#september9thpdx

Street blockade in response to a call for a National Prisoner Strike beginning September 9th (the anniversary of the Attica prison rebellion in 1971). The National Prisoner Strike is led and organized by prisoners in states across America who will be participating in work stoppages and hunger strikes to demand an end to inhumane and exploitative conditions. Prisoners are often forced to work against their will and are typically paid less than 25 cents an hour to do everything from fight wildfires, make telemarketing calls, and sew McDonald’s uniforms. Organizers of the National Prisoner Strike are asking for supporters to demonstrate outside detention facilities and businesses profiting from prison labor to expose and challenge this injustice. Groups leading this effort include the Free Alabama Movement, the Free Texas Movement, IWW Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, and many others across the country.

Blockade organized by Black Lives Matter Portland, All African People’s Revolutionary Party, Showing Up for Racial Justice PDX, Marilyn Buck Abolitionist Collective, and the Portland Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines.

Learn More: http://blmpdx.tumblr.com/post/150152877687/solidarity-with-the-september-9th-national

Slavery Never Ended

Thanks to a loophole in the 13th amendment, prisoners across the US are forced to work for pennies (or often nothing at all) while being denied food, health care, and even basic hygiene. Prisoners who refuse to work face punishments like loss of privileges, more prison time, sexual and physical abuse, solitary confinement, torture, and worse. More than 150 years after the end of slavery, there are more black and brown skinned people performing mandatory unpaid hard labor in the US today than there were in the 1800s.

Corporations, governments, prisons, and detention centers all work together to make billions of dollars in profits from exploited prisoners and their slave labor.

For-profit prison companies like Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group maintain deals with government agencies that guarantee a minimum number of filled beds in private prison facilities and immigration detention centers - giving them access to an easily exploited labor force who can’t say no and incentivizing racist criminal justice and immigration law.

State and city governments charge prisoners exorbitant prices for things like beds, phone calls home, toilet paper, life-saving medical care, and even food - taking as much as 80% of the meager wages prisoners receive and making it increasingly common for them to finish their prison terms in debt.

Corporations regularly shut down factories and lay off thousands of union employees all over the country in favor of much cheaper prison labor.

Thanks to the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, three strike laws, mandatory minimums, and slashed spending on welfare, food stamps, social security, and other social safety net programs, the American prison population is currently 10 times the size that it was in the 1970s - even though violent crime rates have been steadily decreasing for decades. Today nonviolent offenders - people locked up for things like selling weed or unpaid fines - make up more than 86% of the incarcerated population in the US. Meanwhile, Africans and Natives are arrested, charged, and convicted at rates much higher than their portion of the population while receiving longer sentences than white offenders for the same crimes. But when prison profiteering is multi-billion dollar per year industry is it any surprise that the U.S. has the largest incarcerated population in the world?

Far from keeping it’s citizens safe, the American injustice system has been designed to systematically strip African, Indigenous, poor, and disabled people of their humanity and connection to society while ensuring greedy corporations have guaranteed access to exploited labor. Police violence and mass incarceration are just the latest incarnations of the centuries long capitalist exploitation of African and Indigenous peoples. 

Who’s Using Prison Slave Labor

AT&T, Microsoft, Nintendo, UPS, Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks, Wendy’s, Well’s Fargo, Autozone, Wal-Mart, and many, many more companies all use prison labor.  Wait, did I mention McDonald’s? Cuz yup, McDonald’s uses prison labor too. Prisoners sew McDonald’s uniforms and manufacture knives and forks, cups, to-go containers, frozen beef patties, milk and poultry products, and more.

How to Help Stop Prison Slavery

Support prisoner resistance! Organize in solidarity with the National Prisoner Strike!

Vote with your dollars! Refuse to buy from corporations - like McDonald’s, AT&T, Victoria’s Secret, and Starbucks - who use slave labor. Here’s a full list. Write letters to their investors and shareholder, picket their corporate offices, and shut down their businesses.

