REVOLUTION FOR PEACE and for LOVE

What can you see from these statistics?

• Half of the world’s prison population of about nine million is held in the US, China or Russia *
• Prison rates in the US are the world’s highest, at 724 per 100,000 *
• African-Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population **
• African-Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites **
• One in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001. If current trends continue, one in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime **
• 1 in 100 African-American women are in prison **
• About 14 million Whites and 2.6 million African-Americans report using an illicit drug **
• 5 times as many Whites are using drugs as African-Americans, yet African-Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of Whites **

Sources:

* International Centre for Prison Studies

** NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/uk/06/prisons/html/nn2page1.stm

http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet

Clearly, there is something very wrong with America’s judicial system when the majority of those who are being incarcerated are minorities. 

According to a study conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), keeping these prisoners locked up for life costs taxpayers around $1.8 billion annually.  Locking people up is big business:

• Private prisons are one of the fastest growing sectors of the prison industrial complex
• Corporate firms operate as cheaply and efficiently as possible to ensure a profit (lower wages for staff, no unions, fewer services for prisoners)
• Prisoner’s make an average of .22 cents per hour
• For those who have invested in private prisons, say the authors, prison labor is like a pot of gold. There are no strikes, no unions, no unemployment insurance, or worker’s compensation. Prisoners can now be found doing data entry for Chevron, telephone reservations for TWA, raising hogs, shoveling manure, and sometimes making lingerie for Victoria’s Secret.

http://www.projectcensored.org/23-number-us-prison-inmates-serving-life-sentences-hits-new-record/

http://www.projectcensored.org/11-private-prison-expansion-becomes-big-business/

What can we do about any of this?  First and foremost – get the facts.  Don’t rely on mainstream media for knowledge, most are owned by big corporations and only provide biased news that benefits them and their shareholders.  Seek other unconventional news outlets – look to the internet.  I prefer the resources of Project Censored.  Check them out at:  http://www.projectcensored.org/

Ask governments to stop the militarization of our police departments.  Ask them to stop racial profiling and recruit and train more minorities to ensure a better cultural representation on our streets.  Proper training for police officers so that they are equipped to ask questions first before they shoot.  Stop the war on drugs – we don’t need to throw people in jail for minor possession charges, especially for marijuana possession.

Continue protesting peacefully – the more pressure we put on our elected officials, the more they will have to act on our behalf.  Let your government officials know that they are put in office to act for the greater good of the people and not the greater good of corporations or wherever the money is.

The people, corporations, businesses, governments need to start discussions about income inequality and how to properly address this issue.  The top 1% should not  have that kind of power and should not be dictating policies.  There is definitely something wrong when our policy makers are siding with banks, oil and pharmaceutical companies versus working for the people. 

Many people are at a breaking point – working 3 jobs to make ends meet is not the American dream.  Having a full-time job and getting food stamps doesn’t equate to a good working economy.  Leaving college or university with a huge debt is not a great start to life.  Allowing companies to poison us through our food and water is not working for the people….it’s time for real change.

It’s time to send a message to our police everywhere – those hired to serve and protect the people.  Actually, it is time to demand that they STOP shooting our brothers and sisters, it is time to demand that they stop arresting us for wanting to protect our planet or feed the hungry and it is time to do what they are hired to do and SERVE and PROTECT – not KILL.

This is for Michael Brown and so many others who have lost their lives due to police violence.  Let’s start a Revolution of Love and Peace for them.

Together we can make the world a more positive one!