[wvns] Greens Confront Black Mass Incarceration

Why Democrats and Republicans Won't Confront Black Mass Incarceration, and Why The Green Party Will
Wed, 11/18/2009
by Bruce A. Dixon
http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/why-democrats-and-republicans-wont-confront-black-mass-incarceration-and-why-green-party-wil

Although the phenomenon of black mass incarceration is at the center of African American life, it continues to be obfuscated or ignored. The bipartisan consensus is that the social policy of black mass incarceration may exist only the minds of black people, and is certainly off the table as a political issue. To get this very real concern of Black America on the table then, may require stepping outside the bipartisan consensus. In Georgia, the state with the third highest black population and the largest percentage of its adults in the correctional labyrinth, the Green Party proposes to do what Democrats and Republicans won't --- make black mass incarceration a central political issue.

With less than 5% of the world's population, the US accounts for a quarter of the world's prisoners. While African Americans are only an eighth the population, we account for almost half the locked down. America's widely acknowledged but rarely discussed social policy of black mass incarceration has been a decisive fact of African American family and community life for a generation. Four years ago in Black Commentator, this reporter wrote that

"...Right now, the shadow of prison squats at the corners of, and often at the center of nearly every black family's life in this nation.

"Since 1970, the US prison population has multiplied more than six times... despite essentially level crime rates over the last four decades. This has only been possible because the public policies which enable and support locking up more people longer and for less have until now been exempt from analyses of their human, economic and social costs or from any reckoning of the relationships of spiraling imprisonment to actual crime rates and public safety. Most tellingly, while public discussions of these policies are deracialized, their racially disparate impacts are a seldom discussed but widely known fact. Thus even though the damning numbers are widely reported and well known, mass incarceration is practically invisible as a political issue, even in those heavily black communities which suffer most from its implementation."

Little has changed since then. The number of persons in prisons, jails, on probation, bail, parole, pre-trial and post-conviction supervision continues to rise and according to a March 2009 Pew Center report is now one in 31 nationally, including one in eleven African Americans. An astounding three percent of all black Americans are in prisons and jails, the majority for drug charges, although black and white rates of drug use have been virtually identical for decades. While politicians in black constituencies are regularly obliged to wag their fingers at it, their misleading analyses often point to educational outcomes, and job markets as if these were causes of explosive growth of the carceral state rather than its outcomes. In fact, the policy of mass black imprisonment has functioned as a kind of reparations in reverse, curtailing the economic vitality of entire black communities, stressing and destroying the cohesion of millions of families and thousands of neighborhoods, worsening black health outcomes and more.

The pretense that black mass incarceration is the murky outcome of other social policies rather than a plainly failed and malevolent social policy by itself misdirects public attention and effectively takes the issue off the political table. If black joblessness, lack of family cohesion and health disparities are somehow supposed to cause black mass incarceration, there is no reason to examine the growth of the carceral state itself. Thus the social policy of black mass incarceration never has to justify itself, its costs or its outcomes, never needs to be publicly acknowledged, and can never become a political issue in and of itself. But this may be about to change.

Making mass incarceration a political issue

The ninth largest US state, Georgia leads the rest with one in every thirteen adults in its prisons, jails, on parole and probation, and various kinds of pre-trial and post-conviction court or correctional supervision. A generation of white and black politicians from both major parties have built their careers on stoking the fear of crime and the expansion and justification of the state's vast crime control industries. The state's current Republican governor, as well as the top two Democratic contenders who want to succeed him all had a hand in passing the state's three-strikes mandatory sentencing legislation under former Democratic governor Zell Miller. One of those Democrats is the state's African American attorney general, Thurbert Baker. The last Democratic governor Roy Barnes wanted to put a "two-strikes" provision into the state constitution.

But Georgia's Green Party, BAR has learned, will announce tomorrow that its major focus for the coming two years, including the 2010 election cycle, will be making a political issue out of black mass incarceration. The Green Party of GA intends to do this by running candidates for the state legislature and for district attorney and sheriff, not just in metro Atlanta, but in Augusta, Macon, Columbus, Savannah and elsewhere. Georgia's Green party will expect its candidates to put the fact of black mass incarceration squarely on the political table by advocating positions including but not limited to:

•opposing in principle the trials of or incarceration of juveniles as or with adults;

•repealing all mandatory sentencing legislation;

•an end to all privatized prisons and jails, and the swift phasing out of piecemeal privatization of inmate health, food services and other functions;

•an end to all privatized probation services --- Georgia has an almost uniquely corrupt and oppressive regime of fines with loan-shark interest payments collected by private sector probation companies;

•ceasing the incarceration of juveniles for most or all nonviolent offenses and reexamining the "zero-tolerance" policies forced upon many school districts;

•immediate cancellation of all the private contracts enabling well-connected corporations and corrupt politicians to collect exorbitant tolls on the money sent to and phone calls made to inmates and persons in custody;

•the extension of meaningful educational opportunities beyond G.E.D. to people in the state's jails and prisons and its extensive community corrections networks;

I should say how BAR came to know this. We know it because I have been for the last few weeks a member of the GA state committee of the Green Party and its press secretary.

