Actress Elizabeth has a few things to say about prison after she spent a few hours in one to prepare for an upcoming film.

“My character is incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail where we actually shot the movie, so of course it was really helpful in terms of getting into character. I got to sit with the inmates. I got to be locked in a cell which lasted about two minutes before it was like, ‘Get me the hell out of here!’

“They don’t have bars on their doors; it’s all heavy steel doors with a little window, so you feel not just incarcerated but also institutionalised. You feel like you’re gonna get a lobotomy in about five minutes, so it was very easy to imagine the isolation of being there for real – and the depression.

“There is no outdoor space in Allegheny; you never see the sun. I actually believe that there are people that should be separated from society and I believe there are bad people. I sat with about 40 or 50 women on this one cell block… It’s really not a fun place to be. Most of the women I met with were either drug offenders or parole violators; not a lot of super violent women on this particular cell block, but some women were there for up to three years.”

And Banks rewarded the women by buying them all new prison attire after trying it on for herself.

She tells WENN, “We had all prison issue costumes when we went to the jail and asked them for all their old stuff. We took it and we bought them new stuff. I wore all the clothes, socks, underwear and it’s itchy, it’s scratchy, it’s thin, it’s gross.

“The worst part about it is it has an elastic waistband that cuts into you and I’m tiny so you wouldn’t think it would bother me but it did. I said, ‘How do you guys deal with this?'”

WARNING: This is going to be an emotionally disturbing post so please be advised…

Friends of mine know that I am fascinated by the history of U.S. slavery. In particular, I am obsessed with knowing everything that there is to know about the Underground Railroad. This period intrigues me greatly because I care a lot about freedom struggles and resistance to oppression.

I have spent the past couple of years working on a personal project that is focused on the Underground Railroad. As part of this, I have been reading a lot about slavery. Most recently, I came across a terrific essay by David Baker titled “Black Female Executions in Historical Context.” This is an area that I knew very little about but the article was illuminating, wrenching, and informative.

Beginning with Massachussetts’s execution of Maria, a young slave woman, for arson-murder in September 1681, officials executed 58 slave women before 1790 and 126 slave women from 1790 to emancipation. Virginia alone accounted for 38% of all female slave executions. These are only the executions that could be documented because as Baker points out:”undoubtedly, authorities executed far more slave women than what the historical record reveals (p.66).”

It turns out that most of the black women who were executed in the era of slavery had killed their white masters. According to Baker, “slave women mostly strangled, clubbed, stabbed, burned, shot, poisoned, or hacked to death their White masters, mistresses, overseers, and even their owners’ children (p.66).” Poisoning and arson were the most prevalent methods slave women used to kill their oppressors.

The arm of “justice” came down hard on these slave women who chose to resist their oppression by killing their white owners. “Virginia executed Jane Williams in 1852 for slashing to death with a hatchet her master’s wife and infant. Reportedly, Jane’s owner mistreated her badly and had threatened to sell Jane without also selling her child (p.67).” One can only imagine the anguish that Jane felt in terms of the daily abuse and indignity of her existence, the final straw had to have been the prospect of being sold away from her child.

“Virginia authorities burned alive Eve for poisoning her master Peter Montague with a glass of milk. Executioners afterward quartered Eve’s burnt body and displayed it publicly (p.66).” There is no information as to why Eve killed her master but we could certainly imagine her motives. Sexual control over slave women by white owners was critical to slavery and white owners relied on the routine sexual abuse of slave women as much as they did other forms of brutality. “One southern planter vulgarly declared that White rape of slave women explained the ‘absence of Southern prostitution and the purity of white women (p.72).”

Slave women often reacted violently to the sexual violence.

“Seventy-year old Robert Newsome bought 14-year old Celia and forced sexual relations on her immediately and repeatedly. One night when Newsome went to Celia’s cabin to abuse her, she struck him with a stick and killed him instantly. Celia was pregnant for the third time by Newsome and was very ill when he last approached her. At her trial, the court was concerned only with whether Celia had a right to defend herself against her master’s assault. The trial judge made it clear that Celia did not have that right. To the court, Celia had no sexual rights over her own body because she was Newsome’s property and she ought to have submitted to Newsome’s demands. Celia was guilty of murder and hanged 4 days before Christmas in 1855.”

These are not the stories that we are familiar with about slavery. That history has been sanitized and romanticized in a way that obscures its evil and its brutality. Reading about the cases of slave women who resisted their captivity by resorting to violence themselves is both jarring and strangely comforting. What do I mean by comforting?

