Hello my name is Jamaal Bell. I am the executive editor for Race-Talk and a Huffington Post blogger. From time to time I like to write articles talking about race, equality, ethnicity, justice and gender. Along with posting articles I will be reading and responding to your comments. Hope to engage in meaningful conversations.
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Less Human Trafficking Awareness Campaigns, More Action Campaigns
In April, during the Price of Life Campaign Rally at Ohio State University, I spoke to David Batstone, Director of the Not For Sale Campaign, to discuss human trafficking.
I focused on the question of how can the everyday citizen help combat human trafficking and what change is needed the most: economic change, policy change or cultural change?
Learn how you can help stop human trafficking on the Not For Sale Campaign website.
View part 1.
View part 2.
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Mass Incarceration: A destroyer of people of color and their communities
Dear Obama Administration,
Instead of having our Drug Czar focus on addiction recovery and prevention programs, how about changing the policy of our racialized criminal justice system that has used the "War on Drugs" policy to put more Black males in the criminal justice system than slavery in 1850?
Around this time last year, the Obama Administration’s Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske said he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting "a war on drugs," which is a move that favors treatment over mass incarceration. While this approach is being taken, more than 60% of the people in prison are now racial and ethnic minorities.
For Black males in their twenties, 1 in every 8 is in prison or jail on any given day. These trends have been intensified by the disproportionate impact of the "war on drugs," in which three-fourths of all persons in prison for drug offenses are people of color, according to a report by The Sentencing Project.
The Obama Administration and the states must take racial disparities in our criminal justice system seriously because it affects the public safety of entire communities. Research shows that people of color who live in high crime areas fear victimization and express a need for increased public safety, yet empathize with offenders and the struggles that they face upon release from incarceration.
What are those struggles?
For example, ex-offenders struggle to find housing, transportation and basic health care upon release from prison, according to Minnesota’s Council on Crime and Justice. In fact, according to Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," ex-offenders aren’t eligible for public assistance such as public housing, Medicaid and welfare, moreover, are legally discriminated against when applying for employment.
Furthermore, if ex-offenders are fortunate enough to even find employment, in some states the government can garnish up to 100 percent of their income for the cost of their imprisonment, court and legal fees. This inequity, by our justice system in its failure to address the immediate needs of returning offenders, causes the families and the communities they live in to bear the burden of providing support.
Don’t forget about Native Americans in this injustice.
Much of the literature written about mass incarceration tends to be primarily about the Latinos, Blacks and Whites. What about our Native brothers and sisters?
The incarceration rate of Native Americans is 38% higher than the national rate. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights attributes this higher rate to differential treatment by the criminal justice system, lack of access to adequate counsel and racial profiling .
One example: in South Dakota, Native Americans make up 8 percent of the state’s population, they compose 22 percent of the state’s male prison population. Native women compose 35 percent of female prison population, according to a Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Human Rights Advocacy Coalition Report.
Law enforcement agents arrest American Indians and Alaskan Natives at twice the rate of the greater U.S. population for violent and property crimes. On average, American Indians receive longer sentences than non-Indians for crimes.
They also tend to serve longer time in prison for their sentences than non-Native Americans. The suicide rate is higher among American native inmates incarcerated in jails than non-Indians.
What needs to happen?
We need to admit that racial disparities are tied to our unequal justice practices, and develop strategies, in-cooperation, with law enforcement and community that will reduce racial disparity and enhance public safety.
We need to change policy by removing barriers for those with criminal records so they can gain access to employment, housing and civic engagement. What is the point of being released back into society if you can’t positively participate in society?
We need to create programs that support ALL families of offenders/ex-offenders. It is important for ex-offenders, the children of incarcerated parents, and their caretakers to establish a network of social support.
Thankfully, there are some states, NGOs, associations and research institutions around the nation advocating for the rights of ex-offenders and combating racial disparities in America’s prisons. However, there needs to be a shift in the administration and the states’ thinking and action.
Race needs to be explicitly discussed as it relates to policy change, mass incarceration, and criminal justice. Also how the racially disproportionate enforcement of the "War on Drugs" has negatively affected communities of color.
