#08.15.16

This film is a good introduction to the topic of mass incarceration. We'll support it with a group discussion of the prison industrial complex, prison abolition, prisoner resistance, and prisoner support. We are hoping to show the film outdoors on M.I.N.T.'s new projection wall, so bring a blanket and some bug spray. Meet at 8pm and hear about the upcoming prisoner support convergence Bend the Bars. We will screen the movie as soon as it is dark enough to see and resume discussion afterwards. This will be a great low-stakes opportunity to discuss perspectives on the prison system before Bend the Bars kicks off on the 26th. No prerequisite knowledge necessary. From the film's website: The documentary centers around the theory put for­ward by many, and most recently by Michelle Alexander (who appears in the movie), that mass incarceration has become "The New Jim Crow." That is, since the rise of the drug war and the explosion of the prison population, and because discretion within the sys­tem allows for arrest and prosecution of people of color at alarmingly higher rates than whites, pris­ons and criminal penal­ties have become a new ver­sion of Jim Crow. Much of the discrimination that was legal in the Jim Crow era is today illegal when applied to black people but perfectly legal when applied to "criminals." The prob­lem is that through subjective choices, people of color have been tar­geted at significantly higher rates for stops, searches, arrests, prosecution, and harsher sentences. So, where does this leave criminal justice? Register for Bend the Bars, here: https://bendthebars.noblogs.org/ Share our FB page found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1719446224934725/ RSVP to the public demonstration against prison slavery here (August 27th): https://www.facebook.com/events/1135080513228708/

This action requires a level of discipline remembering, they have weapons and we don't. The same way cop supporters hold their signs in silence, even with tears -not saying someone's going to well up- they say nothing yet, protect their personal body space, that's the reverse response for this action. Not to delve into a screaming match or to joust our chests in bravery and honor, that's their job. The media is going to attempt to make us look like the aggressors no matter what, so for the sake of maintaining our purpose, we can't eat the bait.