In response to white oppression and brutality, the slave women exhibited the full gamut of human emotion and responses. Some obviously endured their lot in life, others ran away, others employed forms of symbolic resistance such as meandering, refusing to bring pregnancies to term, and finally some just decided to fight back by meeting violence with violence which sometimes meant killing their oppressors. Understanding this history is comforting because it humanizes slaves who are often portrayed as one dimensional when they are discussed at all.

Of the 165 slave women executions during colonial and antebellum slavery, some 48% involved multiple executions that occurred on the same day for the same crime. This means that slave women often acted in concert with slave counterparts in response to White oppression. Jurisdictions often imposed harsher punishments on slave women than their male co-conspirators; slave women often burned to death for their crimes whereas male co-conspirators hanged for the same offense.

The entire history of capital punishment for slave women is fascinating and provides a window into the way that black women were and continue to be viewed and treated in American society. Tomorrow I will discuss the evolution of capital punishment for black women into the present.

One of the most beautiful songs ever… RIP Lucky.

In Memory of Oscar Grant by Chris Stain

I understand the anger that so many people feel over the fact that Johannes Mehserle got a sentence of two years in prison (with time served) for killing Oscar Grant. I feel that anger too. My anger though is directed at a police culture that is deeply oppressive and at our unwillingness as a country to confront that reality.

I noticed messages on social media suggesting that this is yet another example of how cheap black life is in America. Well it is a basic truth that black life is devalued in the U.S. It shouldn’t take these kinds of cases though to bring this analysis to light.

I am also being told via tweets on twitter that Michael Vick was sentenced to 4 years in prison for dogfighting while Mehserle to only 2 years for killing a human being. Again, presumably this is supposed to illustrate the cheapness of black life in America.

Sorry but we do not need to hold the Oscar Grant case up as proof that black life is not valued within this culture. Frankly, we should be pointing this fact out every day and in every way possible. We see that black lives are devalued through the disproportionate suspensions and expulsions being meted out to black youth on a daily basis across America leading these youth to be pushed out of schools. We see it in the fact that black youth ages 16-19 had a 50% unemployment rate in September. We see it in the disproportionate contact that black people have with the criminal legal system. Black lives are not valued in this culture and Mehserle is not the only or even the main culprit. He is part of an entire system of law enforcement that is set up to terrorize communities of color. By the way, we can’t lock up every single police officer in the country. We are going to need to organize and create a mass movement in order to uproot the systemic violence that is at the core of police culture.

Now that this is out of the way. Can we please discuss the fact that calling for Mesherle to be locked up for years will not address the fact that black life is cheap in America? It will not. The very same people who rage against the ineffectiveness and destructiveness of prisons suddenly become its apologists in this situation. We have to be consistent. If prisons are evil, then they are bad for everyone even cops who murder innocent young black men.

What might true accountability for his horrible actions look like for Johannes Mehserle? Can we ponder this question for a minute? I would like to see Officer Mehserle mandated to attend anti-oppression workshops. I would like to then have him reflect on his experience as a police officer and on the racism, classism, and violence that permeate police culture. I would like to then have Mehserle participate in a series of peace circles over the next two years with young black men from across the country where he would have to listen to them as they explain to him the impact that oppressive policing has on their lives. I would then have Mehserle document his circle experiences in some way that could be disseminated to a broader public.

He would have a sentence of another 2 years to go around the country to educate his “brother” police officers about what he heard and what he learned. I guarantee you that after this type of experience Mehserle would have a much better understanding of the destructiveness of his actions and be in a better position to try to repair the harm that he caused. No, Oscar Grant would not be returned to us unfortunately. That is absolutely true. But his memory would live on. This would be a way that Oscar Grant would avoid fading into the undefined collective memory of a society too used to losing young black men. The Mehserles of the world can shoot young black men with impunity because they are so dehumanized in their eyes. They are not people but archetypal “criminals” and potential “gangsters.” Peace circles force everyone participating in them to think about each others’ humanity. This is why they are effective anti-violence interventions.

So I am going to say something supremely unpopular but here it is… We cannot hate prisons and then advocate for people to be locked up in them; no matter how terrible the actions that they have committed and no matter how great our own anger. I am fully aware that mine is a minority position in this culture. Hell, less than a minority position in fact. However that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that some of us need to speak our truths even in the face of certain resistance. I hate prisons because they are destructive, oppressive, ineffective, and counterproductive and so I cannot advocate for more people to be locked up in them. Period. This includes Johannes Mehserle.

