Forced Outside of Society

By Jacob Khaliqi / Winter 2020

Many of us hear the success stories of great athletes, or artists like Lebron James, Jay-Z, or 50 Cent and see how these people overcame the extreme poverties of their life to reach great success. Many of them grew up in a society where they had to witness gun violence, join gangs, sell drugs, go through prison, or have friends die. At some point these people overcame the odds and became very popular through talent, hard work, and mentorship. For some it can be sports, and for others it can be creating music about the life they had to live telling their story through their music. These success stories are very rare and in many cases are just that. A person from a ghettoized area becoming an athlete, or musician. In rare cases would someone from one of these neighborhoods go into a good college, and become a great entrepreneur, doctor, or business man. Why is that? Why is it that education is not a focal point for some of these kids growing up in these areas, like many other neighborhoods. How can a kid grow up thinking that education will not take them anywhere and they need to make music, or play sports in order to make money and succeed in the world. What happens if that kid does not become a great athlete, or musical artist, what route will they be led to next? In order to make money, they might resort to violence, stealing, or joining gangs that are found locally in their neighborhood. This problem of having kids growing up in bad neighborhoods, looking up to only musical artists that rap about the hard life they had to live in order to get to the point that they are at, can make a kid look up to these people as role models. These ideas lead to kids getting arrested and once they are in prison they keep going back in, leading to a cycle of life that will most likely not end until they die. The prison systems tend to target these kids, by knowing that they live in these neighborhoods, and tend to use or sell certain drugs in order to get by. The laws for these illegal activities have larger consequences which makes the kid stuck in prison for a longer time. This forces a kid to live outside of society, and inside of a prison. Prison becomes their world.

A deeper look at the many areas affected by these problems can be seen historically. Looking back to the housing and zoning laws which led to the ghettoization of black neighborhoods we can see how the inequality started. In “Racial Zoning,” it is stated how communities boasted the fact that they did not have people of color living in them and were clearly segregated for only white people. This is stated with, “Instead, many of these cities adopted zoning rules decreeing separate living areas for black and white families”(Rothstein 44). This shows the start of segregation by separating people and it was backed up with other ideas of the time, like how the two races could not live together in harmony, or that everything was separate but equal. Once the zoning was complete with people of color living in one area and white people living in another area, it led to more inequality. In areas with mostly white people they would feel stronger as a group especially since they were all together, so if they saw someone of color they would feel offended as to why they are in their neighborhood and more violence would occur through this. “Some towns rang bells at sundown to warn African Americans to leave. Others posted signs at the town boundaries warning them not to remain after sundown” (Rothstein 42). This all goes to show how fear can be placed in someone who was previously living in one of these neighborhoods and is now forced to leave due to the fear of death. Once the family leaves they are placed in an area with other people of color, but they do not receive similar living conditions as before or like white neighborhoods. “Not only were these neighborhoods zoned to permit industry, even polluting industry, but the plan commission permitted taverns, liquor stores, nightclubs, and houses of prostitution to open in African American neighborhoods but prohibited these as zoning violations in neighborhoods where whites lived”(Rothstein 50). This further shows how history has drawn people of color into a newfound freedom but a world where they live near liquor stores, nightclubs, and have pollution all around them on a day to day basis. Growing up seeing this and then going home and realizing that you can not move out because the better neighborhoods do not allow people of color can lead to a great deal of frustration. Living in slums can also show the great gap between people of color and white people of the time. If you do not have access to clean water to drink then going to school would not be a priority. Due to this many kids will have to grow up trying to make money to help their families, skipping out on school and not being able to compete for better jobs like kids in the other neighborhoods. Making money with no education could lead to other options like selling drugs in order to get by.

With those living conditions, and a lack of education we can see how people are led to getting very depressed in these ghettoized areas. Seeing this we can see why some will be forced to resort to drugs and others will resort to selling these drugs in order to make some extra cash. With drugs comes another more modern zoning case for different races and placing people into prisons and out of society. Two drugs that are very similar being crack and cocaine can have different sentencing due to the neighborhoods that they are found in. The sentencing as stated from, “Cracks in the System: 20 Years of the Unjust Federal Crack Cocaine Law” states, “distribution of just 5 grams of crack carries a minimum 5-year federal prison sentence, while distribution of 500 grams of powder cocaine carries the same 5-year mandatory minimum sentence”(Vagins). This shows the unjust treatment of two similar drugs, because crack is found in more ghettoized neighborhoods predominately where people of color live, while cocaine is found in more middle class or upper neighborhoods where white people live. People of color tend to use crack more and white people tend to use cocaine more. We can also see how the incarceration of people of color is bound to be higher due to the fact that they are in prison for a longer amount of time. More evidence of people of color being targeted into mass incarceration to prison systems is further stated, “In 1986, before the enactment of federal mandatory minimum sentencing for crack cocaine offenses, the average federal drug sentence for African Americans was 11% higher than for whites. Four years later, the average federal drug sentence for African Americans was 49% higher” (Vagins). Not only are people of color being targeted for the use of these drugs, but their time spent inside of a cell is made longer as well. This leads to children being raised without parental figures in the houses, and also families being separated for longer periods of times.

