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So let's look at the statistics.
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The United States is home
to 5% of the world's population...
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but 25% of the world's prisoners.
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Think about that.
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A little country with 5%
of the world's population
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having 25% of the world's prisoners?
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One out of four?
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One out of four human beings
with their hands on bars, shackled,
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in the world are locked up here,
in the land of the free.
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We had a prison population of 300,000
in 1972.
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Today, we have a prison population
of 2.3 million.
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The United States now has the highest rate
of incarceration in the world.
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So, you see, now suddenly
they're in an awakening that,
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"Oh, perhaps we need to downsize
our prison system.
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It's gotten too expensive.
It's gotten out of hand."
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Um, but the very folks
who often express so much concern,
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uh, about the cost
and the expanse of the system
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are often very unwilling
to talk in any serious way
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about remedying the harm
that has been done.
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History is not just
stuff that happens by accident.
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We are the products of the history
that our ancestors chose, if we're white.
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If we are black, we are products
of the history that our ancestors
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most likely did not choose.
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Yet here we all are together,
the products of that set of choices.
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And we have to understand that
in order to escape from it.
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The 13th Amendment to the Constitution
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makes it unconstitutional
for someone to be held as a slave.
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In other words, it grants freedom...
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to all Americans.
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There are exceptions, including criminals.
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There's a clause, a loophole.
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If you have that
in the structure,
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in this constitutional language,
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then it's there to be used as a tool
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for whichever purposes
one wants to use it.
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One of the things
to bear in mind is that
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when we think about slavery,
it was an economic system.
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And the demise of slavery
at the end of the Civil War
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left the Southern economy in tatters.
Uh, and so this presented a big question.
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There are four million people
who were formerly property,
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and they were formerly
kind of the integral part
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of the economic production system
in the South.
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And now those people are free.
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And so what do you do with these people?
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How do you rebuild your economy?
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The 13th Amendment loophole
was immediately exploited.
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After the Civil War,
African Americans were arrested en masse.
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It was our nation's first prison boom.
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You were basically a slave again.
The 13th Amendment says that
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"Except for criminals,
everybody else is free."
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Well, now if you're criminalized,
that doesn't apply to you.
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They were arrested
for extremely minor crimes,
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like loitering or vagrancy.
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And they had to provide labor
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to rebuild the economy
of the South after the Civil War.
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What you got after that
was a rapid transition
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to a kind of mythology
of black criminality.
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Go back and, you know, read the rhetoric
that people used then.
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They would say that the Negro
was out of control,
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that there's a threat of violence
to white women.
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So the same sort of image
that we had of Uncle Remus
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and these genial, kind of, black figures
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was replaced by this rapacious,
uh, menacing, Negro male evil
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that had to be banished.
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Birth of a Nation was
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just a profoundly important
cultural event.
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It's the first major blockbuster film,
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hailed for both its artistic achievement
and for its political commentary.
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And when it was released,
it had this rapturous response.
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You know, there were lines everywhere
that it was being shown.
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Birth of a Nation confirmed the story
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that many whites wanted to tell
about the Civil War and its aftermath.
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To erase defeat and to take out of it
sort of a martyrdom.
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Woodrow Wilson, the sitting president,
had a private screening
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of it in the White House. He calls it,
"History written with lightning."
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And every image you see of a black person
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is a demeaned, animal-like image.
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Cannibalistic, animalistic.
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The image of the African American male.
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There's a famous scene
where a woman throws herself off a cliff
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rather than be raped
by a black male criminal.
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In the film, you see black people
being a threat to white women.
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All the myths of black men as rapists
was ultimately stemmed by the reality
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that the white political elite
and the business establishment
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needed black bodies working.
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What we overlook
about Birth of a Nation
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is that it was also
a tremendously accurate prediction
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of the way in which race
would operate in the United States.
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Birth of a Nation
was almost directly responsible
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for the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan.
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It had received this romantic,
glowing, heroic portrait.
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The Klan never had the ritual
of burning the cross.
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That was something
that D.W. Griffith came up with
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because he thought
that it was a great cinematic image.
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So it was literally
an instance of life imitating art.
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The ripples emanate far out
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from just the simple fact
that it's a movie
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in the early motion picture age.
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With the tremendous
burst of popularity
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that the Ku Klux Klan
had as a result of Birth of a Nation
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came another wave of terrorism.
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We had lynchings
between Reconstruction and World War II.
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Thousands of African Americans
murdered by mobs
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under the idea
that they had done something criminal.
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At the National Democratic
Convention in New York in 1924,
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it is estimated that at least
350 delegates were Klansmen.
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The demographic geography
of this country was shaped by that era.
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Now we have African Americans
in Los Angeles,
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in Oakland, and Chicago, and Cleveland,
Detroit, Boston, New York.
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And very few people appreciate that
the African Americans in those communities
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did not go there as immigrants
looking for new economic opportunities.
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They went there as refugees from terror.
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We didn't just land in Oakland,
in LA, in Compton,
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in Harlem, in Brownsville in 2015.
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This is generational...
generational trauma.
