COLUMN: America's hidden industry

From Malik Wilson's, "RosZ," Fall '98 From Malik Wilson's, "RosZ," Fall '98In the United States of America, a shadowed underworld exists. Removed from the congestion and frenetic pace of the city, it is a region where ordinary human beings do not venture, a place where movement is ordered and carefully documented. It is also an industry which exploits cheap labor to the tune of nearly $30 billion a year. And like the rest of America, it is a world painted starkly in black and white. The smallest of today's new prisons, once constructed, offers hundreds of jobs, the largest provide thousands. When a new prison is built, the local government receives subsidies and tax breaks for its voters as a thank-you. Politicians promise to build new prisons in order to control crime and voters respond enthusiastically. The construction of special maximum security mega-prisons --housing more than 10,000 inmates -- can be more politically and economically lucrative than a new ballpark. All of this becomes infinitely more disturbing and serious when we think about who is being put into these prisons, and what happens to them when they get out. Black people make up 13 percent of the population but comprise nearly 40 percent of the prison population. In a recent article in The Washington Post, it was revealed that 64 percent of all cars stopped on Interstate 95 between D.C. and New York were driven by African-Americans drivers. Now, you can conclude two things: One, that the police pulled them over because they could sense the (fill in the blank) drugs and/or illegal weapons and/or rap music in the car, or two, that the police associate criminal activities with black people and (consciously or unconsciously) act accordingly. Now, since we all attend the University of Pennsylvania and must be reasonably smart, we can conclude either of two things from this: The police statistics are justified because black people are fundamentally and inherently evil; or black people do the same things that you do, and your mama and poppa did, but get caught for it. How many white people on this campus have walked around with drugs in their pockets, driven with drugs or done drugs within the privacy of their own dorm rooms without worrying about anything? For me, it is not a simple issue of who is doing the wrong. It is an issue of who gets caught doing the wrong. I went to high school and now attend college with enough white people to realize you guys engage in the same illegal activities we do, if not more. Statistics on underage drinking and illicit drug use reflect my personal experience -- whites and blacks by and large use drugs with the same frequency. And the vast majority of the prison population is composed of people convicted for drug related offenses. Seventy two percent of new drug arrests are for possession of marijuana. And they aren't being arrested at the University of Pennsylvania. In today's America, possession while being a college student, possession while having a father who is a lawyer and possession while white are all misdemeanors. Possession while being a black man is always a felony. Did you know what happens if you are convicted of a felony? You are disenfranchised. And no that is not the long version of the word "dissed." It means you lose the right to vote. Permanently. Forever. You are forbidden from participating in the most fundamental aspect of citizenship in this country. You become a ghost to society, invisible to the world. Now for all you X-Files fans out there: Would Mulder not shake Scully by the shoulders and scream "Conspiracy!" Let us reexamine the facts: Crime is down in virtually every tracked category. Yet prison building continues at a furious rate. And it is non-white Americans who are imprisoned -- disenfranchising them -- at the highest rates. You make your own conclusions, but like the show says, the truth is out there. No one is trying to make the argument that many of the people in prison should not be there. Regardless of race and situation, no human being who murders or rapes others should be allowed to be a functioning member of society. But the fact is that most people are not in prison for murder. The fact is that most people are not in prison for rape. The vast majority of those in prison are there because of drug violations and the related crimes of burglary, robbery and theft. Everyone agrees that these crimes should be punished. But the questions is who is getting punished and at what cost? In Alabama, pride of Dixie, nearly one half of all black men between the age of 18 and 30 have permanently lost the right to vote. Permanently. Forever. High above the clouds, Dr. King sighs and drops an Alka Seltzer in his glass of water. Somewhere miles below the earth, Governor Wallace and his deceased cronies are chuckling. They like what they see. Do you?