We still have a long way to go before deciding who the next president will be, so perhaps what I am about to claim will be disproved before that time comes. But if history is any judge I doubt it.
You see, there are certain topics that are simply not discussed in any complete manner during an election season – or any season for that matter. And if they are discussed at all, it is at a very superficial manner.
These three topics are racism, sexism and social inequality.
I know what you may be thinking now: Race has become a hot topic, as shown by the rift between the Clinton and Obama people, after Clinton’s remarks about King and Lyndon Johnson. Indeed, the media has had a field day over this non-issue. And you may think that gender issues are being discussed, since a woman is running for president. Well, no it is not.
And while the economy is touted as the number one concern among Americans and the tax cuts that favor the super-rich have been referenced on more than one occasion by the Democrats, the deeper issue of social inequality is never raised.
I watched almost the entire “debate” among the three leading democratic candidates here in Las Vegas recently and not once was the horrible imprisonment rate for African Americans mentioned. Nor was there a single word about the drug war. And no one brought up the fact that the wealth and income gap in America is greater than it was back in the days of the “Gilded Age,” with 1% of the population owning about 40% of the wealth and CEO’s making more than 400 times the income as the average worker (compared to about 40 times back in the early 1970s). Nor did anyone raise the issue that inequality is greater in the US than in any other industrial democracy.
Nothing is coming out of the Clinton camp about the fact that growing numbers of women are either homeless or in prison, or even that they represent the fastest growing prison population. Nor is anything said about the 2 million or more children with at least one parent in prison – mostly minorities.
From Obama there is silence about how the drug war has so viciously targeted African Americans, whose incarceration rate exceeds whites by a factor of 8 to 1 for drug crimes, even though their rate of drug use is less than whites.
Edwards was the only candidate speaking about corporate power and he was not the one who was supported by big donors, which is why he was never “selected” to be nominated and eventually dropped out. Ditto for Kucinich.
Nor will you find any of these topics part of the discussion on any news show, like “Larry King Live” or “Meet the Press.” When was the last time you saw a special on CNN called “Racism in America”? Ever seen a special called “Race and the Drug War” or “Gender and the Drug War” or “Race and Imprisonment”? When was the last time Larry King or Anderson Cooper covered the growing wealth gap? Is the word “capitalism” ever critically discussed?
Is it just that people do not want to hear about these topics? Or is it that advertisers and big moneyed people do not want such topics brought to the surface? Why not?
I’ll tell you why not. It is because those with most of the money and hence power in this country created, perpetuate and benefit from these problems. I recall the conclusion of the famous Kerner Commission which wrote about the rioting in the 1960s and concluded that white institutions created and sustain racism in America and the conditions that fueled the rioting. White dominated institutions – the banks, Wall Street, the Fortune 500 – have created and benefited from inequality. The enormous wealth of this country has been created by working men and women of all races (not just in this country but in Third World countries everywhere), yet it continues to be appropriated by corporations and the super rich. The tax cutting frenzy of the Republican Party has funneled trillions upward - the “rising tide lifts all yachts.”
No wonder neither the major media, nor the leading candidates, talk about these issues. Just look at who owns the media.
your comments
First and foremost your comments suffer from the typical logical fallacies that I see among "progressives." You make the comment that there is no discussion of the inordinate amount of blacks that are in prison. Then you speak of the rising number of women who are homeless. Can you tell me where you get your "facts?"
Your comments suffer from at least two logical fallacies. One being that your comments seem to assume that the inordinate amount of blacks in prison is some how a "racist" problem and some sort of social injustice. Secondly your statements about women are simply not backed up with any facts. If this is the case please provide a reference to your claim. The truth is that there are more whites on death row then there are African Americans. In essence your comments are more of the same socio-progressive talk that is continually touted by the likes of people like Jeremiah Wright. If I am wrong then please show me.
The progressive thought process assumes that anything that goes against it is out of the mainstream and simply either "facist" "irrational" or "baseless." I have yet to find a progressive who does not resort to ad-hominem, and that is why a civilized discussion regarding this type of assumption is rarely possible without some sort of sophistry involved on the part of "progressives."
Thank you for your time,
Frank Keller
Support for the "Facts" that are NOT logical fallacies
Frank,
Your comments suffer from at least two logical fallacies. One being that your comments seem to assume that the inordinate amount of blacks in prison is some how a "racist" problem and some sort of social injustice.
