#prisonreform

Urban Dictionary describes being ‘cancelled’ as “a modern internet phenomenon where a person is ejected from influence or fame by questionable actions. It is caused by a critical mass of people who are quick to judge and slow to question. It is commonly caused by an accusation, whether that accusation has merit or not. It is a direct result of the ignorance of people-caused communication technologies outpacing the growth in available knowledge of a person.”

If you’re on social media, you know about cancel culture, and odds are if you are on social media and in your 20s, you were likely on social media since the birth of many larger platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram - while you were a kid. Youtuber Tiffany Ferguson discusses the importance of reflecting on these old posts that you have made over the years and potentially cleaning them out to avoid embarrassment, or having your life ruined. “Our old posts can be weaponized against us” (Ferguson), though this is not to say that all ‘cancelling’ is bad - sometimes it is warranted. For example when a white rapist is given a prison sentence shorter than a person of colour receives for a one time charge for possession of marijuana. As a society, many of us see that this is wrong and will declare our own quest for justice, making sure that this person doesn’t ‘get away’ with their crime, even if the broken justice system declares otherwise.

Given this situation, there are also contrasting accounts of cancel culture being implemented where people are cancelled for things they have posted online in the past, and not necessarily said or done recently. As someone who documented their entire childhood and teenage years on Facebook, Twilight obsession and all, it would not be difficult to find something that I no longer agree with or identify with on my profile. I think the importance lies in distinguishing the need to hold people accountable for their actions and acknowledge mistakes, versus the reactionary response of cancelling which has no real remedy. Nobody can take back what they have said in the past, but the likelihood that a person has evolved since they were 12-16 years old is very high. This is especially true when there is so much influence from ideological state apparatus’ which have the intent to promote ideas of capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy onto its citizens through systems like education and media. In order to disrupt these systems of power, we need to become aware of them, and though it would be great if we all knew about these oppressive apparatus’ as soon as we start spewing nonsense, that is often not how life works. I know it took me a long time to learn not just how I was being oppressed but also about how I was being complicit in systems oppression which would not directly affect me.

If current posts and actions display problematic material, then that is another story. But the idea of cancel culture for past actions promotes the idea that people cannot make mistakes, change, or therefore learn from those mistakes. There is great danger in looking at people as just ‘offenders,’ and we can see it on a greater scale than just social media. For example, Canada’s prison system - as a research assistant for the U of A Prison Project, I have had the opportunity to see this through a different lens, and through my experiences I have come to understand that this is exactly how the government sees inmates; as just offenders, incapable of change, the burden of society. Almost 100% of these folks are also victims – of their own past trauma or generational trauma, a toxic and ineffective child welfare system, the normalization of unhealthy relationships, and more.This is part of the reason why the system is so flawed (also systematic racism #yikes), because rehabilitation and reintroduction to society is important, otherwise our society is not productive, nor is it progressive.

Eddy Zheng is a Chinese American youth counselor and activist based in Oakland, CA. In 1986 - as a 16 year old with limited understanding of English or his rights - he was convicted as an adult for a crime he committed with other youths.

While in prison, Eddy developed a political consciousness, led crime prevention workshops, and organized to set up Asian American studies in San Quentin Prison. His organizing work led to backlash from prison authorities, landing him in solitary confinement.

He called from jail. The first call cost me three dollars plus a minute fee that seemed reasonable so I accepted. He asked me to go online and put sixty dollars (his money) into his “trust fund.” I agreed, put him on my running account of inmates (currently three) and paid the  money. Sixty-seven and change, once they added on the “service fee”  (ka-ching).

A day later he calls me again and damn I forgot to buy some phone time from Connect Network yesterday so again, I have to pay the full three dollars to talk now. I grab my credit card and punch the numbers in again. The same recording warns me that “this is an inmate is calling from a correctional facility”..  When I am finally done plotting the numbers he is on the phone again asking me for more money. As if it were my business I asked: “What happened to the money I put on your commissary yesterday?”

“Oh they took that to pay for my jumpsuit and shoes and some other things like shampoo (ka-ching). I only got eighteen dollars left and I wanted to buy a radio. They said I cold buy one there where you get the snacks.”

“How much is a radio?”

“Thirty-five.”

“Dollars?”

“Yeah.”

Inmates who learn trades are often blocked from getting jobs. Now something is being done to change that.

Half the states bar ex-cons from getting the occupational licenses they need to re-enter the workforce.

But this year, a growing number of states — including Delaware, Indiana and Nebraska — are trying to fix the problem.

Mike Grennan, a former convict, says when it comes to getting an occupational license to be a contractor, he just can’t outrun his criminal past.

“It really frustrates me,” Grennan says. “I have a really good work ethic, and I’ve paid my debt to society.”

More than 70 million Americans with prior criminal records are facing similar barriers to re-entering the workforce.

The added irony is that so many of them actually learned their trade in prison, where they were preparing to come out ready to find a job — only to find that they can’t.

September 22, 2018

“JOHNNY CASH”

by Shepard Fairey