This is a good time to bring back Innocent Criminal by Pat’s Justice which I have previously written about.

I am getting inundated with e-mails today from friends, family, youth I work with, long-lost colleagues asking me to write about Lil’ Wayne’s release from jail.

Look people: “I DO NOT WANT TO WRITE ABOUT LIL’ WAYNE BEING RELEASED FROM JAIL.” OK now that this is out of my system…

Here is one reason that I do not want to write about Lil’ Wayne today:

“FREE AT LAST!!!!!!!” the rapper’s longtime manager, Cortez Bryant, Tweeted Thursday morning.

His managers have said he planned to head for his home in Miami, where they’re planning a welcome-home party Sunday.

“It should be a lot of beautiful women, just…beautiful scenery. Just treat him like a king, like the royalty that he is and make him feel like we really missed him and welcome him back to the family,” Maine told MTV.

The record label boss, who MTV says is also a close personal friend of Lil Wayne, said after a private party, the entourage would move to a strip club called King of Diamonds.

Lil’ Wayne is released from jail and the first thing that he is supposedly going to do is surround himself with “beautiful women” who are equated with “beautiful scenery.” Then he is planning to go to a strip club. Excellent! There is no mention whatsoever of Wayne possibly visiting his children. After 8 months of incarceration, the svengalis who are in charge of insuring that the Lil’ Wayne “brand” remains lucrative are selling the public on the fact that Lil Wayne’s most important priority post-jail is the continued objectification of women. Good times…

I don’t want to write about Lil’ Wayne’s release because I believe that he is complicit in perpetuating the myth that jail is a “country-club” rather than the dehumanizing hell hole that most inmates experience it as. Regular readers know that I have had a feature called “prison is NOT a country club (contra Lil’ Wayne)” intended to underscore this fact.

I don’t want to write about Lil Wayne’s release from jail because I believe that he is fine with being seen as a brand, a non-person. Since this is the case, he cannot humanize the prison experience. He cannot express the realities of the incarceration experience. To do so would be seen as tarnishing his brand and potentially eating into his revenue generating potential.

In this way, Wayne is an essential player in ensuring the continuation of the prison industrial complex. Not many highlight this fact because it is uncomfortable but TRUE. Wayne has used his incarceration as a revenue generating opportunity. Who can blame him right? But what this does is that it hardens the system and makes it more difficult for those of us who are advocating for abolition to get a hearing in the general public. People believe the hype. They suggest that jail and prison are in fact “country-clubs.” They support measures to make those experiences more harsh and punitive. Wayne is toxic to the prison abolition movement. It has to be said.

So while black and brown bodies continue to fill the coffers and the insatiable appetite of the PIC and destroy entire communities, Wayne is apparently going to the strip club. What happened to going to Disney World?

I expect to get flamed for these views but I DON’T CARE since I DON’T WANT TO WRITE ABOUT LIL’ WAYNE’S RELEASE FROM JAIL. Bring it on!

Update: Michael Jeffries blogs over at the Atlantic about Wayne's release. The most salient part of his post for me is this section:

The reasons people go to jail are not always just, but the experience of incarceration should leave an imprint; it is demeaning and miserable. In most cases, the effects are disastrous. Prison provides no rehabilitative function, the experience is traumatic, and the prisoner exits in worse social and financial condition than when he entered. However, for the privileged few who have the support systems and incentives in place to avoid recidivism, the experience need not be repeated.

Over the past couple of days in the midst of a flurry of activity and battling a terrible cold, I received three e-mails that have stayed with me.

First an acquaintance of mine sent an e-mail about the death of one of her students, an 18 year old, shot & killed on the streets of Albuquerque. For those who live in Chicago, this is a familiar story. Another young person struck down in the prime of his life. I read her words which just pulsed with anger, sadness, dedication, and ultimately with hope. Hope that this young man’s death would not be in vain. Commitment that she would not allow his death to have been in vain. Those of us who are working to support young people on a daily basis have to steadfastly refuse to give in to despair and cynicism.

Next a colleague of mine sent along an e-mail with an attachment that listed the names of slaves that were insured by their masters. He expressed how deeply disturbed he was by seeing those names on the list. Even knowing that slaves were considered chattel and property somehow seeing a list of people actually being “insured” by their “owners” was seering. He wondered if prisoners are currently also being “insured” by municipalities. I don’t know the answer to that but would welcome any information that anyone has about this possibility.

