JANE FONDA AND PATRISSE KHAN CULLORS ON THE SOBERING REALITIES OF RACISM GENDER AND JAIL

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Patrisse: I wanted to ask what was your impetus in joining movements? What drove you to that? I know that you talked about your own family's history, but what about you?

Jane: Well, it was the Vietnam War. I was living in France, and the French had already been there. So, they had their war in Vietnam, and they knew we couldn't win, and it was an interesting thing for me, as an American, to listen to [the French] talk. I just felt, I can't just stay here and listen to this, I have to go back and be part of it. And, as you probably know, once you begin to study one issue, everything else—race, imperialism, capitalism—everything starts to come into question: economic issues, the fact that we don't have that economic democracy. But it was when I read your book, "When They Call You A Terrorist"—when Trump was elected—that I realized that white supremacy is closer to the surface than I had ever realized, and I thought, "Man, I better understand this more." You think you know, you think you understand, but if you're white, you don't really. And so I very deliberately have been studying, and I read your book, and it really moved me, and I called you up.

Patrisse: I thought it was a joke. June [my assistant] was like, “Jane Fonda wants to talk to you.” And I was like, “What?”

...Jane: You know, I've traveled a lot around the world, and the third world, and one of the things that I've learned is, it's easier to understand—for example, misogyny, women being treated like cattle—when you're in a country where it's totally blatant. That's when you think, "Okay, oh I get it." One of the gifts that POTUS has given us, is things are so blatant and bad, that things that were underground before, at least for white people, have come to the surface now. It's like oh my God, I now understand that we can't really be a full democratic country, a healthy country, as long as we have the legacy of slavery and race. We can't, and I'm not sure that it would've hit me before November 2016. Isn't it awful to say, I'm grateful for the lesson.

Patrisse: Of course.

Jane: But we all have to do it together.

Patrisse: For the last decade, many activists across Los Angeles county have been trying to stop a $3.5 billion jail plan. A plan that would be a woman's jail and a mental health jail. We tried everything: we lobbied our elected officials, we held protests, we did everything and we realized, "Oh they're not budging on this, so we need to take it to the people." We did a poll ahead of time, sort of to see what people want to see, so I started Reform L.A. County Jails, the pact, and we've been gathering signatures since March, we just completed our signature gathering. We have gathered over 230,000 signatures, we've registered over 10,000 people to vote in a short amount of time, and this is gonna be on the March 2020 ballot box.

I told Jane, you know, "We're gonna do this initiative." And she goes, "I want to help. I've been studying around jail issues and prison issues." Jane has done more than help, I mean Jane's been an ambassador of Reform L.A. Jails initiative. She's gone out door knocking, she's gone out gathering signatures, she's held dinners in her home around it. I mean, she's literally been a huge collaborator with me on this project. I think we've been able, for the first time in history, in Los Angeles County history, to popularize a jail fight and a conversation around ending mass incarceration...

 ~Harpers Bazaar

Read More: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a23105747/jane-fonda-patrisse-cullors-women-who-dare-2018-racism-civil-rights/?

PRISON LABOR AS SLAVE LABOR AND THE NATIONWIDE PRISON STRIKE ENDING SEPTEMBER 9 2018

The labor of those in prison is often exploited

Another word for this exploitation is oftentimes "slavery"

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Prison labor is a modern day form of slavery, inmates work for pennies [an hour] ... at most a $1.15 for a day of work. Corporations and the government save money by using cheap, almost free labor. This is not only an inhuman practice but also takes away job opportunities from the private sector.

http://affinitymagazine.us/2017/06/29/heres-a-list-of-corporations-that-use-prison-labor/

Headlines alleging worker exploitation at Silicon Valley giants like Amazon, Tesla, Uber  bombard our screens; even “progressive” media organizations swept up in the digital media organizing wave are struggling, as BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti has repeatedly spoken out against unionizing, while Slate and Thrillist employees who have unionized have accused the companies of using anti-union tactics and stalling the process. And the most vulnerable worker populations—sex workers, immigrants, and undocumented people—face increased repression from the government....

There is hope, though...Right now, America’s prisoners are on strike. Incarcerated workers across the nation are standing up to protest their inhumane living conditions and buck the horrific yoke of prison slavery with organized labor’s strongest weapons—solidarity and collective action... 

As of August 21, across 17 states (and one Canadian province), these incarcerated workers are demanding real, tangible prison reform [such as reasonable pay], and the abolition of one of America’s great enduring shames—the loophole enacted by the 13th amendment that decrees slavery can be used to penalize those convicted of a crime.

