I won't even try to characterize the depth of contempt for America and the extent of the guilt-mongering going on in this article from the Economic Policy Institute. The title is, "Where Do We Go from Here: Mass Incarceration and the Struggle for Civil Rights." So far as I can make out, its thesis is that no one, and in particular no African American, is responsible for his criminal behavior, and that it's only Jim Crow Amerika, now and forever, that causes people to be imprisoned: Prison, you see, is merely the midwife of racist oppression.
If readers think that's an exaggeration, I invite them to read the piece and describe how else it might fairly be characterized.
My reason for posting something like this is to alert those who have a better opinion of the country and of the criminal justice system about what, exactly, we are up against.
I have a somewhat different take. The article seemed to argue that prosecutors and police prosecute blacks more often and more harshly for drug related crimes than whites. It then argues that if whites were prosecuted as often and as harshly as blacks for drug related crimes then the popular support for such policies would drop.
If this statement is true, then the answer isn't necessarily changing the law but perhaps not letting whites get lenient treatment.
The comments that the United States is a racist nation as a whole and this somehow infects our society so deeply that it manifests itself in all sort of subconscious ways is not well supported and almost seems to be arguing that somehow racism is imbedded in white people's DNA. This is really ridiculous.
Of course it also calls for the "national conversation on race" cliche which still to this day I have no idea what a national conversation about anything consists of. I'd like the next person who suggests a national conversation about anything outline how such a conversation would work and what the benefits of it would be.
Lastly, the article sort of alludes to the "prison-industrial" complex by briefly mentioning the economics of prison construction and proposing a remedy of a moratorium on prison construction. I do not entirely dismiss this concept as if crime rates keep falling, eventually there will be less criminals and less people in prison and this would put a lot of people out of work. I do not find it relevant to this article but more of an observation.
For those who might completely dismiss that notion, Eisenhower's comments about the military-industrial complex have somewhat come to pass in that vast sums of money are spent on militarily-useless products like the F-35 and having 12 Aircraft Carriers. It is a real problem.
"Of course it also calls for the 'national conversation on race' cliche which still to this day I have no idea what a national conversation about anything consists of."
"National conversation" is code for "Accept our argument with no backtalk." It has zip to do with a "conversation" as any normal person would understand that word. What people who push this line want is the OPPOSITE of a conversation, i.e., genuflecting to their position without delay or dissent.
So we all need to get in line.
McCarthy shouted "Commie," and the new McCarthy's shout "racist." They're blind to the complete and ominous irony of their attitude.