing, the importance of member-run unions, and takeaways for public sector workers in Wisconsin, with time for Q&A.

Join us to hear from Darrion Smith (UE Eastern Region VP), Angaza Laughinghouse (UE150 former president) and Nathanette Mayo (UE150 former president).

Time 630PM; Monday February 1.

Please register at  bit.ly/ue150dsamadison

By: Josh

I was encouraged to try my hand at writing an article on this subject after speaking with a wonderful new friend of mine. I was initially intimidated and a bit adverse to it, given this would be my first effort at an article. Additionally, despite maybe having passion, I didn’t feel I had the knowledge or familiarity on the topic that I should, so I feared being seen in a hypocritical light.

But I’ve realized that this year (or four (or more)) has impassioned a lot of people of all types looking for ways to get involved and be a part of shaping the future of their nation. I, too, am one of those people, and have personally experienced how overwhelming and at times hopeless it can feel trying to find those ways to make a difference. So more than anything, I invite you to join in on that adventure of exploring how to play a vital and meaningful role in democracy and the direction our country takes.

Now then—where do we start? What can one person do in the grand scheme of things in a nation of this immense size and population?

The answer is: Start as small as possible. There’s a reason our system is broken into smaller and smaller units. Township/city politics are increasingly overlooked as more and more spotlight is shined upon national politics. This isn’t particularly surprising considering the continued interconnectedness of our nation (and the globe) with (semi) recent advancements like the growth of cable TV from the 60s and the internet and social media in recent times.

These technologies are designed to connect us nationwide, and it only makes sense that the majority of news and discussion you find in such places as on the national level. On top of this, online discussions are easy sources of immediate, direct, and clear feedback where something like a council meeting can feel much more opaque and require more deliberate consideration.

Meanwhile, we’ve declined in viewing local news and reading local papers. In my recent experience, it can be extremely difficult to put together ways to stay well informed locally using the internet (from local politicians being ghosts online, to horribly designed city websites, to lack of quality local news sources). A George Washington University study found that in a typical media market, the average person spends less than 10 minutes a month on local news sites. As such, people have become less informed (and vocal) of the politics of their immediate home and community and more informed (and vocal) on national issues where we have very little immediate sway.

Voter turnout in a mayoral election is often as low as one in three, and for other local elections under one in five. Remember, the United States has over a half million elected officials, only 542 of which are federal. We increasingly forget the base of our government and try to fight and enact change from the top down, which is never efficient. This has also made us more jaded in time and feel less empowered to play a role.

These things feed together to form the feeling of ennui and lack of interest and awareness regarding local politics, as well as the overall feeling of discontent and hopelessness with politics as a whole. The problem is that participation at the local level is absolutely the best bet for an average citizen to have their voice meaningfully heard. It’s at the local level one can actually make a perceptible change within their community and simultaneously stimulate others to do the same.

As our politics have become more nationalized, we as a people conversely have become more and more divided. Many have a very unrealistic expectation of how our national government should perform and consistently dig deeper into blaming the other side when it remains a standstill with mild back-and-forth deviations. Plus, the potential for anonymity in our digital age doesn’t help with that polarization in the slightest either. 

One of the greatest features of local politics is that they are a wonderful educator and builder of tolerance via direct exposure. When you participate in council meetings, local organizations, and even protests, you engage with your neighbors and community.  They’re the schoolhouses of democracy. You’re forced into a level of accountability and cooperation.

The Local government is the government closest to the people. It is where things like discourse, debate, and compromise are made and taught. It’s where you begin to get to really know and understand your community (and humanity) and where bridges and reason are formed. It’s where you can voice your views without it being just shouting into the ether. It’s where you can make connections with those of similar views and begin to build a formidable vehicle for change.

Cities, counties, and states should be the Laboratories of Democracy. To quote Justice Louis Brandeis (originator of the term): “A single courageous state may, if it’s citizens choose, serve as a laboratory, and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” This has been demonstrated in recent times by Massachusetts passing health care reform in 2006 which became a sort of framework for the Affordable Care Act, the legalization of gay marriage at the state level setting precedent for landmark Supreme Court cases, or the continuing legalization of marijuana (and other substances) by states. I believe these ideas, to an extent, can extend to counties and cities/towns as well.

