Why Democrats and Republicans Won't Confront Black Mass Incarceration, and Why The Green Party Will

Bruce A. Dixon, BAR managing editor

18 Nov 2009

Although the phenomenon of black mass incarceration is at the center of African American life, it continues to be obfuscated or ignored. The bipartisan consensus is that the social policy of black mass incarceration may exist only the minds of black people, and is certainly off the table as a political issue. To get this very real concern of Black America on the table then, may require stepping outside the bipartisan consensus. In Georgia, the state with the third highest black population and the largest percentage of its adults in the correctional labyrinth, the Green Party proposes to do what Democrats and Republicans won't --- make black mass incarceration a central political issue.

Why Democrats and Republicans Won't Confront Black Mass Incarceration, and Why The Green Party Will

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

With less than 5% of the world's population, the US accounts for a quarter of the world's prisoners. While African Americans are only an eighth the population, we account for almost half the locked down. America's widely acknowledged but rarely discussed social policy of black mass incarceration has been a decisive fact of African American family and community life for a generation. Four years ago in Black Commentator, this reporter wrote that

“...Right now, the shadow of prison squats at the corners of, and often at the center of nearly every black family’s life in this nation.

“Since 1970, the US prison population has multiplied more than six times... despite essentially level crime rates over the last four decades. This has only been possible because the public policies which enable and support locking up more people longer and for less have until now been exempt from analyses of their human, economic and social costs or from any reckoning of the relationships of spiraling imprisonment to actual crime rates and public safety. Most tellingly, while public discussions of these policies are deracialized, their racially disparate impacts are a seldom discussed but widely known fact. Thus even though the damning numbers are widely reported and well known, mass incarceration is practically invisible as a political issue, even in those heavily black communities which suffer most from its implementation.”

Little has changed since then. The number of persons in prisons, jails, on probation, bail, parole, pre-trial and post-conviction supervision continues to rise and according to a March 2009 Pew Center report is now one in 31 nationally, including one in eleven African Americans. An astounding three percent of all black Americans are in prisons and jails, the majority for drug charges, although black and white rates of drug use have been virtually identical for decades. While politicians in black constituencies are regularly obliged to wag their fingers at it, their misleading analyses often point to educational outcomes, and job markets as if these were causes of explosive growth of the carceral state rather than its outcomes. In fact, the policy of mass black imprisonment has functioned as a kind of reparations in reverse, curtailing the economic vitality of entire black communities, stressing and destroying the cohesion of millions of families and thousands of neighborhoods, worsening black health outcomes and more.

The pretense that black mass incarceration is the murky outcome of other social policies rather than a plainly failed and malevolent social policy by itself misdirects public attention and effectively takes the issue off the political table. If black joblessness, lack of family cohesion and health disparities are somehow supposed to cause black mass incarceration, there is no reason to examine the growth of the carceral state itself. Thus the social policy of black mass incarceration never has to justify itself, its costs or its outcomes, never needs to be publicly acknowledged, and can never become a political issue in and of itself. But this may be about to change.

Making mass incarceration a political issue

The ninth largest US state, Georgia leads the rest with one in every thirteen adults in its prisons, jails, on parole and probation, and various kinds of pre-trial and post-conviction court or correctional supervision. A generation of white and black politicians from both major parties have built their careers on stoking the fear of crime and the expansion and justification of the state's vast crime control industries. The state's current Republican governor, as well as the top two Democratic contenders who want to succeed him all had a hand in passing the state's three-strikes mandatory sentencing legislation under former Democratic governor Zell Miller. One of those Democrats is the state's African American attorney general, Thurbert Baker. The last Democratic governor Roy Barnes wanted to put a “two-strikes” provision into the state constitution.

But Georgia's Green Party, BAR has learned, will announce tomorrow that its major focus for the coming two years, including the 2010 election cycle, will be making a political issue out of black mass incarceration. The Green Party of GA intends to do this by running candidates for the state legislature and for district attorney and sheriff, not just in metro Atlanta, but in Augusta, Macon, Columbus, Savannah and elsewhere. Georgia's Green party will expect its candidates to put the fact of black mass incarceration squarely on the political table by advocating positions including but not limited to:

opposing in principle the trials of or incarceration of juveniles as or with adults;
repealing all mandatory sentencing legislation;
an end to all privatized prisons and jails, and the swift phasing out of piecemeal privatization of inmate health, food services and other functions;
an end to all privatized probation services --- Georgia has an almost uniquely corrupt and oppressive regime of fines with loan-shark interest payments collected by private sector probation companies;
ceasing the incarceration of juveniles for most or all nonviolent offenses and reexamining the “zero-tolerance” policies forced upon many school districts;
immediate cancellation of all the private contracts enabling well-connected corporations and corrupt politicians to collect exorbitant tolls on the money sent to and phone calls made to inmates and persons in custody;
the extension of meaningful educational opportunities beyond G.E.D. to people in the state's jails and prisons and its extensive community corrections networks;

I should say how BAR came to know this. We know it because I have been for the last few weeks a member of the GA state committee of the Green Party and its press secretary.

