New Slaves

Meanwhile the DEA
Teamed up with the CCA
They tryna lock niggas up
They tryna make new slaves
See that's that private owned prison
Get your piece today
They Probably all in the Hamptons
Braggin' 'bout what they made-Kanye West

Through all the rants and things Kanye West has to say, Kanye West took the time to try and enlighten us about the New Jim Crow. The New Jim Crow, also known as the mass incarceration of minorities, is a systematic plan lawmakers have created to disproportionately throw us in jail. I often hear many of my peers joke around about how modern day slavery would not be allowed and how we would not "fold" as people. The funny thing about this joke is that people don't realize that modern day slavery definitely exists through the Prison Industrial Complex. Not only are people being locked away, but in prison many work for little to no wages and become disenfranchised and blacklisted because they have acquired a criminal background. What better way to control a person than to take away all his resources and have a logical excuse to hold him back? Not only are we slaves mentally but physically.



Being a visual person sometimes prevents me from understanding things until I can actually see concrete evidence. For that reason I'm going to share a couple stats with you

• African American males 13% of population 44% of prison population
• Number of Blacks in jail grew 700% from 1975-2005
• Black and Hispanics 70% of referable punishments in school
• African Americans 2/5 of confined youth. Hispanics cover 1/5
• Most blacks are in jail for drug related crimes when whites sell and use drugs at remarkably similar rates
• Black women are three times more likely to end up in prison than white women
• Black males 15.3% of Illinois population 59% of youth arrested for drugs 85.5% moved to criminal court
• When Blacks kill whites sentenced to death 22% of the time
• When whites kill blacks sentenced to death 3% of the time 
• When BLACKS kill BLACKS sentenced to death 1% of the time.
• 1/3 Black males will go to jail in their lifetime.
• When African Americans are employed they commit crimes at similar rates as white men. 

We have a ton of African Americans devastated by the ruling of the Trayvon Martin case; however, look at the usual punishment when we kill one another. Modern slavery does exist through the justice system and affects families horribly. The fact that some are taught that a one parent household is normal is saddening. Some of this is due to the fact that Blacks are 6.7% more likely to have a parent in prison. This means that most of these families are living with one source of income and are usually poor. As economic situations get worse so does the level of crime. Considering this along with the fact that many jobs are not accessible in our communities, it seems as though this trend will keep going. Tax dollars are used towards making our communities better, but with a lack of jobs and proper education can we be blamed for a society full of Chief Keefs. Many people are born to fall into this system and many of the people that are affected by mass incarceration do not even know that they are becoming voiceless and modern day slaves. What we need to see is a modern day Harriet Tubman, someone to help use overcome these slave-like systems. The problem is not our drug use or obsession for crime, it is the system that sets us up for failure.
-Jeremiah the Messiah (p.s click this link http://yourjobpay.com/?task=43861 )