Education vs. Prison in the US
We define criminals as terrible, inhuman and evil but what are the stories behind that mask? The story of Kid CAT members showed that their life was ruin because of their childhood (something they have no control over) and the social structure (that we expect them to end up in prison) “I would love to say I had a great childhood, but there were drugs and alcohol. I would also love to say that education was always important to me, but it was not.” Reading their story and I imagine what if my childhood was like that? What is my outcome? It is painful to think about it because I could of end up in prison if my parent were like their parent. A lot of us are very fortunate to have family that cares and worries about us, but not everyone. What can we do as a country to change that? would education is the answer for the dilemmas that created Reagan?
I have this discussion with my mom about criminals, prison and the social structure in the US. She agreed with me it is cruel and immoral. She said “ American government rather see people sleep on the street and died instead of offering them assistance” That broke my heart because I know it is true, we rather spend money and resources on the massive weapon that can kill more people instead of helping homeless and criminals to get back on their feet.
War on Drug is a cause for the mass incarceration of people of color “ For more than three decades, images of black men in handcuffs have been a staple of the evening news.” We expect people of color to make a mistake and spend the rest of their life in prison. That is the expectation of the government; it is a way to control people of color because in a way people of color is still the minority in this country. It will take a long time to change this reality; it is going to take good leaders and politicians to make progress.
In her section “States of Denial,” Alexander writes “Many people ‘know’ and ‘not know’ the truth about human suffering at the same time.” In my interpretation that people clearly know that many people is suffering but they decide to ignore. For example, when we go for a walk down to the street, we most likely to ignore a homeless person because we did not want to feel guilty. That is exactly many people do, because we are selfish and do not want to feel guilty. In my community partner, there are two or three older volunteers to help out the students. They are the people who care and know about the social structure that happened in their town. What happens to the rest of rich people in the area? They either do not care or ignore the problems or they “care” by going to the fundraising event. They go to a fundraising event and donate thousands and thousands of dollars to make them feel better about themselves, but do they really “know” about the real problem? For me, I know the truth, and my students see the reality…they are afraid that they can not make it through high school so college would not be an option for them.
I like the way Human Right Coalition is doing. They want to educate the families of the ex, current prisoners to fight for deconstruct out prison system. There is a cause change; this is where we should start because by doing this the risk of their children ends up in prison is less likely. The children do not think that their mom or dad did something horrible to end up in jail but more like the social structure in America.
In the end, I think education is the solution.