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The letters "KKK"
were carved with a penknife
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on the chest and stomach
of this man in Houston, Texas,
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after he had been hanged by his knees
from an oak tree and flogged with a chain.
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The Chicago Negro boy,
Emmett Till, is alleged
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to have paid unwelcome attention
to Roy Bryant's most attractive wife.
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And then
when it became unacceptable
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to engage in that kind of open terrorism,
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then it shifted to something more legal.
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Segregation. Jim Crow.
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Laws were passed
that relegated African Americans
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to a permanent second-class status.
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These things really begin to live out
the prophecy that Griffith was making
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about the way that race operates.
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And this fear of crime
is central to all of this.
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Every time you saw a sign
that said "white and colored,"
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every time you had to deal
with the indignation
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of being told you can't go
through the front door.
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Every day you weren't allowed to vote,
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weren't allowed to go to school,
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you were bearing a burden
that was injurious.
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Civil rights activists
began to see the necessity
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of building not just
a civil rights movement,
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but a human rights movement.
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And I think we should start now preparing
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for the inevitable.
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Yeah!
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And let us,
when that moment comes...
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go into the situations that we confront
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with a great deal of dignity,
sanity and reasonableness.
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They want to throw
white children and colored children
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into the melting pot of integration,
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through out of which
will come a conglomerated,
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mulatto, mongrel class of people.
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Both races will be destroyed
in such a movement.
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We just got a report here
on this end that the students are in.
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Negroes were trying
to integrate the bathing beaches.
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And the Florida Advisory Committee
to the US Civil Rights Commission
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warned that the city was becoming
a racial superbomb with a short fuse.
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Civil rights activists
began to be portrayed in the media
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and among, you know,
many politicians as criminals.
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People who are deliberately
violating the law,
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segregation laws
that existed in the South.
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For years now,
I have heard the word "wait."
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It rings in the ear of every Negro
with piercing familiarity.
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This wait has almost always meant never.
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Justice too long delayed
is justice denied.
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I think that one of the most brilliant
tactics of the civil rights movement
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was its transformation
of the notion of criminality.
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Because for the first time,
being arrested was a noble thing.
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Being arrested by white people
was your worst nightmare.
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Still is, uh, for many African Americans.
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So what'd they do?
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They voluntarily defined a movement
around getting arrested.
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They turned it on its head.
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If you looked at the history
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of black people's
various struggles in this country,
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the connecting theme
is the attempt to be understood
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as full, complicated human beings.
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We are something other than
this, uh, visceral image of criminality
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and menace and threat
to which people associate with us.
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We're willing to be beaten for democracy,
and you misuse democracy in the street.
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Let us lay aside irrelevant differences...
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and make our nation whole.
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The Civil Rights Act
and the Voting Rights Act said,
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"Finally, we admit it.
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Though slavery ended in December 1865...
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we took away these people's rights,
and now we're gonna fix it."
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For the first time,
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you know, promise of equal justice
becomes at least a possibility.
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Their cause must be our cause, too.
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Unfortunately,
at the very same time
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that the civil rights movement
was gaining steam,
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crime rates were beginning to rise
in this country.
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Crime was increasing
in the baby boom generation
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that had emerged
immediately after World War II.
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Now they were adults.
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So, just through sheer demographic change,
we had an increase in the amount of crime.
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...and became very easy
for politicians then to say,
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um, that the civil rights movement itself
was contributing to rising crime rates,
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and that if we were to give
the Negroes their freedom, um,
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then we would be repaid,
as a nation, with crime.
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The prison population
in the United States was largely flat
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00:14:00,382 --> 00:14:02,091
throughout most of the 20th century.
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It didn't go up a lot.
It didn't come down a lot.
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But that changed in the 1970s.
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And in the 1970s, we began an era
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00:14:09,766 --> 00:14:13,895
which has been defined by this term,
"mass incarceration."
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This is a nation of laws,
and as Abraham Lincoln has said,
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"No one is above the law.
No one is below the law."
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And we're going to enforce the law
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00:14:23,530 --> 00:14:27,241
and Americans should remember that,
if we're going to have law and order.
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00:14:48,220 --> 00:14:53,393
Each moment in history
is a fleeting time, precious and unique.
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But some stand out
as moments of beginning...
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in which courses are set
that shape decades or centuries.
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This can be such a moment.
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It's with the Nixon era,
and the law and order period
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when crime begins to stand in for race.
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00:15:16,499 --> 00:15:19,669
If there is one area
where the word "war" is appropriate,
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00:15:19,752 --> 00:15:21,838
it is in the fight against crime.
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00:15:21,921 --> 00:15:24,340
Part of what he talked about
was a war on crime.
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00:15:24,424 --> 00:15:26,968
But that was one of those code words,
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00:15:27,051 --> 00:15:29,471
what we might call
"dog-whistle politics" now,
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00:15:29,554 --> 00:15:31,222
which really was referring to
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00:15:31,305 --> 00:15:34,601
the black political movements of the day,
Black Power, Black Panthers,
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00:15:34,684 --> 00:15:35,935
the antiwar movement,
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00:15:36,018 --> 00:15:38,563
the movements for women's
and gay liberation at that time,
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which Nixon felt compelled
to fight back against.