This is where the term “prison slavery” originates, as director Ava DuVernay laid out in her groundbreaking 2016 documentary 13th, which argues that slavery never ended — it was just repurposed by the prison industrial complex and blossomed as mass incarceration...

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/labor-day-2018-how-the-ongoing-prison-strike-is-connected-to-the-labor-movement

THE PRISONERS 10 DEMANDS

SOURCE
LIST OF DEMANDS: https://twitter.com/JailLawSpeak/status/988771668670799872

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STATE SPONSORED SLAVERY? INMATES ARE FIGHTING CALIFORNIA WILD FIRES FOR $2 A DAY

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As California firefighters work to contain the largest wildfire in state history, they find themselves working their 24-hour shifts alongside a group of unlikely partners: 3,400 inmates from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The groups work in unison, but while salaried California firefighters earn an annual mean wage of $74,000 plus benefits, inmates earn just $2 per day with an additional $1 per hour when fighting an active fire. 

Inmates without histories of arson, sexual crimes, kidnapping, gang-affiliation, escape attempts or facing a life sentence are allowed to volunteer for the firefighting program and are trained for two weeks in fire safety and field conditions before taking a physical exam. Once the exam is passed, prisoners are sent to live in one of 43 low-security field camps throughout the state. Juvenile delinquents are also eligible for the program, at least 58 youth offenders are currently fighting active wildfires.

~Newsweek 

Read More: https://www.newsweek.com/california-wildfires-inmates-prisoners-firefighters-1061905

If I was a prisoner, I'd probably volunteer to do anything to contribute to the betterment of fellow citizens. If most of the people in jail had the ability to do that an earn a living they probably wouldn't be in prison in the first place. 

But they should be earning something of real value, like time off their sentence or simply more money if they've committed crimes against people --which means their remaining incarcerated is critical to public safety.

The only thing that's not acceptable is pay so low that it might as well not exist

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ALICE JOHNSON SET FREE FROM LIFE SENTENCE AFTER 21 YEARS INSIDE FOR A NON-VIOLENT DRUG OFFENSE

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A grandmother whose life sentence was commuted by President Trump on Wednesday was released from an Alabama prison the same night, her lawyer said. Alice Marie Johnson, 63, reunited with her family in dramatic video captured by CBS News. She was behind bars for 21 years.

Johnson's case was championed last week by reality TV personality Kim Kardashian West, who met with Mr. Trump at the White House about sentencing and prison reform.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alice-marie-johnson-released-reunites-family-twitter-video-today-2018-06-06/ 

ALICE'S STORY

Things went downhill for Johnson in 1989, when she and her husband divorced. The following year, she lost her job of 10 years at the FedEx Corporation due to a gambling addiction. With no way to pay her bills, Johnson filed for bankruptcy in 1991 and her house was foreclosed on. In a moment of tragedy for the entire family, Johnson's youngest son, Cory, was killed in a scooter accident in 1992.

Alice Marie Johnson with her children and grandchildren. Image courtesy of the ACLU.

Having hit rock bottom, Johnson began to associate with people who were involved with drug dealing. She became wrapped up in a lucrative operation that transported cocaine to Memphis, Tennessee for distribution. In 1993, she was arrested and accused, along with 15 others, on various drug and money laundering charges.

At trial, prosecutors convinced 10 of her co-conspirators to testify against her in exchange for reduced or, in some cases, dropped charges. Johnson admits she acted as a go-between, relaying coded messages like "everything is straight" by telephone, but says that she never personally made drug deals or sold drugs...

~MIC.COM

https://mic.com/articles/73507/this-single-mother-is-serving-life-without-parole-for-the-most-absurd-reason-you-can-imagine#.j7ArEF5Yg 

I'd love to know more about her story, whether she applied for welfare or if it just wasn't enough, for example. 

I'm glad she's out. But she's not  nearly alone as far as being in prison for life for a nonviolent offense.

Source: https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/aclu-gotlife_atlantic.pdf

Prison Reform needs to be more of a hot button issue. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that I've heard of prosecutors handing out deals to get their conviction rate up without keeping an eye toward justice. It would be interesting to see how many drug dealers who actually shot people over turf were set free for pointing the finger at Johnson. 

She was in prison for 21 years.  She did her time. "I not allow this time to do me." She made sure she had a positive impact on the people she came into contact with.

I can tell, we're going to hear from her again. I think we're going to be reading a biography someday soon. 

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KALIEF BROWDER REGARDING POVERTY, PRISON, AND RACE ON HIS BIRTHDAY

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     "In the early hours of Saturday, May 15, 2010, ten days before his seventeenth birthday, Kalief Browder and a friend were returning home from a party in the Belmont section of the Bronx.

