Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Family Separation Through Prison and Policing Should Also Outrage Us
Leslie Mac
27 Jun 2018
Family Separation Through Prison and Policing Should Also Outrage Us
Family Separation Through Prison and Policing Should Also Outrage Us

“This country continues to routinely separate children from their parents and has done so well before this current border crisis.”

Like many of you, I have been disturbed, angry, saddened, and dismayed by the recent policy shifts of the current administration at some U.S. borders which have allowed for the separation of families and detaining of children. But just as it was when we watched the much-needed swift, decisive protest actions against the so-called “Muslim Ban,” I am once again confronted with how anti-Blackness permeates even those spaces which purport to fight for justice.

In this moment, as we come together to speak out against these horrendous actions at the border, it is important that we also examine why these children and these families have evoked such a strong emotional response from the public, and with white liberals specifically.

(Related: It’s no surprise more women are being imprisoned as less men are. We need abolition, not reforms.)

“Anti-Blackness permeates even those spaces which purport to fight for justice.”

Even if we set aside the historical fact and context that the United States has used separating children from their families as one of its building blocks since the land was stolen, the simple fact is that this country continues to routinely separate children from their parents and has done so well before this current border crisis. I would posit that it has perfected this action, in fact. Even now, in 2018 they shackle mothers as they give birth.

We must understand that the same rhetoric being spewed by conservations of “law and order over all” and “if you break the law, you lose your rights” are the same arguments many white liberals and progressives make when activists, organizers, abolitionists, and families cry out for support to #EndMoneyBail, #AbolishPrisons, and stop police killings.

The lack of humanity applied to those who are in the bondage of prison—“lawfully backed up by the 13th amendment”—is directly connected to the treatment of those seeking asylum right now. Both of these injustices are held up in part through the idea that once someone is labeled a “criminal,” they become less than human. That is how we arrived where we are today.

Many people believe this narrative—people you know and love. In every community. They may even be sitting silently and saying over and over in their heads, “If you break the law, you deserve whatever you get.”

“Even now, in 2018 they shackle mothers as they give birth.”

We must not allow this issue at the border to be separated from the fight against prisons and policing—they are the same issue. Those who are working towards ending prisons should also be doing and supporting the work to end detention centers—because it is our duty to fight.

It must be said that those who are now so concerned and teary-eyed about the travesty of these family separations at the border should be equally active in advocating for all the parents separated from their children behind bars.

I want to remind you that Debbie Africa was recently released after 40 yrs in prison. She was pregnant when sentenced and gave birth behind bars. She held her son outside of a prison for the first time this week. He is 38 years old.

I need you to think about Siwatu-Salama Ra, who is sitting in jail right now, separated from the child she gave birth to in bondage. She was sentenced to two years for defending herself with a gun she owned legally.

“Once someone is labeled a ‘criminal,’ they become less than human.”

I implore you to think about 17-year old Antwon Rose, gunned down by police in East Pittsburgh this week. Shot in the back. Antwon’s family will never be with him again.

There is anti-Blackness at play here and it must be called out, clearly and often. Put simply, if you agree that breaking the law does not strip the folks entering the border of their humanity, it is imperative that you ask yourself if you feel the same about the Black youth currently in jail, disproportionately. Or the sixteen Black Panthers who are still political prisoners. Or the many parents whose babies were killed by the police.

Step up today. I urge you to join Mijente’s Call to Action, but be sure that you also get clear on how, when, and where to show up in your community to #EndMoneyBail, #AbolishPrisons, and bring our people home.

Leslie Mac is a Brooklyn-born Black Woman who founded the Ferguson Response Network to connect nationwide efforts supporting the Movement for Black Lives. She is the Co-Creator of the recently shuttered Safety Pin Box, a subscription service for white people striving to be allies in the fight for Black Liberation, and a Founding Lead Organizer with Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism. For more information visit her website.

The Black Youth Project is a platform that highlights the voices and ideas of Black millennials. Through knowledge, voice, and action, we work to empower and uplift the lived experiences of young Black Americans today.

This article previously appeared in Black Youth Projectand Portside.

