Angela Davis
“The Prison Industrial Complex”
Alternative Tentacles P.O.B. 419092/ San Francisco, CA 94141-9092
This is a lecture that was given at Colorado College in 1997 by the famed activist and intellectual, Angela Davis, who was once also a political prisoner. Here she offers, among other things, insights about the ever-growing and profitable prison industry: how it can be connected to the activities of transnational corporations, the war on drugs, the construction of “enemies,” and the over-representation of poor people and minorities as criminals. Since the fall of Communism as the great enemy of the nation, the “criminal” has become the target of demonization and our national fear: the criminal who is represented dominantly as a young Latino or black man, and increasingly as women of color. She also looks at how the immigrant has become an enemy - and not the European immigrants who constitute the majority, but people from third world countries. They seem to have become scapegoats for the transnational corporations, who cross national borders in their endless search for profits and move jobs out of the U.S. to exploit cheaper labors markets. Alternative economies, such as the drug economy or prostitution for example, are often what are left for the lower-classes to participate in. In place of the migrating corporations, the prison industry has cropped up to feed off those who are involved in alternative economies. What is most disturbing is that communities actually invite prisons because of the jobs they bring, meaning that prisons are quickly becoming an important part of our economy. Of course, that means more and more people can be expected to become incarcerated in the future. A wonderful thought, isn’t it? Fortunately, she winds up her talk with ideas of what can be done to improve this situation: like establishing communication with prisoners, focusing on biased media representations, corporate activities, and government policies, as well as the long-term goal of reforming the educational system. This is just a rough idea of the ideas Ms. Davis presents on this compelling recording. I recommend acquiring this disc.
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