Last week in the New York Times, Michelle Alexander the involvement of white conservatives now entering the Prison Abolition movement. Among their number, Newt Gingrich. Rather than attacking the Prison Industrial Complex for anti-racist reasons, Alexander points out that white conservatives are in this for self-interest, to save tax payer dollars, as the Right ON Crime movement demonstrates.
However, I would like to object to Alexander’s objection. I am not a revolutionary purist, and I welcome voices from all perspectives who wish to end the madness called the Prison-Industrial Complex, aimlessly and violently imprisoning large numbers of our citizens for harmless crimes rather than rehabilitate them.
Yesterday, Monday, the Supreme Court upheld California’s right to release prisoners to manage its budget better. I think on all political uprisings we need to heed the words of Yeshua the Messiah, in Mark 9:40 (NRSV), “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
Promoting life-affirming structures, libraries and schools and rehab centers, is part of the goal of the coalition politics of the group, Critical Resistance:
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