We know that the effects of the nation's policy of black mass incarceration are among the most deeply felt concerns of millions of African American families. We are confident that vigorous, competent, grassroots political campaigns that bring their concerns to the fore are the key to growing the Green Party in Georgia and bringing into existence a broader and more permanent movement for peace and justice than has ever existed before. With the third highest black population among US states, Georgia is uniquely positioned to lead the way on this issue.

In Georgia, our Green Party will look a lot like a red, black and green party. We are confident that with black majorities or near majorities in many of the state's largest counties, including several outside metro Atlanta, that some of these contests are eminently winnable by Green candidates willing to place the issue of mass incarceration squarely on the political front burner. We will be recruiting and training those candidates and the people who want to work with them to change this failed and destructive social policy.

By comparison, the mobilization achieved by the Obama campaigns last year was superficial, a mile wide and an inch deep, its imperatives dictated from the top down rather than from the bottom up, and its activists dispersed and demobilized immediately after the election. Establishment campaigns, such as Democrats usually conduct, are not "movements". They are where movements go to die, or are betrayed misdirected, and disbanded. To be successful the fight to change and reverse the national policy of black mass incarceration must be closer to a real mass movement than anything seen in a generation, directed and inspired in large part from below. As far as Georgia's Green Party is concerned it will not be the slave of any candidate's political career. It won't go away after a few, or maybe quite a few people get elected, or not. It aims at nothing less than explaining, confronting and curtailing the carceral state with the power of organized people.

Below is a 2005 list of US counties in order of their black populations. Efforts like the one we envision in Georgia can probably succeed or make major impacts anyplace the African American population is 30% or more.

