<html>
<body>
<font size=3>caps@riseup.net<br><br>
<br>
greetings! we are circulating this at kalima aswad's request. he is
a<br>
prisoner at the medical correctional facility in vacaville, ca...he
would<br>
love to have it reprinted, if you have a publication. if you are<br>
interested, just let us know so we can alert him. you can also write
him<br>
directly- please contact us for his newest address as it may be
changing<br>
shortly. thanks! CAPS<br><br>
_____________________________<br><br>
<br>
Prisons Strangle Us Economically Too<br>
Kalima Aswad<br>
April 27, 2006<br><br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Most of
our conversations about prisons putting a drain on our community<br>
focuses on the manpower it sucks up. That’s just part of it.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>One of the
most clear-cut examples of the dire economic condition in<br>
black communities all across America can be found right here in the<br>
California prison system. It is by no means the only avenue by
which<br>
this economic strangulation occurs.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>The
process by which it happens helps explain how the black community in<br>
New Orleans (as well as other cities where there are large
concentrations<br>
of black people) got left behind when Hurricane Katrina struck last
year.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>The black
businesses in our communities are not primarily manufacturing,<br>
but sellers of goods produced by others (shoes, clothing,
appliances,<br>
furniture, etc.) This means there are not enough jobs available
for<br>
employing the full community.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Roughly
55,000 blacks are locked away in California prisons. Most of
us<br>
own TV’s, radios, CD players, CD’s, wear Nike or Reebok shoes, etc,
and<br>
many of us get packages with coffee, food items, shoes, etc., every
three<br>
months. A lot of us are also fortunate enough to have people who
care<br>
enough about us to send money every month to go to the canteen
with. All<br>
in all, that represents enormous sums of money coming out of the<br>
community.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>With
blacks comprising fully one-third of the prison population, black<br>
businesses only get the right to sell perfumed oil and food spices
for<br>
which they are said to earn less than one half of one percent of the<br>
business selling goods to prisoners.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>It means
that black-owned businesses are prevented from growing. It
also<br>
means that the few businesses are prevented from growing. It also
means<br>
that the few businesses that do exist have to employ fewer people,
which<br>
in turn means more people in these places. Latinos have the
same<br>
problems with this issue, which is much bigger than it appears on
the<br>
surface.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>There are
a lot of other forces that could make this a legal and<br>
political battleground. Who benefits from forcing people in
our<br>
communities to order from outside companies? How did they come by
those<br>
benefits? The answers to these and other questions may help us<br>
understand why prison building is on the increase at the very time<br>
school, libraries, and other services are closing.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Not long
after the policy of minority or female owned businesses being<br>
part of the bidding requirements under affirmative action ended,
there<br>
began a gradual squeezing out of small businesses in our communities
from<br>
supplying goods we could get from them before, such as CD players,
CD’s,<br>
radios, among other things. They said it was for prison security
to<br>
keep drugs and other contraband from coming in. There were
some<br>
objections to this being a racist policy because it stopped black<br>
businesses from selling to people from the black community and because
it<br>
stereotyped minority-owned businesses as being involved in crime.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>We were
forced to order from "approved vendors." Changes
continued to be<br>
made restricting what can be send in until families now have to even<br>
order quarterly packages from these same approved vendors.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Even if
these vendors may still be classified as "small business"<br>
ventures, the bar has been set so high for being able to compete for<br>
doing business that most can’t make the grade. There is somewhere
in the<br>
neighborhood of a L$ million minimum inventory in stock at all times,
and<br>
no vendor can have had any parolee or ex-felon on their payroll and
a<br>
host of other requirements.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>Again,
this takes small community businesses out of the competition and<br>
we think it violates the law by discriminating against ex-felons by<br>
forcing companies not to hire them as a condition of doing business
with<br>
the state, which could in turn lead to someone returning to prison
to<br>
keep the place full.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>The state
established a set of rules that squeezed small neighborhood<br>
enterprises out of the opportunity to compete on an equal footing
with<br>
the favored, well-to-do ones.<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>What this
reveals is one of the processes by which the black community is<br>
held in a perpetual state of deprivation and we can see that in this
case<br>
it is being done with the weight of the government setting the
standards<br>
that make it happen.<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
</font><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
</html>