Jun 16, 2020

The War on Crime Is Really a War on the Poor - a Civilized Society Would Simply Abolish Poverty

Invest in people, not prisons.
By Tim Hjersted / filmsforaction.org
The War on Crime Is Really a War on the Poor - a Civilized Society Would Simply Abolish Poverty

What do you call it when a community is under-served and over-policed?

What do you call it when the larger society responds to the cries and suffering created by generational poverty and structural racism by policing that community even more harshly? What do you call that? An open-air prison? Michelle Alexander called it the New Jim Crow.

Overpolicing poverty-stricken areas represents one of the greatest moral failures of our society today.

That's like seeing a desperate, hungry person crying out for their humanity to be recognized and responding by punishing them for acting out of line.

A moral society would help that person, not punish them.

That is why police, wielded as a weapon against the poor, should be considered a criminal policy in a civilized culture.

A civilized culture would be wise enough to see see how systemic poverty produces crime and antisocial behavior.

A civilized culture would recognize it has a sacred responsibility to the current and next generations.

A civilized, wise culture says, "we're responsible." Because a wise culture respects both the I and the We, it is not enough to care only for one's own children - we must see every child in the village as our child.

A civilized, wise culture would not invest more money every year into policing, punishing, and incarcerating its most oppressed and marginalized citizens - it would invest those funds into helping them.

Instead of violently policing the symptoms of poverty, it would nonviolently and compassionately address the roots of poverty.

It's simple really: Invest in people. Not guns, cops and prisons.

Spend city funds on helping people, not keeping desperate people under control.

Don't wait for a new generation of kids to be traumatized by growing up in an unjust society, ensuring there will be more crime in 25 years. Invest in the lives of all children now.

Abolish extreme poverty tomorrow with a Universal Basic Income.

Support parents with Universal Childcare and Universal Maternity and Paternity Leave.

Support families with Universal Healthcare and a ban on Food Deserts, ensuring there is healthy, organic, fresh food available in every neighborhood.

Support community by offering vacant city land to any local group willing to turn it into a food garden.

Support people with addictions by offering them public health services rather than putting them in jail.

Support the homeless by giving them homes - it's cheaper than putting them in jail.

Support struggling people who commit nonviolent crimes by assessing their needs and offering them help, not by locking them up.

Support struggling, traumatized people who commit violent crimes by forming new processes of restorative justice, rather than punishment.

Support children with non-coercive, compassion-led schools.

Every neighborhood should have more school counselors than cops, who are trained in nonviolent communication. Every student should have mentors they can talk to.

The ideas we could imagine for helping people rather than policing and punishing people is endless.

It all starts by moving from a violent control mindset to a nonviolent liberation/restorative justice mindset.

 


This post was inspired by Tears In the Bayou (2017), directed by Rico King.

Big Ideas   Community   Health   Human Rights   Police & Prisons   Social Issues   Solutions   Transition
Rate this article 
Human Rights
Trending Videos
OMG: Trump HUMILIATED at His OWN Military Parade | Brian Tyler Cohen
9 min - For more from Brian Tyler Cohen: https://www.youtube.com/@briantylercohennews
Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1980)
780 min - Astronomer Carl Sagan's landmark 13-part science series takes you on an awe-inspiring cosmic journey to the edge of the Universe and back aboard the spaceship of the imagination.The series was...
Project 2025 Explained in Schoolhouse Rock Style!
5 min - The song that could save America. Share widely.Written, animated and performed by Jason KravitsProduced and mixed by Sean Dixon withJason Kravits, Christopher Walz, and Brian ONeill
"The Beginning of Fascism": How Trump's Immigrant Crackdown Is Crushing Democracy
13 min - As immigrant rights protests spread to Chicago, we speak with Democratic Congressmember Delia Ramirez, who is the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants and married to a DACA recipient and recently...
Gavin Newsom Is Out Of F*cks To Give | The Kyle Kulinski Show
18 min - Support The Show On Patreon!: https://www.patreon.com/seculartalk
Dinosaur Explains Trump Policies Better than Trump!
8 min - Donald Trump is actually the corporate triceratops, Mr. Richfield, from the 90's TV show sitcom, "Dinosaurs".
Schooling the World (2010)
66 min - If you wanted to change an ancient culture in a generation, how would you do it? You would change the way it educates its children. The U.S. Government knew this in the 19th century when it...
Trending Articles
Videos that Explain Things
Media Literacy
Subscribe for $5/mo to Watch over 50 Patron-Exclusive Films
Subscribe $5/mo View All Patron Films

 

Your support keeps us ad-free and financially independent

Our 10,000+ video & article library is 99% free, ad-free, and entirely community-funded thanks to our patron subscribers!


Want to double your impact? You can subscribe for $10/mo or more as an extra show of support.