We know that the effects of the nation's policy of black mass incarceration are among the most deeply felt concerns of millions of African American families. We are confident that vigorous, competent, grassroots political campaigns that bring their concerns to the fore are the key to growing the Green Party in Georgia and bringing into existence a broader and more permanent movement for peace and justice than has ever existed before. With the third highest black population among US states, Georgia is uniquely positioned to lead the way on this issue.

Below is a 2005 list of US counties in order of their black populations. Efforts like the one we envision in Georgia can probably succeed or make major impacts anyplace the African American population is 30% or more.

Counties by Black Population

County Name	State	Total County Population	Total Black Population	Percent
Cook County	IL	5,376,741	1,405,361	26.1
Los Angeles County	CA	9,519,338	930,957	9.8
Kings County	NY	2,465,326	898,350	36.4
Wayne County	MI	2,061,162	868,992	42.2
Philadelphia County	PA	1,517,550	655,824	43.2
Harris County	TX	3,400,578	628,619	18.5
Prince George's County	MD	801,515	502,550	62.7
Bronx County	NY	1,332,650	475,007	35.6
Miami-Dade County	FL	2,253,362	457,214	20.3
Dallas County	TX	2,218,899	450,557	20.3
Queens County	NY	2,229,379	446,189	20
Shelby County	TN	897,472	435,824	48.6
Baltimore city	MD	651,154	418,951	64.3
Cuyahoga County	OH	1,393,978	382,634	27.4
Fulton County	GA	816,006	363,656	44.6
DeKalb County	GA	665,865	361,111	54.2
District of Columbia	DC	572,059	343,312	60
Broward County	FL	1,623,018	333,304	20.5
Essex County	NJ	793,633	327,324	41.2
Orleans Parish	LA	484,674	325,947	67.3
New York County	NY	1,537,195	267,302	17.4
Jefferson County	AL	662,047	260,608	39.4
Milwaukee County	WI	940,164	231,157	24.6
Duval County	FL	778,879	216,780	27.8
Alameda County	CA	1,443,741	215,598	14.9
Marion County	IN	860,454	207,964	24.2
Hamilton County	OH	845,303	198,061	23.4
Mecklenburg County	NC	695,454	193,838	27.9
St. Louis County	MO	1,016,315	193,306	19
Franklin County	OH	1,068,978	191,196	17.9
Tarrant County	TX	1,446,219	185,143	12.8
St. Louis city	MO	348,189	178,266	51.2
East Baton Rouge Parish	LA	412,852	165,526	40.1
Orange County	FL	896,344	162,899	18.2
San Diego County	CA	2,813,833	161,480	5.7
Allegheny County	PA	1,281,666	159,058	12.4
Palm Beach County	FL	1,131,184	156,055	13.8
San Bernardino County	CA	1,709,434	155,348	9.1
Suffolk County	MA	689,807	153,418	22.2
Hinds County	MS	250,800	153,297	61.1
Jackson County	MO	654,880	152,391	23.3
Baltimore County	MD	754,292	151,600	20.1
Hillsborough County	FL	998,948	149,423	15
Davidson County	TN	569,891	147,696	25.9
Richland County	SC	320,677	144,809	45.2
Nassau County	NY	1,334,544	134,673	10.1
Mobile County	AL	399,843	133,465	33.4
Montgomery County	MD	873,341	132,256	15.1
Westchester County	NY	923,459	131,132	14.2
Jefferson County	KY	693,604	130,928	18.9
Clark County	NV	1,375,765	124,885	9.1
Wake County	NC	627,846	123,820	19.7
Erie County	NY	950,265	123,529	13
Guilford County	NC	421,048	123,253	29.3
Lake County	IN	484,564	122,723	25.3
Clayton County	GA	236,517	121,927	51.6
Sacramento County	CA	1,223,499	121,804	10
Oakland County	MI	1,194,156	120,720	10.1
Pulaski County	AR	361,474	115,197	31.9
Maricopa County	AZ	3,072,149	114,551	3.7
Cobb County	GA	607,751	114,233	18.8
Richmond city	VA	197,790	113,108	57.2
Caddo Parish	LA	252,161	112,483	44.6
Montgomery County	OH	559,062	111,030	19.9
Union County	NJ	522,541	108,593	20.8
Montgomery County	AL	223,510	108,583	48.6
Charleston County	SC	309,969	106,918	34.5
Cumberland County	NC	302,963	105,731	34.9
Jefferson Parish	LA	455,466	104,121	22.9
Norfolk city	VA	234,403	103,387	44.1
New Castle County	DE	500,265	101,167	20.2
Monroe County	NY	735,343	101,078	13.7
Bexar County	TX	1,392,931	100,025	7.2
Hennepin County	MN	1,116,200	99,943	9
Hartford County	CT	857,183	99,936	11.7
Richmond County	GA	199,775	99,391	49.8
Oklahoma County	OK	660,448	99,241	15
Suffolk County	NY	1,419,369	98,553	6.9
Riverside County	CA	1,545,387	96,421	6.2
Chatham County	GA	232,048	93,971	40.5
King County	WA	1,737,034	93,875	5.4
New Haven County	CT	824,008	93,239	11.3
Camden County	NJ	508,932	92,059	18.1
Genesee County	MI	436,141	88,843	20.4
Contra Costa County	CA	948,816	88,813	9.4
Fairfield County	CT	882,567	88,362	10
Durham County	NC	223,314	88,109	39.5
Jefferson County	TX	252,051	85,046	33.7
Fairfax County	VA	969,749	83,098	8.6
Pinellas County	FL	921,482	82,556	9
Hudson County	NJ	608,975	82,098	13.5
Muscogee County	GA	186,291	81,488	43.7
Virginia Beach city	VA	425,257	80,593	19
Delaware County	PA	550,864	79,981	14.5
Forsyth County	NC	306,067	78,388	25.6
Gwinnett County	GA	588,448	78,224	13.3
Lucas County	OH	455,054	77,268	17
Travis County	TX	812,280	75,247	9.3
St. Clair County	IL	256,082	73,666	28.8
Bibb County	GA	153,887	72,818	47.3
Summit County	OH	542,899	71,608	13.2
Newport News city	VA	180,150	70,388	39.1
Fort Bend County	TX	354,452	70,356	19.8
Leon County	FL	239,452	69,704	29.1
Mercer County	NJ	350,761	69,502	19.8
Greenville County	SC	379,616	69,455	18.3
Middlesex County	NJ	750,162	68,467	9.1
Anne Arundel County	MD	489,656	66,428	13.6
Polk County	FL	483,924	65,545	13.5
Hampton city	VA	146,437	65,428	44.7
Henrico County	VA	262,300	64,805	24.7
Passaic County	NJ	489,049	64,647	13.2
Burlington County	NJ	423,394	64,071	15.1
Madison County	AL	276,700	63,025	22.8
Escambia County	FL	294,410	63,010	21.4
Hamilton County	TN	307,896	62,005	20.1
Tulsa County	OK	563,299	61,656	10.9
Denver County	CO	554,636	61,649	11.1
San Francisco County	CA	776,733	60,515	7.8
Solano County	CA	394,542	58,827	14.9
Dougherty County	GA	96,065	57,762	60.1
Chesapeake city	VA	199,184	56,823	28.5
Montgomery County	PA	750,097	55,969	7.5
Orangeburg County	SC	91,582	55,736	60.9
Douglas County	NE	463,585	53,330	11.5
Spartanburg County	SC	253,791	52,775	20.8
Prince William County	VA	280,813	52,691	18.8
Will County	IL	502,266	52,509	10.5
Kent County	MI	574,335	51,287	8.9
Portsmouth city	VA	100,565	50,899	50.6

