It All Ties Together
A point that I found interesting was that, “As of 2005, African American men were incarcerated at a rate of 5,125 per 100,000 in the general state population compared to 1,142 for Latinos, 770 for whites, and 474 for men of other races” (64). Before this class, numbers were just numbers to me. But after reading about the lives of many individuals in class, I think of all of the lives that were truly impacted by this. This statistic shows that mass incarceration truly has become the “new Jim Crow.” My findings in my structural analysis research show the same results as this article. This is still an issue we face today. As a country, we are still discriminating African Americans and Hispanics from whites. Although the statistic above was just for men, the statistic for women also demonstrates the gap in incarceration rates: “Among women, African Americans were incarcerated at a rate of 346 per 100,000 in the population, compared to 80 for whites…” (64). Because of these gaps in incarceration rates, this also affects the school to prison pipeline statistics. Through my research, I discovered that many of the youth that become incarcerated are African American or Hispanic. If the youth are incarcerated at young ages, if they are ever released, they have an increased risk of becoming incarcerated again. Becoming incarcerated makes life outside of prison more difficult because the, “state legislatures restrict the social rights and benefits afforded to citizens convicted of a felony” (64). It is difficult for them to receive, “access to welfare benefits, including public housing, food stamps, and educational loans” (64). These are just a few examples of the injustices that those that are mass incarcerated face. How are they supposed to pick themselves back up and try to lead a normal life? This sounds nearly impossible if these people do not have families or someone to help them. This is why many of those that are released after being imprisoned, wind up back in prison because they had no way to survive out in the real world.
This all relates to my community partner because Canal Alliance is trying to prevent the cycle from even starting. Their mission is to keep youth in school and to help them earn good grades. They want the youth to be successful in whatever career path they decide to take, so they can help to provide for their current and future families. They do not want to see these youth end up in the wrong crowd and risk being incarcerated. They do now want them to become a part of the school to prison pipeline.
Another issue that I feel we are still dealing with today is how “an entire category of people in the United States could be imprisoned without a trial by jury” (57). After reading this, I recalled watching the video of the mother and her son in class. How she would have been stuck in the immigration camp had the social services worker had not freed her. The same could be said about her son. Although they were together once more, the damage had already been done. He was screaming during the middle of the night and saying that his mother did not love him because she abandoned him. This small family had traveled all the way from Honduras because they feared their lives were in danger. Then they became detained and separated. They were kept apart for months and did not have a trial by jury to determine if they would be allowed to stay or not. They were corralled like animals. This is an issue we face today because this still happens today. Families are torn apart and it is unknown when or if they will ever be reunited. This point was very impactful for me because many of these families do understand the risks when they try to come to the US. But they must try anyway because their lives are at risk and if they do not try, then they will still be in the same situation. To come to the United States means that to them, it was worth trying. This is why it is unfair for the US to tear many of these families apart for the simple act of trying to better their own lives. Many of the families in the Canal are undocumented and this is why they live in fear at times. At any time, ICE could come and deport them. The families of that person may not even know what had happened until it would have been too late. I recall reading a few of those similar stories in a class reading we had. A family member would have been deported but the family did not know and would think he was missing. This is even more cruel. To take a family member away and now to tell the family where he or she has gone. This is what happens to families that are detained and separated, they do not know where their family members end up. All they know is that they are out there somewhere, and they must try to find them.
I decided to read an article from The Marshall Project titled “‘Everybody’s Scared’: Panic At immigrant Detention Center After Positive Coronavirus Test.” This article discussed the fear that was rising among the detainees at the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey. The ICE employees and other people who work at the detention center were not keeping the detainees informed of what was going on outside the detention center. This article was published on March 24th and “it wasn’t until this part Friday that medical staff spoke to them [the detainees] in detail about the coronavirus.” After reading that sentence I was shocked. How could no one inform them of what was happening outside of the detention center? Of what was happening throughout the world? They may have known about it, but to not know in detail of what it was and how it could affect them? It was not right of these employees to withhold information of this magnitude to these detainees. Throughout the article, there are also many misunderstandings and communication between the detainees and various groups of people, such as medical staff and ICE. It seems as though these groups of people do not want to tell the truth to the detainees, yet that is unfair to them. Especially with the sick man who is showing signs and symptoms and should be tested. I cannot imagine how frightening it must be for those in his dormitory to have to sleep near him. To make matters worse, some of the detainees are going on a hunger strike. Although they are trying to be impactful and demonstrating that they want answers, this will only make things worse for them. By not eating, they are going to leave their bodies weak, which will lower their immune systems, making them susceptible to the disease if there is a person who is a carrier in the facility. With the amount of people in the detention center, the disease would spread very quickly through the air and many more people could become infected. This is why many of these detainees, like Ian, are panicking. They know they are in a heavily populated area and they are afraid of becoming ill. At the end of the article, Ian says that many of the detainees don’t know “who or what to believe.” I can feel his frustration as it seems he is just waiting and doesn’t know what to do. I’m sure this is how the majority of these detainees feel: helpless. They are waiting to be released but yet they are stuck in a heavily populated area with the potential disease that could kill them and surrounded by employees that are withholding the truth from them.
