by B.J. on 2/13/2003 09:29:00 PM 0 comments Print this post

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Prisons, Santa Cruz, and Poor People

For the last month on Thursdays, I've been hearing people talk about controversy. And the spur to the controversies always has something to do with people's APATHY and/or lack of knowledge, GREED, and FEAR.

This Thursday was no different, and it was about how prisons AREN'T the answer. Angela Davis, former member of the Black Panther party told us that there are 2 million institutionalized people in the state of California. Two million people who aren't earning money, but a whole lot of money spent on it. . .33 prisons to about 20 government universities. And you wonder why there is all this talk about the economy sputtering out of control with all those people out of commission in prison. And when the economy gets out of control, that sparkly new Nike shoe made by some slave children becomes UNAFFORDABLE. And when that sparkly new Nike shoe becomes unaffordable PEOPLE LOSE JOBS. And when PEOPLE LOSE JOBS there's even LESS people buying sparkly Nike shoes.

Prisons suck. But their intention is to rehabilitate. NONE of that is going on, because PEOPLE ARE MAKING MONEY OFF PRISONS. The same PEOPLE that make CRAP for the military to kill more innocent, FACELESS people from distant lands. PEOPLE MAKE MONEY OFF THE DESTRUCTION OF OTHER PEOPLE. In the end, PEOPLE are just PEOPLE, eating, sleeping, crapping. But just because people are born into a third-world like neighborhood ala COMPTON, they are AUTOMATICALLY at a disadvantage because they will more than likely not get a chance to go to a little safe Catholic School or drive a Celica handed to them by their parents or even have the MONEY just to buy those sparkly Nike shoes. And when these DISADVANTAGED kids grow up without middle-class welfare to fall back on making barely enough money to buy a 5 cent pencil, you wonder why they resort to such things as drugs, robbery, etc. . .THEY DON'T MAKE MONEY. And when you don't make money, you become the "DRUB of SOCIETY."

When people lose, we all lose. By isolating people as the "DRUB of Society" we lose the innocence and freedom we could gain as a society. Shoot, I'd love to be able to walk in the LA Greyhound station without worrying about some fool jacking my stuff.

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