Finally, I received an e-mail from a stranger. She wrote to me with a simple question: “How do you keep from giving up?” The e-mail was much longer than that but I didn’t get her permission to quote any parts of it. So I won’t. I was struck however by the question that she asked me. It is relevant to the kind of work that I do. It is relevant to my organizing and social activism. It is relevant to my life. I wrote back to her but I fear that my response to her e-mail was inadequate. Mainly because I am just so damn tired this week. So I want to take another shot at formulating a coherent response here.

I don’t give up because of the thousands of young people like my friend’s student who are senselessly killed every minute, every hour, every day. We have to be witnesses for each other. We are interconnected and we cannot be free while others are oppressed. It is a simple lesson and the world would be better if more people internalized this.

I don’t give up because I know what black people had to endure and continue to endure everywhere, the world over. My colleague’s e-mail about human beings being “insured” by their “masters” is reason enough for not giving up. Those slaves paid the price for my being able to freely write here today. I am a student of history and this allows me never to give up or to give in. Progress is difficult but inevitable. This is borne out by history. As I listen to pundits and some so-called “progressives” bitching and complaining about this week’s elections, all I can think of is “boy our ancestors seemed to be made up of different stock.” Social change and transformation is a long, hard slog. There are setbacks and there are some terrific highs. The key is to keep moving forward and to keep making progress. This is what I believe about all struggles for justice. So I don’t give up.

Not long ago, a friend sent me some words from Cornel West that she thought I would appreciate. I want to share some of them here:

“It takes courage to cut against the grain and become non-conformist. It takes courage to wake up and stay awake instead of engaging in complacent slumber. It takes courage to shatter conformity and cowardice.” I would add that it takes courage to keep from giving up.

Want to know how many youth were arrested in Chicago in 2009?

Interested in learning about the racial breakdown of youth detained at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in 2009?

How many cases were diverted from juvenile court in 2008?

After over a year of struggle, I am pleased to introduce the Chicago Youth Justice Data Project. In our current economic, political and social climate, the adage “information is power” is even more true.

Our communities are disempowered when we are kept in the dark about how the state is intervening in our lives.  The Chicago Youth Justice Data Project brings the most timely & relevant information about juvenile justice & youth criminalization to community members.  It is critical that citizens be equipped with data in order to effectively advocate for reforms.  Relevant data increases our credibility and authority.  Yet it is difficult to access and especially in one place. I hope that the Chicago Youth Justice Data Project contributes to remedying this issue.

I am a long-time organizer and I approach research from this prism.  I care about data because I know that when properly deployed it can help to transform the systematic ways in which marginalized communities are kept out of the policy-making and decision-making processes.

Special thanks to designer and illustrator Lester Rojas for collaborating with me to bring my vision to fruition.  Lester put in countless hours of his time to complete this project.  It was a labor of love because Lord knows that we could not afford to pay him what he is worth.  Thank you Lester!

Thanks also to the Steans Family Foundation for their generous support.   Without it, this project would not have been possible.

This webzine is dedicated to the memory of the committed organizer and musician, Damian Turner who was taken from all of us way too soon.

I am very interested in keeping this site up to date so please send along any new data that you come across related to juvenile justice in Chicago and Illinois.  If you would like to provide any feedback on the site, please contact me at [email protected].

If you have a minute and the interest, please visit the Chicago Youth Justice Data Project.

I attended a good presentation about mortality in local jails given by Margaret Noonan of the Bureau of Justice Statistics a few weeks ago. She was kind enough to send me a copy of her powerpoint presentation. Here are some of the key findings of her study:

1. About 1,000 inmates die in jails in the U.S. in any given year.
2. Of these inmates who die, the majority die by suicide (29%) or heart disease (22%).
3. Outside of these two causes, no other cause of death accounted for more than 7% of deaths.
4. Male and female inmates die at approximately equal rates (146 v 136), but the number of males dying far outnumbers that of females.
5. Men are more likely to die by suicide whereas females are twice as likely to die due to a intoxication event.
6. Whites died at a higher rate than black and Hispanics due to the suicide effect.
7. Blacks have the lowest suicide rates.
8. The majority of jail inmates (62%) serve less than 7 days.
9. Nearly one-quarter (24%) of jail deaths occur within the first two days of admission.