Black Mass Incarceration
Trumpacolypse
prison state
the borders

Trending

Elizabeth Warren Wants Green Bombs, not a Green New Deal
Parallels Between Black and Palestinian Struggles
Cory Booker Hates Public Schools
Bill Cosby Should Have Been Denounced by Black America Long Ago
The Black Wall Around Barack Obama: Who Does It Protect Him Against?
How Complacency, Complicity of Black Misleadership Class Led to Supreme Court Evisceration of the Voting Rights Act

Related Stories

Trump as Othello in a Corporate Theater
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Trump as Othello in a Corporate Theater
21 January 2021
Trump the straw man has finally been knocked down, giving the Democrats a victory that costs their corporate masters nothing.
Wrong On Weed – Blacks And Marijuana Myths
Linn Washington
Wrong On Weed – Blacks And Marijuana Myths
22 April 2020
Black state lawmakers helped scuttle efforts to legalize marijuana in the Garden State and Black preachers have been huge impediments to legalizati
Joint Statement From Elected Prosecutors on COVID-19 and Addressing the Rights and Needs of Those in Custody
Fair & Just Prosecution
Joint Statement From Elected Prosecutors on COVID-19 and Addressing the Rights and Needs of Those in Custody
25 March 2020
Overcrowded jail, prison and immigration detention facilities force people together in close quarters without access to proper hygiene or medical c
How Corporations Are Forcing Their Way Into America’s Public Schools
Jeff Bryant
How Corporations Are Forcing Their Way Into America’s Public Schools
19 February 2020
Public school students are being “trained” for jobs at specific corporations rather than educated for a lifetime in a changing world.
It’s not personal, it’s Business…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
It’s not personal, it’s Business…
15 January 2020
Blood!Fire! First 48 hours New Year; New Decade. Primitive, hi- tech bloodshed for rogue state 
Boss Tweet’s Blitzkrieg 
BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
Boss Tweet’s Blitzkrieg 
04 December 2019
I wake in a cold sweat, scrambling for the internet— What salvoes were let loose while we slept?  How badly
William The Redactor 
Raymond Nat Turner , BAR poet-in-residence
William The Redactor 
14 August 2019
William The Redactor  will get to the bottom of it…
The Diary of a Trumpy Kid
Mark P. Fancher
The Diary of a Trumpy Kid
30 January 2019
The formative years of the future Commander-in-Thief. “Hail, Comandante Idiota!”
BAR Book Forum: Micol Seigel’s “Violence Work”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Micol Seigel’s “Violence Work”
26 September 2018
The author shows why racist police brutality has survived and even grown despite every attempt to integrate, oversee, educate, and otherwise reform
Demanding an End to 'Modern Day Slavery,' Prisoners Launch Multi-Day Nationwide Strike
Jessica Corbett
Demanding an End to 'Modern Day Slavery,' Prisoners Launch Multi-Day Nationwide Strike
29 August 2018
At root, striking prisoners demand they be treated as human beings; the rest of their demands flow logically from recognition of their humanity.

More Stories


  • Trump as Othello in a Corporate Theater
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Trump as Othello in a Corporate Theater
    21 Jan 2021
    Trump the straw man has finally been knocked down, giving the Democrats a victory that costs their corporate masters nothing.
  • The Left Lens: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and American Empire, with Ajamu Baraka
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
    The Left Lens: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and American Empire, with Ajamu Baraka
    20 Jan 2021
    Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is often celebrated without any regard for his radical political legacy.
  • Freedom Rider: Why the Left Don’t Protest
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Why the Left Don’t Protest
    20 Jan 2021
    The worse the political and economic crisis becomes, the more lethargic the US left behaves – as if generations of collaboration with corporate Democrats has sucked the life out of the left.
  • Return to the Source: Democracy is Dead
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    Return to the Source: Democracy is Dead
    20 Jan 2021
    By what stretch of the imagination can the US be a democracy when ordinary citizens have virtually no influence over what their government does? 
  • Uganda: Bobi Wine Rocks the Vote but Museveni Claims Victory
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Uganda: Bobi Wine Rocks the Vote but Museveni Claims Victory
    20 Jan 2021
    Ugandan pop star turned presidential candidate Bobi Wine is not Sankara or Lumumba, but he has risked his life to mount a fierce challenge to the 36-year dictatorship of President Yoweri Museveni.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us