     They walked along Arthur Avenue, the main street of Little Italy, past bakeries and cafés with their metal shutters pulled down for the night. As they passed East 186th Street, Browder saw a police car driving toward them. More squad cars arrived, and soon Browder and his friend found themselves squinting in the glare of a police spotlight.

     An officer said that a man had just reported that they had robbed him. “I didn’t rob anybody,” Browder replied. “You can check my pockets.” "

     In the back of the squad car, Kalief Browder  would ask his friend if he had taken something (turned out there was a stolen backpack in question). His friend said that he hadn't taken anything either. Yet in 2010, at the age of 16, it was Browder that was sent to Riker's Island for a crime he didn't commit.

    He wouldn't be  released for 3 years. 

by Jennifer Gonnerman 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/before-the-law

     "Browder sat there for three years without a trial. He was repeatedly beaten by guards and inmates while in Rikers. 

     He spent two years in solitary confinement—a euphemism for living under torture. On [a] Saturday in [June of 2015] the effects of that torture were made manifest:

     That afternoon, at about 12:15 P.M., [Browder] went into another bedroom, pulled out the air conditioner, and pushed himself out through the hole in the wall, feet first, with a cord wrapped around his neck. 

     His mother was the only other person home at the time. 

     After she heard a loud thumping noise upstairs, she went upstairs to investigate, but couldn’t figure out what had happened. It wasn’t until she went outside to the backyard and looked up that she realized that her youngest child had hanged himself." 

                                      by  Ta-Nehisi Coates 

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/the-brief-and-tragic-life-of-kalief-browder/395156/


KALIEF BROWDER IN HIS OWN WORDS
ON HIS TIME IN PRISON

ON THE SLOW TORTURE THAT IS SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

He was beaten by prison guards and inmates alike. He was not serving a sentence; he was in pretrial detention. He declined all plea bargains. He wanted his day in court, to prove his innocence. A judge finally dismissed the case against him. After his release, Kalief Browder tried to reclaim his life. In the end, the nightmare he lived through overwhelmed him. Two years after his release, he committed suicide.

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2015/6/11/kalief_browder_albert_woodfox_and_the

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NEWS FLASH! WHEELS ARE ROUND AND PRISONS ARE FULL OF POOR PEOPLE

Prisons of Poverty:   

Uncovering the pre - incarceration incomes of the imprisoned

The findings [of this report] are as predictable as they are disturbing. The American prison system is bursting at the seams with people who have been shut out of the economy and who had neither a quality education nor access to good jobs. We found that, in 2014 dollars, incarcerated people had a median annual income of $19,185 prior to their incarceration, which is 41% less than non-incarcerated people of similar ages.

READ MORE: 

http://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/income.html

THE SHORT TRAGIC LIFE OF KALIEF BROWDER - links & articles

"In the early hours of Saturday, May 15, 2010, ten days before his seventeenth birthday, Kalief Browder and a friend were returning home from a party in the Belmont section of the Bronx. They walked along Arthur Avenue, the main street of Little Italy, past bakeries and cafés with their metal shutters pulled down for the night. As they passed East 186th Street, Browder saw a police car driving toward them. More squad cars arrived, and soon Browder and his friend found themselves squinting in the glare of a police spotlight. An officer said that a man had just reported that they had robbed him. “I didn’t rob anybody,” Browder replied. “You can check my pockets.” "

by Jennifer Gonnerman

In the back of the squad car, Kalief Browder asked his friend if he had taken something (turned out there was a stolen backpack in question). His friend said that he hadn't taken anything either. Yet in 2010, at the age of 16, it was Browder that was sent to Riker's Island for a crime he didn't commit.
He wouldn't be  released for 3 years. 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/06/before-the-law

"Browder sat there for three years without a trial. He was repeatedly beaten by guards and inmates while in Rikers. He spent two years in solitary confinement—a euphemism for living under torture. On [a] Saturday in [June of 2015] the effects of that torture were made manifest:

That afternoon, at about 12:15 P.M., [Browder] went into another bedroom, pulled out the air conditioner, and pushed himself out through the hole in the wall, feet first, with a cord wrapped around his neck. His mother was the only other person home at the time. After she heard a loud thumping noise upstairs, she went upstairs to investigate, but couldn’t figure out what had happened. It wasn’t until she went outside to the backyard and looked up that she realized that her youngest child had hanged himself." 

                                      by  Ta-Nehisi Coates 

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/the-brief-and-tragic-life-of-kalief-browder/395156/




AN INTERVIEW FROM BEFORE KALIEF'S DEATH





ON THE TORTURE OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2015/6/11/kalief_browder_albert_woodfox_and_the