The typical death in jail is a white male, between the ages of 45 an 54, unconvicted at the time of his death but charged with a violent offense who committed suicide. Suicide is the leading cause of death in local jails, but continues a long-term decline:
Suicide rate in local jails in 1983: 129 per 100,000
Suicide rate in local jails in 2007: 36 in 100,000

It is worth looking at the full powerpoint presentation.

I was talking to a long-time friend of mine last weekend about a project that I am currently working on.  This is a project borne out of what I have experienced and continue to experience in my work with young men of color (particularly young black men).  I have previously blogged about the impact that police violence has on young black men’s psyche. In particular, I have underscored the fact that “the daily harassment at the hands of the police is often experienced by young men of color as micro-aggressions that they have little power to resist without suffering potentially lethal consequences.  This takes a toll on their physical and mental wellness.”

My friend was interested in the fact that I am developing new curricula to address police violence with youth of color.  He shared with me that at 40 years old he still finds that his heart starts pounding when he sees a police officer approach.  It doesn’t matter if he is on the bus taking his children to school or walking home from work late at night.  He still experiences profound anxiety in his interactions with the police.  I thought that it was brave of him to admit this because black men are not rewarded in our culture for sharing their vulnerabilities and for expressing their fears.  And yet, I know that these vulnerabilities and fears exist.  I have seen them in my male family members (brothers, cousins, nephews).  I have heard them expressed by past and current partners.  I have talked about them with my male friends.  I have had them confided to me by young men with whom I work.  The threat of potential violence from the police is enough to pierce young men of color’s cloaks of invulnerability.

Recently the issue of Stop & Frisk has been in the news again.  I’ve blogged about this issue in the past. But police violence against people of color goes beyond stop and frisk. Marc Lamont Hill was just recently dragged out of his car during a routine traffic stop.  He has filed a suit alleging that his civil rights were violated.

Then just last week, I saw this video and I became even more committed to completing my curriculum project.This is video of a 16 year old young man being beaten by 12 police officers.

Apparently students who were filming this beating were repeatedly threatened and told to stop. Thankfully at least a couple refused. What justification is there for the use of this much force on one 16 year old boy. There were 12 white police officers involved in this incident. Here’s a press release for a press conference and demands in the wake of this beating:

Boston, MA – Local Community Organizers and Activists join with clergy and members of the NAACP and National Action Network to address the latest incidents of violence and police brutality.  In light of recent acts of violence as well as the worldwide release of video depicting the Boston Police in an act of excessive force and police brutality committed against a 16 yr. old African-American male, community groups are joining in a call for the Mayor and Police Commissioner of the City of Boston to listen to and implement the suggestions and recommended strategies of the community.

Jamarhl Crawford, one of the organizers of the group stated, “This press conference has been called after repeated attempts and pleas for the Mayor and Commissioner to open the table to new ideas from fresh voices in order to combat all violence in the city, which includes criminal activity, gun violence as well as police brutality.”  Crawford continued, “We have asked publicly at meetings and privately through emails, letters and staff. We have demonstrated our sincerity and commitment through hard work which is documented and cannot be dismissed. We are community members and we have families that live, work, vote and pay taxes in Boston. Each time we are ignored another incident occurs which only highlights the problems and proves the importance and urgency of the message.”

The group calls for Mayor Menino and Commissioner Ed Davis to immediately take the following steps:

A. Reinstate the CO-OP (Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel) as well as create a Community Civilian Review Board and grant both bodies subpoena powers as well as the ability to initiate their own independent investigations.

B. Thoroughly follow through on past public promises in other cases of questionable police actions ie: Police shooting of Manuel DaVeiga (age 19) in which the results of the investigation were promised to be made public and to date have not been released.

C. Commit to a Public Town Hall style Community meeting to discuss the relationship between the Boston Police Department and communities of color in order to promote healing and restore public faith.

D. Implement the recommendations of MAMLEO (Mass. Assoc. of Minority Law Enforcement Officers) which include 1) appointing officers of color to positions of authority within communities of color as well as 2) utilizing officers of color in both the police and public response to high profile crimes in communities of color.

Contact: Jamarhl Crawford cell: 617-297-7721   email:  [email protected]

This weekend I read a study that 6 million Americans a year have involuntary contact with the police (excluding traffic stops).  The article did not specify how many of the 6 million individuals were people of color but I would bet that it is more than half.   Based on our actual numbers in the country, this would be a disproportionate amount of contact with law enforcement for people of color.

I am very interested in hearing from people who have developed effective interventions and curricula to address the issue of police violence with youth of color. Please send me an e-mail with any helpful resources and ideas.