commentaries

Re: "At least 37 states allowed corporations to move business operations inside prisons. And in some privately run prisons, inmates earned as little as 17 cents an hour for a six-hour day while the corporations raked in billions of dollars in profits each year." Another ALEC-inspired idea.... privatize prisons; use ALEC model legislation to draft tough sentencing laws; sign contracts with corporations to put prisoners to work. Voila! long-term source of cheap labor.

The number of African Americans in prison is shameful and ought to be an issue of priority for this country. Regardless of cause, and the legacy of racism is certainly in the mix, we need to think through ways to sharply reduce our prison population. We have more prisoners per capita than Russia or China, and no other country comes close. To the point of this opinion piece, there is no more incarcerated group on earth than African American males. The cost of our prison system is incredible - there has to be a better way that costs less. With all of the GPS and information technology available to us, there must be a way to safely allow offenders back into society at a rate that will significantly reduce prison populations. California is being forced to do this right now, without a good plan, and it is ugly. The rest of us should act now out of our own best interests, and in the name of humanity, to solve what is really an urgent problem.

godandguns--""And yet, while black people made up only 13 percent of the U.S. population, we were more than 40 percent of the prison population." - That statement means nothing without knowing how much of the actual crime was committed by black people. Statistics can be so misleading, and then people repeat them like they are gospel until they are the 'truth.' Only it is not the truth."---------------So I guess you're saying if the statement were rewritten as "And yet, while black people made up only 13 percent of the U.S. population, we committed more than 40 percent of crime." Then you'd be happy to repeat that statistic until it was gospel and you wouldn't consider it misleading in the least.

US Corporations are still doing this to this day. They use cheap labor in China and other parts of the world to make their products in order to achieve mega billions in profits. Apple says that in order to have the I-Phone and I-Pad made in the US, they would have to double the price. People still bought the old IBM PC's in the 80's when they would cost $3,000 to $4,000 per PC-AT and they were made here. We in the US have to get rid of the mind-set of Buy, Use, Throwaway and get products that can be fixed or upgraded and that is made in the US.

The Editorialist should be a bit more selective in his statistics. Claiming that there were 4 million whites and 4 million blacks at the end of the Civil War and by World War II those 4 million whites had achieved middle-class status is absurdly wrong. The South was the most impoverished area of the country and there were certainly not 40 million whites in the middle class prior to World War II. I doubt that the average white Southerner had an income that even approached middle-class levels much less 40 million of them which stretches the imagination. It's unfortunate that the writer also continues the old argument that our prison system is inherently corrupt because of the disproportionate number of blacks in prison. The fact that prisoners in some cases work should be commended rather than providing a training ground as most do for further crime education. It's unfortunate that the writer/editorialist has his facts so skewed out of reality that it Searcy questions his credibility on the subject.

Two recent articles regarding drop out rates by black students really caused this retired teacher to be alarmed. The drop out rate for black students in the Twin Cities was said to be 50%. In Duluth, 75%. Does that not mean that these non students have essentially committed themselves to a life of "slavery"? How can they have any success in life without a high school diploma? Have they not exercised their freedom and freely chosen to fail at life? I find those numbers to be impossible to defend in any way. Yes, some individuals will overcome being a dropout. The vast majority will end up in prison or on welfare. They are not being held down, they are choosing to fail.

How can they have any success in life without a high school diploma?

A high school diploma guarantees exactly nothing in 2012 and a GED even less.

Better ask how can the middle class survive, black OR white, with Cons taking over state governments, slashing public education funds and attacking teachers, all with the ultimate goal of destroying public education entirely?

Many more blacks were sent to prison for crack cocaine convictions than whites for powder cocaine convictions. Really no difference in the substances but blacks used the crack version more and whites the powder. Why?

I think godnguns was alluding to the fact that statistics can be misleading, and manipulated to present a "truth." It is a known fact the the leading prison population is young black men. But, if the same formula to present the above statistic was applied to say latinos, it would look just as dramatic maybe. I wish color was left out of the equation and the statistic was for the impoverish population. It's not just a problem for blacks. It's a problem for the hopeless.

I think godnguns was alluding to the fact that statistics can be misleading, and manipulated to present a "truth." It is a known fact the the leading prison population is young black men. But, if the same formula to present the above statistic was applied to say latinos, it would look just as dramatic maybe. I wish color was left out of the equation and the statistic was for the impoverish population. It's not just a problem for blacks. It's a problem for the hopeless.