In Georgia, our Green Party will look a lot like a red, black and green party. We are confident that with black majorities or near majorities in many of the state's largest counties, including several outside metro Atlanta, that some of these contests are eminently winnable by Green candidates willing to place the issue of mass incarceration squarely on the political front burner. We will be recruiting and training those candidates and the people who want to work with them to change this failed and destructive social policy.

By comparison, the mobilization achieved by the Obama campaigns last year was superficial, a mile wide and an inch deep, its imperatives dictated from the top down rather than from the bottom up, and its activists dispersed and demobilized immediately after the election. Establishment campaigns, such as Democrats usually conduct, are not “movements”. They are where movements go to die, or are betrayed misdirected, and disbanded. To be successful the fight to change and reverse the national policy of black mass incarceration must be closer to a real mass movement than anything seen in a generation, directed and inspired in large part from below. As far as Georgia's Green Party is concerned it will not be the slave of any candidate's political career. It won't go away after a few, or maybe quite a few people get elected, or not. It aims at nothing less than explaining, confronting and curtailing the carceral state with the power of organized people.

Bruce A. Dixon resides in metro Atlanta and is managing editor at Black Agenda Report. He is also press secretrary for the Green Party of Georgia, and can be reached at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com, and bdixon(at)georgiagreenparty.org.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.

More Stories