Sidenote: An example NGO is Rebuild Resources located in St. Paul, Minnesota. Rebuild Resources is a non-profit enterprise helping recovering men and women rebuild their lives through the most powerful social program... A job.
However, they are explicitly committed to serving people who struggle at the intersection of recovery, reentry and racism. "Rather than cherry-pick people who have the fewest barriers to overcome, we look to hire the people who most need our services, are committed to changing their lives, and are ready to work," said Lori Stee, Program Director of Rebuild Resources.
Stee, knows the importance and the need for policy change as it pertains to mass incarceration. "[Rebuild Resources] is deeply involved in collaborative community partnerships to better serve people reentering the community after incarceration," said Stee.
She went on to say that the public must be educated regarding the need for more effective reentry policy. "Policy changes must be from a 3-fold perspective: public safety, fiscal responsibility and social justice," said Stee.
Rebuild Resources has helped more than 900 Minnesotans since 1984, however, 6,000 people are released from Minnesota prisons each year.
The Minnesota Second Chance Coalition and more than a dozen other NGOs advocate for fair and responsible laws, policies, and practices that allow those who have committed crimes to redeem themselves, fully support themselves and their families, and contribute to their communities to their full potential. View their 2010 legislative policy agenda.
<span style="color: #888888;">Photo by Spencer Weiner, AP</span>
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Race and Human Trafficking in the U.S.: Unclear but Undeniable
I watch and listen to the advocacy of human trafficking at rallies, on web sites, in government reports and NGO reports. The research and statistics on human trafficking in America are ambiguous, especially in relation to race and ethnicity. We need to explicitly recognize the connections between trafficking, poverty, migration, gender, racism and racial discrimination to adequately battle and destroy human trafficking in the U.S.
Trafficking persons is inherently discriminatory. Since an overwhelming majority of trafficked persons are women, trafficking in most circles is usually considered a gender issue, especially in the United States (majority of trafficking in the U.S. is sex trafficking). In the U.S., most state human trafficking laws explicitly and directly address sexual exploitation, ignoring or vaguely covering other types of trafficking (myths of trafficking).
However, a link that is rarely discussed in open forums about human trafficking is racial discrimination. A question that I don’t hear enough is, "Does race and ethnicity contribute to the likelihood of people becoming victims of trafficking?" I say, "Yes." Furthermore, I believe that not only does race and ethnicity constitute a risk factor for trafficking, it may also determine the treatment those victims’ experience.
The Polaris Project, who does outstanding work in combating human trafficking, stated the majority of trafficked persons come from vulnerable populations, including undocumented migrants, runaways and at-risk youth, oppressed or marginalized groups, and the poor; specifically because they are easiest to recruit and control. In the U.S., statistically speaking, people of color more than fit this criterion.
Available Statistics by Race
A large majority of trafficked persons in the U.S. for the purposes of labor and sexual exploitation are people of color. Domestically, 50 percent of trafficked victims are children and an overwhelmingly are girls, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Most foreign nationals are women, children and men from Mexico and East Asia, as well as from South Asia, Central America, Africa, and Europe, about 17,500 each year, according to statistics complied by Polaris Project and 2009 TIP report.
Seventy-seven percent of victims in alleged human trafficking incidents reported in the U.S. were people of color, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics Report. An example of BJS’s ambiguity is that 747 out of 1,442 reported incidents recorded no racial or ethnic origin.
Racism is deeply embedded in human trafficking and must be racially inclusive and explicitly included in its literature, statistics and advocacy. To combat this modern-day slavery, the trafficking cycle should recognize explicitly the connections between trafficking, migration, poverty, racism, gender and racial discrimination.
We need to urge and support our NGOs, national and state governments to adequately report trafficking incidents. It is important to know the origin of the victims and the suspected traffickers, race and ethnic backgrounds to better understand the vulnerabilities and how traffickers exploit opportunities.
I am advocating that we remove and uncover the ambiguity of the characteristics of trafficked persons and the traffickers and be explicit about who they are and what populations in America are most affected so we can make specific and measurable progress. The notion that anyone can be a victim of human trafficking is true, however, the fact that the majority of victims are people of color should not be undermined or understated.
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