For example:
Table 1
Comparison of California, Washington, and North Carolina State Percentages of Adults and Juvenile Males, Females, and Both Genders by Race/Ethnicity as Involved with the Justice System of the Corresponding State
White Hispanic Black Other (includes Asian, Am Indian, Pacific Island, & Multi-Raced) Asian (broken out of Other) American
Indian (broken out of Other) Pacific
Island (broke out of Other) Multi Raced (broken out of Other)
Percentages
US Population in General Both Genders+ 66.4# 14.8 12.8 7.2 4.4 1.0 0.2 1.6
CA Adult Statewide in General Both Genders+ 59.5 32.4 6.7 16.4 12.4 1.2 0.4 2.4
CA Adult Statewide in General Males 46.9 33.3 6.4 13.3
CA Adult Statewide in General Female 47.7 31.5 6.6 14.2
CA Adult Community Correction Programs Both Genders 29.1 50.0 16.1 4.9
CA Adult Community Correction Programs Males 27.6 52.0 15.5 4.9
CA Adult Community Correction Programs Female 44.5 28.1 22.2 5.2
CA Adult Correctional Institutions Both Genders 28.2 37.4 28.7 5.7
CA Adult Correctional Institutions Males 27.2 38.7 28.8 5.3
CA Adult Correctional Institutions Female 37.9 27.9 29.2 5.0
WA Adult Statewide in General Both Genders+ 76.5# 9.1 3.6 11.7 6.6 1.6 0.5 3.0
WA Adult Correctional Institutions Both Genders 71.9 Not given 19.6 1.2 3.1 (includes P.I.) 4.3
WA Adult Community Correction Programs Both Genders 78.8 Not given 15.2 1.8 2.7 (includes P.I.) 3.2
NC Adult Statewide in General Both Genders+ 67.9# 6.7 21.7 4.4 1.9 1.3 0.1 1.1
NC Adult Correctional Institutions Both Genders 36.9 Not given 61.0 5.0 0.02 0.2
NC Adult Community Correction Programs Both Genders 45.6 Not given 45.3 9.0 0.3 1.6
CA Juvenile* Statewide in General 32.3 46.2 7.2 14.3 10.0 0.8 0.4 3.1
CA Juveniles Arrested 27.6 48.4 17.3 6.8 3.3 0.4 0.5
CA Juveniles Referral- Probation 28.1 47.7 17.3 7.2 3.4 0.4 0.5
CA Juveniles Referral- Counsel and Release 25.7 52.1 15.9 6.3 3.1 0.3 0.5
CA Juvenile Referral- Another Law Enforcement Jurisdiction 26.9 43.8 25.1 4.3 1.6 0.3 0.3
CA Juvenile Disposition- Direct File in Adult Court 9.5 50.1 33.8 6.4 3.8 0.3 0.6
CA Juvenile Disposition- Wardship- Community Corrections Programs (Probation, Parole, Detained at Home) 25.1 53.6 14.7 6.4 3.8 0.4 0.6
CA Juvenile Disposition- Wardship- Correctional Institutions (CYA) 22.8 45.8 25.3 7.0 3.0 1.8 0.4
# White persons not Hispanic
* Juvenile is defined as person between the ages of 0 years and 25 years. These statistics are not separated out by gender.
+ http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html
(Dept of Corrections and Rehab, 2006; JJSC, 2006; Office of Multicultural Health, 2001; State of California, 2003)
In California, Whites constitute 59.5% of the population, yet are represented by only 28.2% in correctional facilities and 29.4% in community corrections. The percentages of those involved in the justice system should be representative of the race/ethnicity percentage of the general population. In Washington State, Blacks constitute only 3.6% of the general population, yet they fill 19.6% of the correctional facility population and 15.2% of the community corrections population. North Carolina demonstrates both what California and Washington State show in that Whites comprise 67.9% and Blacks comprise 21.7% of the general population but they correspond to 36.9% and 61.0% of those incarcerated respectively.
The totals in any category, adult or juvenile, i.e. arrests, incarcerated, put on probation, etc., should follow closely the race/ethnicity breakdown of the population in general. A report by the League of Women Voters (1996) on juvenile justice found Black juveniles enter wardship (are incarcerated) 300% (three times) more than White juveniles and Hispanic juveniles enter wardship 60% more than White juvenile rates. In 2002 it was found that the United States juvenile population constituted 16% Blacks but 29% became part of the delinquency caseload (involved in the juvenile justice system; Snyder & Sickmund, 2006, p. 188). Disproportinate minority contact has been documented as well as empirically shown. The US Dept of Justice has lots of documentation of it. Check out http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/dmc/
Regards, Joy
References
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. (2006). California prisoner and parolees 2005: Summary statistics on adult felon prisoners and parolees, civil narcotic addicts and outpatients, and other populations. Retrieved January 4, 2008 from http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports_Research/Offender_Information_Services_Branch/Annual/CalPris/CALPRISd2005.pdf
Juvenile Justice Statistics Center (JJSC). (2006). Juvenile justice in California 2005. Retrieved January 7, 2008 from http://ag.ca.gov/cjsc/publications/misc/jj05/preface.pdf
League of Women Voters of California Education Fund Juvenile Justice Study Committee. (1996, September). Minorities in the juvenile justice system. Retrieved January 7, 2008 from http://www.ca.lwv.org/jj/groups.htm
Office of Multicultural Health. (2001). Facts and survey findings: California population (all racial and ethnic groups). Retrieved January 5, 2008 from http://www.dhs.ca.gov/director/omh/PDFs/Facts%20and%20Survey%20Findings%20California%202001.pdf
Snyder, H. N., & Sickmund, M. (2006, March). Juvenile offenders and victims: 2006 national report. Washington, DC: National Center for Juvenile Justice. Retrieved January 7, 2008 from http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/ojstatbb/nr2006/downloads/NR2006.pdf
State of California. (2003). Population projections by race/ethnicity, gender, and age for California and its counties 2000-2050. Retrieved January 5, 2008 from http://www.dof.ca.gov/html/DEMOGRAP/ReportsPapers/Projections/P3/P3.php
Tilton, J. (2007, April 25). Prison reform and rehabilitation- Background information. Retrieved January 4, 2008 from http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/Background_Info.html
Tremlay, J. P. (2005, March 17). Secretary asks for review of all state prisons and juvenile facilities [Press release]. Retrieved January 4, 2008 from http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/2005_Press_Releases/press2005-05.html