Disappointed but Not Surprised

By: Zachary Lecky

The fight against mass incarceration doesn’t get the same respect and coverage because it’s been labeled a “black” cause that is tied together with Black Lives Matter.

That was made very clear to me during this past weekend’s March for Our Lives demonstrations across the United States.

My suspicions had risen during the 2018 Women’s March, the National School Walkout, The #MeToo movement and #TimesUp movement. However it was confirmed once again with the March for Our Lives.

The battle for the end of mass incarceration will never reach its full potential because it doesn’t directly affect enough people. The demographic mostly affected are African Americans and other minorities. The media coverage and public perception of being in jail hinders the movement greatly.

Unfortunately when people think of people incarcerated they automatically think criminal or guilty, they lack neglect to think of the million of innocent people who are behind bars. It all goes down to a test of morals: Is someone selling weed to make money to take care of their family a criminal?

The stigma that plagues people behind bars is that if you did the crime, do the time. They are given second-class status by the government and sadly their fellow peers. While we can’t control the unjust laws that plague their progression once they are freed from jail. We can control the way we fight for the rights they have and stop the complacency of mass incarceration.

The March for Our Lives is a student led protest of gun violence that involves everyone affected by guns in any form.

The Women’s March, #MeToo, and #TimesUp involves all people who care about women equality, sexual harassment, assault and rights in general.

The National School Walkout involves all students who feel like enough is enough and change has to be done.

Black Lives Matters and the fight against mass incarceration have smaller demographics. While Black Lives Matters is particularly manned by African Americans, which is already a smaller fraction than the previously mentioned movements and marches, the fight against incarceration is even smaller.

The people who champion the cause would be criminals, former criminals or families of people who are affected by it.

This is bad for business to the masses. While the other movements have a marketable star and face with many different celebrities or rising stars like Emma Gonzalez. People like Deray McKesson or Shaun King don’t get the same warm reception from the people.

In, “The backlash against Black Lives Matter is just more evidence of injustice” David Smith states, “One popular (and self-serving) theory holds that White identity politics is merely a response to movements like Black Lives Matter. But this gets the story backwards. Black Lives Matter is a response to White supremacy. The anger harnessed by figures like Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani is the anger of White privilege forced to defend itself. “All Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter” are two of the most prominent rhetorical manifestations of the backlash. Both played major roles in the media coverage of and political response to Black Lives Matter.”

Despite many errors to present the facts about the movement, many view Black Lives Matter as anti-white and a black only movement. This cannot be blamed on the BLM members but instead on the media. So movements like March for OUR Lives comes off as more appealing and welcoming to the masses. Same as the #TimesUp and #MeToo.

People when seeing these movements love to pit the two opposing sides against each other. So its gun violence vs gun control, women’s rights vs years of oppression, then when it gets to Black Lives Matters many incorrectly paint it as black vs white.

This was made obvious when Selena Gomez made a post during March for Our Lives.

She wrote in her Instagram caption, “I don’t want this to just be an Instagram post anymore. PLEASE. ENOUGH. These people, families and CHILDREN have suffered enough. Today we march for our lives. I’m going to continue to trust god with the future and also play my part in bringing change. #marchforourlives #notjustahashtag,”

However two years ago when she was asked why she hadn’t commented on Black Lives Matters or police brutality she stated, “oh lol so that means if I hashtag something I save lives? No -I could give two fucks about ‘sides’. You don’t know what I do.”

Gomez could’ve changed and become awoken during the two years, but I sense a deeper routed problem in her thinking.

Mass incarceration gets lumped together with Black Lives Matter. It’s labeled a black problem instead of a human problem. People lack to see what’s wrong with it because it isn’t affecting them.

We can only hope March for Our Lives includes the lives of people affected by the system of mass incarceration.