“Churches can be a place where
judgment, shame and contempt
[for families with felons]
are felt most acutely.”
- Michelle Alexander
Time for a pop quiz question. Ready? In what year did the U.S.
end slavery?
Most agree it’s 1865. Some historians disagree. Their answer:
1942.
True, the Triangle Trade’s enrichment of slave shippers ended
with the Civil War. Tragically, however, legally coerced work continued. Some
southern states were sly. Police falsely imprisoned blacks, and judges ordered
lengthy sentences at hard labor.
“Convict leasing” was legalized. Douglas Blackmon describes this
practice as “a system in which armies of free men, guilty of no crimes and
entitled by law to freedom, were compelled to labor without compensation, were
repeatedly bought and sold, and were forced to do the bidding of white masters
through the regular application of extraordinary physical coercion.”
The penal system became the new slavery.
Still, the answer to our black-history-month query may not be 1942. Ready for a shocker? Enslavement of blacks exists today.
The War on Drugs intensified in the 1980s. In just two decades,
those jailed for drug offenses increased ninefold. The Director for National
Drug Control Policy, retired General Barry McCaffrey, referred to this
imprisonment system as a “drug gulag.”
Mass incarceration is aggressively focused on communities of color.
Despite blacks and whites having similar drug usage rates, a
1999 Human Rights Watch report states, “Black men are admitted to state prison
on drug charges at a rate that is 13.4 times greater than that of white men.”
Indeed, black men imprisoned, on parole and probation now exceed
all men enslaved in 1850.
Bondage for drug offenses is inflicted almost exclusively on
black and brown men. Whites are usually ‘off the hook.’ Even when arrested,
whites are more often given alternatives to jail. When jailed, whites’ average
sentences are 16.3 percent shorter than blacks.
Enormous numbers of black bodies are placed in bondage, their
prison labor extracted, for non-violent drug offenses. Isn’t this a new system
of slavery? Isn’t this massive discrimination also subjecting prisoners’
families—parents, spouses and children—to excruciating emotional and financial
bondage?
EDITOR’S NOTE: in 1999, I served as research director for the
AFL-CIO’s successful organizing campaign at the Avondale Shipyard just outside New
Orleans. This large private shipyard built ships for the Navy and Coast Guard
with workers slaving under hellish conditions.
Adding to their misery was the
practice of the local sheriff who supplied convicts to replace any worker who complained. The sheriff was paid by the state to provide the shipyard
with convict labor. The shipyard also paid the sheriff for the convicts’ labor.
On top of that, the sheriff also charged the convicts an exorbitant
room-and-board that equals just about every dollar the convicts earned. This was a very nice deal for the sheriff.
I saw
for myself what Rev. Rix is talking about. – Will Collette
As a permanent undercaste, the black community also suffers wage
slavery. Whites’ average household income is 68.5 percent higher than
blacks—and the black unemployment rate is twice that of whites. This severely
depressed income continually increases economic inequality: Average white
families now have thirteen times the assets of average black families.
It gets worse: Black prisoners’ sentences continue after
release.
Imagine leaving prison. Determined to lead a good life, you plan
to go to college—but you’re barred from getting a federal loan. Or you need a
job but, if a black man, only five percent of employers will even grant you an
interview.
You may be desperate for public housing assistance. You can’t
get it. By law, you probably can’t receive any public benefits—including food
stamps if your kids are hungry. With all these cruel barriers, what choices
remain? Can we see why ex-cons often return to prison?
Again, this discrimination primarily decimates blacks.
So who should correct these many forms of racialized financial
rape? Why not the white community which perpetrates and often benefits from
black bondage?
The first step is education: More fact-packed articles detailing
the destructive impacts of racism can be found at www.quoflections.org\race.
Second, share these injustices with friends and family.
Third, let’s seek legislation ending the War on Drugs (really,
the War on Black Men). Let’s eradicate laws discriminating against ex-felons.
Let’s legalize a living wage. Also, our nation has the wealthiest white
community in history, primarily due to centuries of labor stolen or cheated
from African Americans. In the name of justice, we who are white can advocate
for long-overdue reparations to be invested in neglected black communities.
Oh, and our pop quiz answer: Even in 2016, slavery continues on
a massive scale.
Rev.
Harry Rix is a retired pastor and mental health counselor living
in Providence, RI. He has 50 articles on spirituality and ethics, stunning
photos, and 1200 inspiring quotations available at www.quoflections.org.