The changes should begin within smaller regions of government. If they’re successful and well-received, the idea is likely to spread. If Enough counties enact an idea and demonstrate it as good, it’s likely the state may as well. If enough states follow, it is more likely to get attention as something that should be in place nationally. This is the way of progress; it is often gradual and not exciting, but that’s the groundwork needed for those sudden shifts.

Find the people in your community who’ve been involved longer and best represent your views and try to connect with them. See what other ways they might know that you can get involved. Find and join or form groups of similar views so you can better organize and voice matters to the public, and invite others to get involved more easily. Find the local politicians you agree with to support, influence, and volunteer with. If you can, ask them about the things they see from within and what they think is needed. Be an embodiment and example of the human you believe should be in politics.

If you’re upset about the country, government, or politics, make sure you’re being involved the most effective ways you can. Remember that this activism and participation at the smallest level is but the stepping stone to make a difference on a larger scale.

Prove yourself locally as an exemplary citizen with good ideas, file some paperwork, and put in the effort. Then, maybe, you can get a role in your local government, which will only net you more exposure and connections you can use to go even further if you have that passion. Or get enough active and like-minded people together to build a dedicated and passionate community, and with time that too can be a powerful vehicle for change with the ability to grow and have an influence on a larger scale.

A successful democracy requires people to be actively engaged and aware of their politics. How else can it be a government of the people? Attend your local council meetings, become familiar with the issues, voice your opinion. Bring up topics that are important to you that you don’t hear addressed. This is the path, from the bottom up, not the top down.

Be inspired, participate, inspire.

The post Your Voice is Louder on a Local Level appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

Anyone who lives here in New York City knows the sight of mostly empty luxury towers lording over our neighborhoods. These developments generate immense wealth for real estate capital while raising rents for the working class residents who actually live here. As luxury buildings proliferate, tens of thousands are forced into homelessness and millions more pay most of their meager wages to their landlords. Gentrification is a campaign waged by real estate capital and their representatives in the state that dispossesses disproportionately black and brown working class New Yorkers for profit.  

NYC-DSA endorsed candidate for City Council in District 35 Michael Hollingsworth has spent life building tenant power and fighting for the people. He joins us to discuss his history as an organizer in the struggle to build working class power in his neighborhood and why he decided to run for city council on a socialist slate. We also hear from a member from DSA’s healthcare working group on the worker led fight to keep a hospital open in East Flatbush.

By: Liz

I wasn’t sure what to expect reading a book authored by Angela Davis. I hadn’t ventured near her literature before, and all I had known about her before reading this book was that she was an influential activist. Angela Davis’ writing brings attention to details about the prison industrial complex and its history that shouldn’t be missed.

Within the first ten pages, Davis presents a hard statistic to hear, “During my own career as an anti-prison activist I have seen the populations of U. S. Prisons increase with such rapidity that many people in black, Latino, and Native American communities now have a far greater chance of going to prison than of getting a decent education.”

Incarceration is not an old practice. It didn’t exist in the U.S. before the end of slavery. During our book club discussion, it wasn’t well known that prisons are still fairly new in the timeline of the U. S. and, frankly, the world.

The adoption of prisons was to work around slave abolition. When southern slave owners were forced to give their enslaved workers freedom, they were left without labor. The slave owners needed to replace previously enslaved workers so their reign on the economy wouldn’t crash. Paying employees a livable fair wage was not as profitable as slave labor, and these plantation owners were going to find every loophole imaginable to get out of paying their formerly enslaved workers for their labor.

If only there were an end to profiting off prison labor. Today, more American prisoners are being exploited for their labor than during the first few years following the Emancipation Proclamation. Major brands such as Whole Foods, McDonald’s, Target, IBM, Texas Instruments, Boeing, Nordstrom, Intel, Wal-Mart, Victoria’s Secret, Aramark, AT&T, BP, Starbucks, Microsoft, Nike, Honda, Macy’s, and Sprint are several of many companies that benefit from prison labor. 

