[SustainableTompkins] BTD Presents The Injustice System in America

[senecajean at aol.com]

I am also going to put this on the ST Calendar if it's not already there.

Jeanne?




Friday, February 8, 7:00 pm at the Trumansburg Fire Hall

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Back To Democracy Presents: 

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The Injustice System in America

The Injustice System in America explores issues surrounding the mass incarceration of American minorities, especially African-Americans, who make up 13% of the U.S. population, but 49% of the prison population. Through a series of talking heads (including Van Jones and Professor Michelle Alexander of Stanford University) a picture of what's behind this phenomenon is revealed. 

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There are at least two threads of American culture at work here. One is the historical trend of suppression of minorities. Slavery, Jim Crow laws, and anti-immigrant riots have all been part of this legacy. Recently it has been extended and widened through "tough on crime" tactics such as over-policing of minority communities, harsher penalties for the types of drugs more likely to be used by minorities, mandatory sentencing for non-violent crime, racial profiling, and prejudicial severity in every step of the justice process. As a result, our prisons are disproportionately populated with minorities.

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The second thread evident in the rapid increase in the number of prisons and prisoners is the development of mass incarceration as a for-profit enterprise. Building prisons brings money and jobs into our communities, and creates interest groups who lobby for stricter laws in order to keep the prisoners and money flowing.

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At the root of this trend is the ability of Capitalism to exploit our culture's refusal to set limits on the "free market". Like permissive parents who sit by while their bullying child gets more and more aggressive, hoping that he'll "grow out of it", we are unwilling to restrain our corporate offspring, naively waiting for the "invisible hand" to correct the inequities. As a result, the corporations get richer, more powerful, and ever more difficult to control.

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BTD meetings are free and open to all. Handicap accessible. Parking in the Fire Hall lot, but please do not block the firehouse doors (in the front or in the back). Donations appreciated.

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For more information on this and other BTD activities, go to our website

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www.BackToDemocracy.org



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