As a society we are told that if someone is in prison they committed a bad crime. Also, if that person continues to keep going back to prison then it is because they do not learn their mistake and deserve to go back because they are dangerous. We do not bring up the fact that people who come out of prisons are dehumanized and ostracized from the society we live in. Who is willing to give these people a chance to work and change their lives once they are released. We can see an example in, “A Prison Sentence Ends. But the Stigma Doesn’t.” In the article we learn about Michelle Jones who was sent to prison for murdering her four year old son. While in prison she completed scholarly work, wrote a play, and led a team of incarcerated women into winning best research project. With all this self improvement she still gets rejected from furthering her education in a prestigious college known as Harvard. Harvard claims, “Harvard’s answer — you can never outlive your crime — is an affront to a first-rate candidate and brings shame on those responsible”(Forman). This shows how due to a crime Harvard will not give Michelle Jones or other prisoners another chance and welcome them into their school. Like all people prisoners do not need to feel left out of society and dehumanized to the point that they go back to their old ways and end up in prisons again. This just shows how society is built to lead a prisoner to go back to a prison, rather than a better more educated life. First we saw how people of color are being targeted and sent to prisons, but now we are seeing how they can not change their lives even when they are released. Another example of prisoners not being accepted in society is shown in “Felon Voting Right,” by stating how, “It has been common practice in the United States to make felons ineligible to vote, in some cases permanently” (Potyondy). This shows how even though felons find it difficult to find a job after they are released because people do not want to hire someone with a felony on their record, but they are also not able to vote. Making change could simply mean allowing all people to vote regardless of felonies or not, like a true democracy should be.

The idea of ostracizing people who have been to prison and depicting them as bad villains comes from a bigger problem within all of our communities for individual success. This all came from the neoliberalism ideology that was created after around 1970. Neoliberalism attempts to market orient reform policies, and reduce state influence in economy through privatization. This led to the government creating a society where they wanted economic growth over the welfare of their people. People were treated based on their ability to work for major companies and produce money for the economy. Humans were turned into machines to make money, and those who could not were seen as useless. Everyone would want to market themselves based off their work skills, while being a good human with morals was put aside. A rich person was made to believe that they made all the money through their own hard work, and a poor person has nobody to blame but themselves. This was shown in “The Neoliberal State,” with how, “Individual success or failure are interpreted in terms of entrepreneurial virtues or personal failings”(Harvey 65). Slowly making people think that they just are not working hard enough in order to be successful, and making wealth a factor of how you see someone. The government slowly atomized the people into groups. Rich people were seen as hard workers, while poor people were seen as lazy. This also made more stereotypes for races. In “A People’s History,” Howard Zinn shoes this idea of how the wealthy wanted to divide the people by separating them into groups so it is harder for them to unite and fight the system. This is shown in the reading by, “rewarding them differently by race, sex, national origin, and social class, in such a way to create separate levels of oppression- a skillful terracing to stabilize the pyramid of wealth”(Zinn 77). Colored people were seen as evil and were rewarded by being placed inside of prisons in order to be contained. People of color are then blamed for being inside the prisons and further stigmatized as criminals and bad people by nature. Such stats coming from, “The Top 10 Most Startling Facts About People of Color and Criminal Justice in the United States,” conclude stats like, “While people of color make up about 30 percent of the United States population they account for 60 percent of those imprisoned”(Kerby). This goes to show how people are being criminalized based off the neoliberal ideology that colored people are bad and thats what leads them into prisons, rather than focusing on the society they grow up in. The bigger picture again was not shown with the communities that people of color had to live in, or how they are treated when released from prison.

As we realize the fault of the past and how society is shaped for people to compete against each other for materials, we see many remains in todays world. People still get treated differently based off of wealth. The wealthy are seen as hard workers, and the poor are seen as lazy people. Prisoners are seen as criminals who are not even humans. The fault in the system lies when people move from seeing others as humans, but instead as things. Instead of wanting to better another humans live, they want to gain more to better their own life. The wealth in todays world is even shown in prison systems. Private prisons are making billions of dollars making money off of having people inside of their prisons as shown in the video, “Private Prisons sell people like products.” This relies on laws like sb1070 where illegal immigrants need to have documentation. If they do not have documentation, then they will be sent to these prisons where they can make money off of having prisoners inside of them. This again shows why our society wants minority groups inside of prisons. It is for corporations to make money off of the prisoners demoralizing prisoners as humans and just using prisoners to make money. Treating humans as things placing them in a cell leading to mass incarceration for wealth.

