Unintended Consequences of New Laws...

I worry that we are rushing full steam ahead to passing potential new "gun control" laws without evaluating the impact(s) these are likely to have in extending the reach of the prison industrial complex.

  1. Let's see... After Columbine, they passed a slew of "zero tolerance" laws. Guess which schools got the police officers and metal detectors?
  2. I sincerely hope that folks push back with the quickness against the idea that the solution to mass school-based shootings (which are RARE)+
  3. is more police in our schools. It is a recipe for accelerating the school-to-prison pipeline even more for black and brown kids. Just say NO
  4. I would also like to caution the folks who are offering gun control uncritically as a panacea. I am gun control in the abstract but I live+
  5. in a city where black and brown kids some of whom I work with are currently locked up on "gun charges." These laws disproportionately+
  6. impact and target the "usual suspects" which happen to be the archetype "criminalblackman." As long our criminal legal system is racist and+
  7. classist and heterosexist, it will be the marginalized who will be locked up. It will not be people like Adam Lanza who live in million $+
  8. homes in CT. Let's not sleep on this or be naive. My friend Kathy Bankhead who is an ADA here in Chi had to sound the alarm last year re:+
  9. new gun laws that went into effect here in Illinois in 2011 which would target not just the person who had an illegal weapon but people who+
  10. were with them as BYSTANDERS. These bystanders were seen as potential "gang members." Folks this is tough stuff & we should not be rushing
  11. to uncritically support potential new legislation. Let's closely analyze how any new laws will impact marginalized people in this country+
  12. To me this is the number 1 test of whether I can/will support new gun laws.
  13. I share with those who are interested the following post with the info that Kathy shared last year re: new IL laws - tinyurl.com/385bmtv
  14. You will see how easy it is to twist gun laws to target the marginalized through Kathy's words. All I am saying is that it is worth taking+
  15. a deep breath before progressives (especially) get on this "gun control" bandwagon. It's worth asking if the law will effectively reduce+
  16. interpersonal violence or if it will simply increase the reach of the prison industrial complex. If the answer is the latter, we should+
  17. reject any new laws out of hand. Again, apologies for this barrage of tweets over the past couple of days but so much is happening & +
  18. I worry that folks are getting swept up by understandable emotion and that we are on our way to contributing to the expansion of the PIC+
  19. rather than to the creation of a more just, nonviolent, and healthy culture and society.
  20. I implore progressives to jump off the bandwagon for a little bit. It is a mark of most progressives that we value empirical evidence.
  21. Passing new gun control laws tomorrow won't stop the already over 300 million guns owned in this country from being used for nefarious+
  22. purposes. They just won't but they might help to lock more people off unjustly.
  23. Two years ago, I was asking why it seems that black men are the only ones jailed for owning guns after Plaxico Burress -tinyurl.com/7qmjo8n
  24. Let's be judicious moving ahead. Let's think and then react. Again, apologies for all of these tweets. That. Is. All.

Did you find this story interesting? Be the first to or comment.

Liked!

Prison Culture

I am the founder and director of Project NIA. Our mission is to eradicate youth incarceration.

Total views
1,441

Storify

@Storify