Why are we supporting a practice with an origin in slavery, and why have we turned a blind eye to slavery today? Slavery isn’t just a history lesson; twenty-first-century slavery has been marketed to look like a normal activity for prisoners.

After reading chapter three, titled Imprisonment and Reform, I brought up prison labor to a family friend. I was explaining the origins and how it made me feel to know that incarcerated people are being exploited for their labor. Their response was, “Well, it’s not like they’re going to do anything else while in jail; they might as well be put to work rather than sit on their butts all day.” The chapters that we read following that discussion talked about how “crime and punishment” shouldn’t be in a marriage with one another, and questioned why we overlook rehabilitation within the prison system. Why are we set on thinking punishment is the only thing to follow crime?

Early in the book, Davis points out the Mississippi Black Codes that were created to incarcerate black people for crimes like being drunk in public, running away from their jobs, or even being accused of carelessly handling money. The Mississippi Black Codes were used to put emancipated black people back on the very plantations they were freed from. However, instead of their lives being monetarily owned, they were now prisoners of the state, and their labor was being used as their punishment for their “crimes.” Davis mentions Mary Ellen Curtin’s study, which found that incarceration rates in Alabama were 99% white before emancipation. Shortly after, the population of incarcerated individuals became disproportionately black.

“During my own career as an anti-prison activist I have seen the populations of U. S. Prisons increase with such rapidity that many people in black, Latino, and Native American communities now have a far greater chance of going to prison than of getting a decent education.”

Angela Davis

Davis also brings up the racist tendencies of white people who used black-face following emancipation to get away with a crime. She makes sure to point out that those tactics have never gone away. Unfortunately, it is common for privileged people to blame black people for their crimes because our system is built on the idea that black people are “inherently criminal and, in particular, prone to larceny.” Without the Mississippi Black Codes, this idea would not be as ingrained into our society. This stigma needs to end.

Angela Davis writes in a way that informs the reader of our country’s truth and explains how devastating our treatment of prisoners has been and still is. Yet, she writes with optimism that change is possible. Optimism is not too common in political literature, especially not when the writing is about something as awful as the prison industrial complex. Davis is not a “black pill” writer. She is inspiring and has a voice that radicalizes.

I implore all who read this article to read Angela Davis’ work, fully comprehend her words, and become radicalized. The prison industrial complex is fully aware of its inhumane practices. Yet, it thrives because ordinary people are unaware of how multifarious prisons are. It’s not the fault of ordinary people; the system doesn’t want people to know what goes on behind closed doors. We must educate our neighbors and read literature from activists and individuals who are directly impacted by the prison industrial complex. And, to answer Angela Davis: yes, prisons are obsolete.

The post Book Club Report: Are Prisons Obsolete? appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

Nazis are here. Nazis have infiltrated our campus. Patriot Front is a Texas-based alt right hate group that bases its beliefs on anti-semetic white supremacy, neo-nazism and neo-fascism. In August 2017, the organization split from Vanguard America -- the neo-nazi, neo-fascist group infamous for a terrorist attack in Charolettsville, Virginia and other alt-right attatcks across the nation. The leader of Patriot Front, Thomas Ryan Rousseau, has attempted to make the group mainstream by utilizing conservative language and the worship of the American flag. Rousseau, much like Vanguard America, focuses on targeting younger demographics, especially on college campuses. It is no different at NKU. Over the last several years, Patriot Front has littered their messages all across our public campus, writing messages with chalk on the sidewalks, placing flyers, and posting stickers. The images reflect their beliefs of anti-semetism and neo-fascism. They claim that America is a land conquered by our white ancestors meant for their white descendants and no one else. The fire has been stoked recently due to the growing re-acceptance of fascism and nazism into the American way of life through modern politicians, authoritarian police, and racist policy, but the flame has never left.