The U.S Justice system was not always like this. Instead of torturing or getting people trapped in a cycle of imprisonment for profit the U.S wanted to focus on rehabilitating people who committed wrong. The Bill of Rights prohibited torture, but contradictions were later formed as we saw with the South, controlling people of color into prisons. Todays prisons are also giving people punishments for using drugs and being born into poor neighborhoods as we have discussed. This leads to a constant cycle of imprisonment which is further shown in “Why Punishment Doesn’t Reduce Crime.” Dr. William R. Kelly shows how people who do not have access to public health are led to prison systems. It is stated, “Comorbidity is quite common, especially the coincidence of substance use disorders and mental health and neurocognitive problems”(Kelly). He also states how not fixing these problems and offering health services inside the prisons, can lead to more recidivism of the people. This again leads to a cycle of people who need help not receiving help and getting back into prisons. Now we can realize that we need to offer rehabilitative platforms inside the prisons to help prisoners get better.

We can still move to a better justice system that focuses on prisoners and rehabilitating them with group solidarity and preparing them into a better life once they are released. This model can be seen with Finland or other Northern European Nations. The model includes prisons resembling dormitories with high-quality health care, counseling services, and educational opportunities, with the systems not breeding anger, or resentment. Further shown in “How to end Mass Incarceration,” Roger Lancaster states, “They have expressly rehabilitative aims, working not only to punish but also to repair the person and restore him to society. Penalties top out at around twenty years, consistent with the finding that longer sentences have neither a rehabilitative nor a deterring effect.” This goes to show keeping people inside of a prison for longer amounts of time does not help with changing the persons lives. Also we must come together as a society and see prisoners as humans, who can change for the better just like everyone else. Therefore pushing for better more rehabilitative services inside of the prisons can make a better change for everyone.

As we look deeper at these stories we start to get back to the reality of realizing that systems shape people into acting in certain ways. Everyone is human and needs love, compassion, and a sense of togetherness, so when that is taken away from someone they can act up in bad ways. This is further discussed in the book, “Are Prisons Obsolete,” by Angela Davis. An example is shown of a story about Amy Biehl who spent plenty of time rebuilding South Africa, but one day was murdered by four African, anti-white men. Biehl’s parents later forgave the men for committing this action of killing their daughter because they did not view the men as murderers, but instead people who were brought up in a system that made them brainwashed into killing their daughter because of her skin color. A statement was made by Peter Biehl after the 9/11 crisis when he stated, “sometimes it pays to shut up and listen to what other people have to say, to ask: ‘Why do these terrible things happen?’ Instead of simply reacting.” This goes to show how many people tend to react and blame a person as a criminal, or categorize people into groups of evil people, but never see the deeper picture of what really leads them into acting that way. It is not in anyones nature to kill other humans, so there is a deeper systemic problem within our communities and health services that need to be fixed in order to stop or lower these bad actions. We must view everyone as a family and if something bad happens, we must look at the community and see what led that person to committing the bad action instead of just blaming them and categorizing them as evil. Realizing this can help push us all out of our bubble and have everyone feel responsible for a bad action and try to push to better their own community and families as well.

Works Cited

Davis, Angela Yvonne. Are Prisons Obsolete? New York: Seven Stories Press, 2003.

Forman, James. “A Prison Sentence Ends. But the Stigma Doesn't.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Sept. 2017.

Greenwald, Robert. “Private Prisons sell people like products • Immigrants for Sale • Part 1 • BRAVE NEW FILMS.”Youtube. Brave New Films. 14 May 2015.

Harvey, David. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Kelly, William R. “Why Punishment Doesn't Reduce Crime.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 25 Apr. 2018.

Kerby, Sophia. “The Top 10 Most Startling Facts About People of Color and Criminal Justice in the United States.” Center for American Progress, 29 May 2015.

Lancaster, Roger, et al. “How to End Mass Incarceration.” Jacobin, Catalyst, Aug. 2017.

Potyondy, Patrick. “Felon Voting Rights.” National Conference of State Legislatures, NCSL, 14 Oct. 2019.

Rothstein, Richard. “Racial Zoning.” The Color of Law. Liverigth Publishing Corporation, a Division of W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.

Vagins, Deborah J. “Cracks in the System: 20 Years of the Unjust Federal Crack Cocaine Law.” American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, Oct. 2006.

Zinn, Howard. “Chapter 11: Robber Barons and Rebels.” A People’s History of the United States. Harper Collins, 2003.