What to the Prisoner is the Fourth of July?

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Jul 5, 2005, 12:58:07 PM7/5/05

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What to the Prisoner is the Fourth of July?
By YaVonne Anderson

http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/23324/

Being in prison on the Fourth of July is a painful
reminder of how misleading the American story
of independence can be.

On July 5, Frederick Douglass delivered a speech to
the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. His speech,
"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" questioned
the coexistence of celebrating American freedom and
the practice of American slavery.
Over 150 years have passed since 1852. This Fourth
of July, as a young African-American woman who is
currently imprisoned, the time seems long overdue to
again question what this holiday represents and
misrepresents. In the year 2005, the contradictions of
Douglass' 1852 may seem all too clear - even obsolete.
But the legacies of those contradictions are still with
us in our growing criminal justice system. In fact, the
connections between the slavery of our past and our
mass imprisonment practices of today are not discreet
once we understand history.
The most obvious link is the 13th Amendment, passed
in 1865. While many of us know that this amendment
abolished slavery, we often forget its one exception--that
slavery could continue for people convicted of crime. In
fact, this exception was what first made racialized mass
imprisonment possible.
So while the institution of slavery as we knew it was abolished, the
institutionalized racism behind that system was able to evolve through that loophole.
Once paired with the Black Codes criminalizing African Americans for actions only
they could be convicted of, like vagrancy and possession of firearms, prison
populations that provided cheap labor through convict-leasing programs transformed
from nearly all-white to overwhelmingly black. To avoid punishment, some whites even
wore black face during robberies.
After emancipation, even African Americans who avoided integration into the newly
racialized criminal justice system possessed few freedoms. We were still hung and
lynched, beaten, raped, and otherwise degraded. Although our forced labor built so
much of this nation's infrastructure and wealth, we were robbed of our self-identity,
our family and kinship ties, our worth and value--to be left without resources for
survival and often set up to be thrown in prison.
Today, institutionalized racism continues to evolve, reminding us that we are all
survivors of slavery and its legacies. While segregation is no longer legal, it is
the reality for most Americans. So when my home state of California loses $9.8
billion in education spending as it has over the last four years, those cuts impact
our schools the most. Even though crime rates are falling, the government continues
to under fund our schools while investing in a growing prison industrial complex.
Just last month, California opened its 33rd prison, spending $700 million just for
the mortgage and committing to $110 million each year after that.
It has taken the U.S. government over 100 years to only recently acknowledge the
history of lynching through a formal apology. We are still victims and survivors of
police brutality and the "driving while black" phenomenon. And the laws continue to
eliminate African Americans, as well as other people of color and poor whites for
warehousing in U.S. jails and prisons.
In its jails and prisons, the government reproduces many of the dehumanizing
conditions of slavery. It breaks up our families by taking us far away from our
communities and loved ones, making it hard for them to come and visit. Like slavery,
prisons create conditions where abuse and rape are commonplace. We are denied human
affection, proper clothing, nutritional food, proper medical care - sometimes to the
point of medical abuse - and education, despite a high demand and need for it. We're
deprived of laughter, love and kindness. There are few programs that prepare us to
re-enter our communities, which contribute to high recidivism rates. And while under
the law, our bodies count for more than 3/5 of a person in terms of electoral votes,
those votes go to the communities we are locked up in, not the communities we came
from. And, as with under slavery, most of us are still denied the right to vote at
all, under felon disenfranchisement laws.
For all of these reasons, I can say that being in prison is a form of modernized
slavery, new millennium style.
Being in prison on the Fourth of July is a painful reminder of how misleading the
American story of independence is. This Fourth of July, we must re-examine who
experiences so-called American freedoms. We must re-define our cultural values and
begin building a world we could all celebrate. This world would no longer rely on
domination, prisons and war as a way to hide our social problems. Everyone would be
able to access quality education, healthcare, housing, and jobs, regardless of their
color, but also their gender, sexuality, religion or class. Now that would be
something to celebrate.
YaVonne Anderson, also known as Hakim, is a young, self-educated, African-American
lesbian who is currently imprisoned in California. She is also a spoken-word poet who
is featured on the CD, "The We That Sets Us Free: Building a World Without Prisons,"
which is produced by Justice Now, a human rights organization that works with women
in prison.

--
_____________________________________________________

I intend to last long enough to put out of business all COck-suckers
and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.

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"The army that will defeat terrorism doesn't wear uniforms, or drive
Humvees, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or
high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism
does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It
undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts
sweatshops and special interests.Where people feel powerless, it
helps them organize for change, and where people are powerful, it
reminds them of their responsibility." ~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~
___________________________________________________
--

upyours

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Jul 5, 2005, 1:14:53 PM7/5/05

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What's your point? This is the very thing that makes me insane,
irrational and hopeless. And I STRONGLY SUSPECT you do this on
purpose. I can think of at least two separate and completely different
things that this could mean. One about you and, most likely, one about
me.

BTR1701

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