Today -- on Holocaust remembrance day -- Patriot Front vandalized the boulder that centers the courtyard in front of Norse Commons and the dorms. They plastered their disgusting name and message for all students to see as they walked by. Every Jewish student, every student of color, every minority, and every student of the LGBTQ+ community has had to endure the messages of hate on their own campus, in their own home. This is not the first time that Patriot Front has attacked our campus, yet the Northern Kentucky University administration and president have consistently chosen to look the other way. They continue to ignore the harm that this hate has on their student body. Nazism was inspired by America; Nazism flourished in America; and Nazism continues to stain America. We cannot allow for this rhetoric to be spoken and promoted in a place of education. We cannot appease the Patriot Front or any act of white supremacy in any way, and most importantly, we must unite in solidarity to finally put an end to the abhorrent speech of Nazis.

The conflict in Yemen is the greatest humanitarian conflict in the world. For the next 5 days, we will be sharing information about this conflict, and attempting to explain how US imperialism has made it far worse. We hope you will join us on the Yemen Day of Action on Jan 25th for a global webinar, hosted by Code Pink, at 11AM. https://www.codepink.org/globalyemen

• 238,000 people are facing famine conditions in Yemen today due to an ongoing civil war, which has been made worse by the intervention of the US and Saudi Arabia.
• 7.4 million people need treatment for malnutrition, two million of which are children under five years old
• 17.8 million people do not have access to the necessary facilities
• 19.7 million people lack access to adequate health care
• A massive cholera epidemic has also affected the country, and large numbers of people have been internally displaced
• The world powers involved in this conflict are engaging in collective punishment of entire villages.
• Since Trump has declared the Houthis as terrorists, relief from other countries or organizations is at risk.

History of the Conflict in Yemen

• Britain was interested in Yemen as a strategic military location since the mid 1800s.
• Britain split the country with the Ottoman Empire in 1905
• South Yemen became a socialist country in 1967
• Capitalist unification of the country occurred in 1990
• The government collapsed in 2015, leading to civil conflict. 
• Western intervention has contributed greatly to the ongoing civil war.

Why is the US committed to this war?

• The ruling class is not united on this, Congress passed a war powers resolution to withdraw the US, Trump vetoed
• Nonetheless, weapons manufacturers, big businesses like AMC and Domino’s Pizza see Saudi Arabia as a profit center or market for exploitation
• Saudi Arabia and its war coalition, including the US, is treating it as a proxy war with Iran
• Yemen is a strategic location for the Saudis, and the US has sided with Saudi Arabia in many conflicts against Iran
• Saudi Arabia has bankrolled many US think tanks after the 2008 housing crash, leading these think tanks to support Saudi wars and political standing in the region

Yemen is an Example of Imperialism

• Capitalists benefit from war through weapons manufacture, and especially in nations that are rich in resources or could serve as economic thoroughfares and sites for oil pipelines
• Saudi Arabia is a reactionary monarchy that the US collaborates with to serve mutual financial and war interests, not the interests of the people of either nation
• At this stage of capitalist production, global capitalism requires total domination of potential markets. Imperialism is a manifestation of the insatiable hunger of capitalism.
• The people of Yemen have a right to self determination, but their struggle has been wrapped up in the imperialist plan for global financial domination. Yemeni culture deserves to survive without this imperialist intervention.
• The exploitation that you experience at your job is directly connected to the global war machine that is causing mass suffering in Yemen.

 What Is Imperialism?

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Earlier today, Joe Biden was sworn in as the President of the United States. He comes into office as more than 400,000 people in this country have died from Covid-19, 2020 was the hottest year on record and white supremacists are desperately fighting to maintain their power in this country after social uprisings against police brutality this summer strengthened movements for racial justice and Black Liberation. Biden ran his campaign for President as a centrist democrat and has since proposed a 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus plan called the “American Rescue Plan” and announced 17 executive actions he plans to take on day one that many in the mainstream media are describing as Biden’s way of beginning to dismantle Trump’s legacy. Today with our DSA comrades we will talk about how Biden’s plans leaves out many struggling people including essential workers and why Biden must go further in the first 100 days of his administration and embrace bold policies that Democratic Socialists and grassroots movements across the country are organizing for like defunding the police and a Green New Deal in order to truly dismantle Trump’s legacy. We’ll also hear from Desiree Joy Frias who has been on the ground at the Teamster union worker strike at Hunts Point Produce Market.