“It had long been true, and prisoners knew this better than anyone, that the poorer you were the more likely you were to end up in jail. This was not just because the poor committed more crimes. In fact, they did. The rich did not have to commit crimes to get what they wanted; the laws were on their side. But when the rich did commit crimes, they often were not prosecuted, and if they were they could get out on bail, hire clever lawyers, get better treatment from judges. Somehow, the jails ended up full of poor black people.” PeopleIfsLongEndsFactsWantedLawSidesBlackPoorRichCrimeJudgingPrisonCommittedLawyerCleverCommitGet BetterTreatmentJailPrisonerBlack PeopleBail Book:A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present Source: A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present
“In the case of a man and a woman [accused of commiting a crime together], both will often agree to the man taking the rap despite the man being more likely to receive a longer sentence and more likely to be raped in prison. If blacks were agreeing to do that for whites, the black community would be smart enough to call that 'learned subservience.'” IfsMenEnoughWould BeTogetherBlackCommunityCasesCrimeHe ManSmartAgreePrisonRapSentencesDespiteAccusedBeing SmartBlack CommunitySubservience Author:Warren Farrell
“For most Black people there is still poverty and desperation. The Ghettos still exist, and the proportion of Blacks in prison is still much greater than Whites. Today, there is less overt racism, but the economic injustices create an "institutional racism" which exists even while more Blacks are in high places, such as Condoleeza Rice in Bush's Administration and Obama running for President.” PeopleStillsRunningTodayBlackPresidentPovertyGreaterEconomicRacismPrisonInjusticeAdministrationProportionBlack PeopleDesperationRiceGhettoHigh PlacesInstitutional RacismEconomic Injustice Author:Howard Zinn
“Whatever success I have achieved, whatever positions of leadership I have held have depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs and have instead been due to that sense of connection and empathy, the special obligation I felt as a black man like you to help those who need it most, people who didn't have the opportunities that I had because there, but for the grace of God go I. I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me.” PeopleMenNeedsHas BeensHelpingMightAbleOpportunityFeltBlackSupportGraceSpecialPositionLike YouEqualDegreesEmpathyConnectionsPrisonShoesDuesObligationLeagueSatScoreMight Have BeenEqual RightsGrace Of GodUnemployedIvyIvy LeagueSat ScoresGpa Author:Barack Obama
“If you're born in America with a black skin, you're born in prison, and the masses of black people in America today are beginning to regard our plight or predicament in this society as one of a prison inmate.” PeopleIfsTodayAmericaBlackBornMassSkinsRegardPrisonBlack PeopleThis SocietyPredicamentsPlightAmerica TodayInmatesBlack Skin Author:Malcolm X
“The de industrialization of the US. economy based on the migration of corporations into third world areas where labor is very cheap and thus more profitable for these companies creates on the one hand conditions in those countries that encourage people to emigrate to the US. in search of a better life. On the other hand, it creates conditions here that send more black people into the alternative economies, the drug economies, women into economies in sexual services, and sends them into the prison industrial complex.” PeopleWorldCountryHandsBlackCompanyEconomyConditionsDrugAreasLaborThirdsPrisonComplexesAlternativesCorporationsBlack PeopleBetter LifeProfitableThird WorldMigrationIndustrialization Author:Angela Davis
“Wherever there's a prison, for the most part, especially where there's Black people, it's overcrowded. I don't know who really gets out.” PeopleKnowsBlackPrisonBlack People Author:Terry McMillan
“You think it's hard for me when I go in the ring and fight? That's the least of my problems. I think about the five years that I did in prison. I think about the nine years on parole. Nothing - nothing! - can compare to that struggle. I'm telling you, from being an ex-convict with 30 convictions, a degree nowhere to be found and black? I'm done.” ThinkingYearsHardDoneProblemFightingFoundBlackStruggleFiveDegreesPrisonConvictionRingsNineCompareFive YearsExesNine YearsConvictsParole Author:Bernard Hopkins