Counties by Black Population

County Name
State
Total County Population
Total Black Population
Percent

Cook County
IL
5,376,741
1,405,361
26.1

Los Angeles County
CA
9,519,338
930,957
9.8

Kings County
NY
2,465,326
898,350
36.4

Wayne County
MI
2,061,162
868,992
42.2

Philadelphia County
PA
1,517,550
655,824
43.2

Harris County
TX
3,400,578
628,619
18.5

Prince George's County
MD
801,515
502,550
62.7

Bronx County
NY
1,332,650
475,007
35.6

Miami-Dade County
FL
2,253,362
457,214
20.3

Dallas County
TX
2,218,899
450,557
20.3

Queens County
NY
2,229,379
446,189
20

Shelby County
TN
897,472
435,824
48.6

Baltimore city
MD
651,154
418,951
64.3

Cuyahoga County
OH
1,393,978
382,634
27.4

Fulton County
GA
816,006
363,656
44.6

DeKalb County
GA
665,865
361,111
54.2

District of Columbia
DC
572,059
343,312
60

Broward County
FL
1,623,018
333,304
20.5

Essex County
NJ
793,633
327,324
41.2

Orleans Parish
LA
484,674
325,947
67.3

New York County
NY
1,537,195
267,302
17.4

Jefferson County
AL
662,047
260,608
39.4

Milwaukee County
WI
940,164
231,157
24.6

Duval County
FL
778,879
216,780
27.8

Alameda County
CA
1,443,741
215,598
14.9

Marion County
IN
860,454
207,964
24.2

Hamilton County
OH
845,303
198,061
23.4

Mecklenburg County
NC
695,454
193,838
27.9

St. Louis County
MO
1,016,315
193,306
19

Franklin County
OH
1,068,978
191,196
17.9

Tarrant County
TX
1,446,219
185,143
12.8

St. Louis city
MO
348,189
178,266
51.2

East Baton Rouge Parish
LA
412,852
165,526
40.1

Orange County
FL
896,344
162,899
18.2

San Diego County
CA
2,813,833
161,480
5.7

Allegheny County
PA
1,281,666
159,058
12.4

Palm Beach County
FL
1,131,184
156,055
13.8

San Bernardino County
CA
1,709,434
155,348
9.1

Suffolk County
MA
689,807
153,418
22.2

Hinds County
MS
250,800
153,297
61.1

Jackson County
MO
654,880
152,391
23.3

Baltimore County
MD
754,292
151,600
20.1

Hillsborough County
FL
998,948
149,423
15

Davidson County
TN
569,891
147,696
25.9

Richland County
SC
320,677
144,809
45.2

Nassau County
NY
1,334,544
134,673
10.1

Mobile County
AL
399,843
133,465
33.4

Montgomery County
MD
873,341
132,256
15.1

Westchester County
NY
923,459
131,132
14.2

Jefferson County
KY
693,604
130,928
18.9

Clark County
NV
1,375,765
124,885
9.1

Wake County
NC
627,846
123,820
19.7

Erie County
NY
950,265
123,529
13

Guilford County
NC
421,048
123,253
29.3

Lake County
IN
484,564
122,723
25.3

Clayton County
GA
236,517
121,927
51.6

Sacramento County
CA
1,223,499
121,804
10

Oakland County
MI
1,194,156
120,720
10.1

Pulaski County
AR
361,474
115,197
31.9

Maricopa County
AZ
3,072,149
114,551
3.7

Cobb County
GA
607,751
114,233
18.8

Richmond city
VA
197,790
113,108
57.2

Caddo Parish
LA
252,161
112,483
44.6

Montgomery County
OH
559,062
111,030
19.9

Union County
NJ
522,541
108,593
20.8

Montgomery County
AL
223,510
108,583
48.6

Charleston County
SC
309,969
106,918
34.5

Cumberland County
NC
302,963
105,731
34.9

Jefferson Parish
LA
455,466
104,121
22.9

Norfolk city
VA
234,403
103,387
44.1

New Castle County
DE
500,265
101,167
20.2

Monroe County
NY
735,343
101,078
13.7

Bexar County
TX
1,392,931
100,025
7.2

Hennepin County
MN
1,116,200
99,943
9

Hartford County
CT
857,183
99,936
11.7

Richmond County
GA
199,775
99,391
49.8

Oklahoma County
OK
660,448
99,241
15

Suffolk County
NY
1,419,369
98,553
6.9

Riverside County
CA
1,545,387
96,421
6.2

Chatham County
GA
232,048
93,971
40.5

King County
WA
1,737,034
93,875
5.4

New Haven County
CT
824,008
93,239
11.3

Camden County
NJ
508,932
92,059
18.1

Genesee County
MI
436,141
88,843
20.4

Contra Costa County
CA
948,816
88,813
9.4

Fairfield County
CT
882,567
88,362
10

Durham County
NC
223,314
88,109
39.5

Jefferson County
TX
252,051
85,046
33.7

Fairfax County
VA
969,749
83,098
8.6

Pinellas County
FL
921,482
82,556
9

Hudson County
NJ
608,975
82,098
13.5

Muscogee County
GA
186,291
81,488
43.7

Virginia Beach city
VA
425,257
80,593
19

Delaware County
PA
550,864
79,981
14.5

Forsyth County
NC
306,067
78,388
25.6

Gwinnett County
GA
588,448
78,224
13.3

Lucas County
OH
455,054
77,268
17

Travis County
TX
812,280
75,247
9.3

St. Clair County
IL
256,082
73,666
28.8

Bibb County
GA
153,887
72,818
47.3

Summit County
OH
542,899
71,608
13.2

Newport News city
VA
180,150
70,388
39.1

Fort Bend County
TX
354,452
70,356
19.8

Leon County
FL
239,452
69,704
29.1

Mercer County
NJ
350,761
69,502
19.8

Greenville County
SC
379,616
69,455
18.3

Middlesex County
NJ
750,162
68,467
9.1

Anne Arundel County
MD
489,656
66,428
13.6

Polk County
FL
483,924
65,545
13.5

Hampton city
VA
146,437
65,428
44.7

Henrico County
VA
262,300
64,805
24.7

Passaic County
NJ
489,049
64,647
13.2

Burlington County
NJ
423,394
64,071
15.1

Madison County
AL
276,700
63,025
22.8

Escambia County
FL
294,410
63,010
21.4

Hamilton County
TN
307,896
62,005
20.1

Tulsa County
OK
563,299
61,656
10.9

Denver County
CO
554,636
61,649
11.1

San Francisco County
CA
776,733
60,515
7.8

Solano County
CA
394,542
58,827
14.9

Dougherty County
GA
96,065
57,762
60.1

Chesapeake city
VA
199,184
56,823
28.5

Montgomery County
PA
750,097
55,969
7.5

Orangeburg County
SC
91,582
55,736
60.9

Douglas County
NE
463,585
53,330
11.5

Spartanburg County
SC
253,791
52,775
20.8

Prince William County
VA
280,813
52,691
18.8

Will County
IL
502,266
52,509
10.5

Kent County
MI
574,335
51,287
8.9

Portsmouth city
VA
100,565
50,899
50.6

Bruce A. Dixon resides in metro Atlanta and is managing editor at Black Agenda Report. He is also press secretrary for the Green Party of Georgia, and can be reached at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com, and bdixon(at)georgiagreenparty.org.

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