Spread the word! Share articles, news, and graphics about the National Prisoner Strike on social media and distribute flyers at school or work. Use the hashtags #EndPrisonSlavery, #PrisonStrike, and (if you’re in Portland) #September9thPDX. Read It’s Going Down and Support Prisoner Resistance to stay up to date.

Talk to incarcerated friends and loved ones about supporting or joining the National Prisoner Strike

Become an endorsing organization or individual and pledge your support for the National Prisoner Strike publicly.

Commit to help organize support for the strike beyond September 9th - attend a September 9th coalition meeting and share your skills

For more info visit Support Prisoner Resistance, read bit.ly/September9thSolidarity and Let the Crops Rot in the Field and follow Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee on Facebook.

Slavery Never Ended

Thanks to a loophole in the 13th amendment, prisoners across the US are being forced to work for pennies (or often nothing at all) while being denied food, health care, and even access to basic hygiene. Prisoners who refuse may face punishments like loss of privileges, more prison time, sexual and physical abuse, solitary confinement, torture, and worse. More than 150 years after the end of slavery, there are more black and brown skinned people performing mandatory unpaid hard labor in the US today than there were in the 1800s.

Corporations, governments, prisons, and detention centers are working together to make billions of dollars in profits.

For-profit prison companies like Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group maintain deals with government agencies that guarantee a minimum number of filled beds in private prison facilities and immigration detention centers - giving them access to an easily exploited labor force who can't say no and incentivizing racist criminal justice and immigration law.

State and city governments charge prisoners exorbitant prices for things like beds, phone calls to their families, toilet paper, life-saving medical care, and even food - taking as much as 80% of the meager wages prisoners receive for forced labor and making it increasingly common for them to finish their sentences in debt.

Corporations regularly shut down factories and lay off thousands of union employees all over the country in favor of much cheaper prison slave labor.

When prison profiteering is multi-billion dollar per year industry is it any surprise that the U.S. has the largest incarcerated population in the world?

Thanks to the War on Drugs, three strike laws, mandatory minimums, and slashed spending on welfare, food stamps, social security, and other social safety net programs, the American prison population is currently 10 times the size that it was in the 1970s - even though violent crime rates have been steadily decreasing for decades. Today nonviolent offenders - people locked up for things like selling weed or unpaid fines - make up more than 86% of the incarcerated population in the US. Meanwhile, Black folks and Natives are arrested, charged, and convicted at rates much higher than their portion of the population while receiving longer sentences than white offenders for the same crimes.

Far from keeping us safe, the American ‘justice’ system has been designed to systematically strip Black, Native, undocumented, poor, and disabled people of their humanity and connection to society while ensuring greedy corporations have guaranteed access to exploited labor.

Who’s Using Slave Labor Today

AT&T, Microsoft, Nintendo, UPS, Victoria’s Secret, Starbucks, Wendy’s, Well’s Fargo, Autozone, Wal-Mart, and many, many more companies all use prison slave labor.  Wait, did we mention McDonald’s? Cuz yup, McDonald’s uses prison slave labor too. Prisoners are forced to make McDonald’s uniforms, knives and forks, cups, to-go containers, frozen beef patties, milk and poultry products, and more.

How to Help Stop Prison Slavery

Support prisoner resistance! Organize in solidarity with the National Prisoner Strike!

Vote with your dollars! Refuse to buy from corporations - like McDonald’s, AT&T, Victoria’s Secret, and Starbucks - who use slave labor. Here’s a full list. Write letters to their investors and shareholder, picket their storefronts, and shut down their businesses. 

Spread the word! Share articles, news, and graphics about the National Prisoner Strike on social media and distribute flyers at school or work. Use the hashtags #EndPrisonSlavery, #PrisonStrike, and (if you’re in Portland) #September9thPDX. Read It’s Going Down and Support Prisoner Resistance to stay up to date.

Talk to incarcerated friends and loved ones about supporting or joining the National Prisoner Strike

Become an endorsing organization or individual and pledge your support for the National Prisoner Strike publicly.

Commit to help organize support for the strike beyond September 9th - attend a September 9th coalition meeting or share your skills

For more info visit Support Prisoner Resistance and bit.ly/September9thSolidarity.