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Once the federal government,
through the FBI, moves into an area,
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this should be warning
to those who engage in these acts
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that they eventually
are going to be apprehended.
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There's this outcry
for law and order.
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And Nixon becomes the person
who articulates that perfectly.
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There can be no progress
in America without respect for law.
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Many people felt like, uh,
we were losing control.
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We need total war
in the United States
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00:16:11,679 --> 00:16:15,432
against the evils, uh,
that we see in our cities.
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00:16:17,143 --> 00:16:20,897
Federal spending
for local law enforcement will double.
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00:16:20,980 --> 00:16:22,439
Time is running out
for the merchants
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00:16:22,524 --> 00:16:25,151
of crime and corruption
in American society.
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00:16:26,318 --> 00:16:29,697
The wave of crime is not going to be
the wave of the future
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00:16:29,781 --> 00:16:32,074
in the United States of America.
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We must wage
what I have called "total war"
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00:16:35,077 --> 00:16:38,540
against public enemy number one
in the United States,
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00:16:38,623 --> 00:16:39,957
the problem of dangerous drugs.
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00:16:40,041 --> 00:16:41,626
"A war on drugs."
241
00:16:41,709 --> 00:16:46,172
And that utterance gave birth to this era,
242
00:16:46,255 --> 00:16:49,717
where we decided to deal
with drug addiction and drug dependency
243
00:16:49,801 --> 00:16:52,428
as a crime issue
rather than a health issue.
244
00:16:52,512 --> 00:16:54,681
Hundreds of thousands of people
245
00:16:54,764 --> 00:16:57,433
were sent to jails and prisons
for simple possession of marijuana,
246
00:16:57,517 --> 00:16:59,310
for low-level offenses.
247
00:17:00,978 --> 00:17:06,734
America's public enemy number one
in the United States is drug abuse.
248
00:17:07,694 --> 00:17:09,779
In order to fight and defeat this enemy,
249
00:17:09,862 --> 00:17:14,325
it is necessary to wage
a new, all-out offensive.
250
00:17:15,660 --> 00:17:19,288
This call for law and order
becomes integral to something that
251
00:17:19,371 --> 00:17:22,374
comes to be known
as the Southern strategy.
252
00:17:22,458 --> 00:17:26,754
Nixon begins to recruit Southern whites,
formerly staunch Democrats,
253
00:17:26,838 --> 00:17:29,215
into the Republican fold.
254
00:17:29,298 --> 00:17:31,300
Persuading poor
and working-class whites
255
00:17:31,383 --> 00:17:34,637
to join the Republican Party in droves...
256
00:17:34,721 --> 00:17:38,725
By speaking to,
in subtle and non-racist terms...
257
00:17:38,808 --> 00:17:41,143
...a thinly veiled racial appeal...
258
00:17:41,227 --> 00:17:42,519
...talking about crime,
259
00:17:42,604 --> 00:17:46,733
by talking about law and order
or the chaos of our urban cities
260
00:17:46,816 --> 00:17:48,484
unleashed by the civil rights movement.
261
00:17:48,568 --> 00:17:51,278
We have launched
an all-out offensive against crime,
262
00:17:51,362 --> 00:17:54,281
against narcotics,
against permissiveness in our country.
263
00:17:54,365 --> 00:17:57,034
The rhetoric of
"get tough" and "law and order,"
264
00:17:57,118 --> 00:18:02,164
um, was part and parcel of the backlash
of the civil rights movement.
265
00:18:03,332 --> 00:18:06,127
A Nixon administration official
admitted the war on drugs
266
00:18:06,210 --> 00:18:08,379
was all about
throwing black people in jail.
267
00:18:08,462 --> 00:18:09,463
He said, quote,
268
00:19:13,069 --> 00:19:15,697
Raise your right hand and repeat after me.
269
00:19:15,780 --> 00:19:18,407
I, Ronald Reagan, do solemnly swear...
270
00:19:18,490 --> 00:19:20,827
I, Ronald Reagan, do solemnly swear...
271
00:19:20,910 --> 00:19:23,537
that I will faithfully
execute the Office...
272
00:19:23,620 --> 00:19:28,876
The election of Ronald Reagan was, uh,
in many ways, transformative,
273
00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:30,837
in a negative sense.
274
00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,423
President Richard Nixon
was the first to coin the term
275
00:19:34,506 --> 00:19:35,842
"a war on drugs,"
276
00:19:35,925 --> 00:19:40,722
but President Ronald Reagan turned
that rhetorical war into a literal one.
277
00:19:40,805 --> 00:19:43,474
It's back to school time
for America's children.
278
00:19:43,557 --> 00:19:47,103
And while drug and alcohol abuse
cuts across all generations,
279
00:19:47,186 --> 00:19:49,521
it's especially damaging
to the young people
280
00:19:49,605 --> 00:19:51,315
on whom our future depends.
281
00:19:51,398 --> 00:19:56,403
The modern war on drugs was declared
by Ronald Reagan in 1982.
282
00:19:56,487 --> 00:19:59,115
As we mobilize for this national crusade,
283
00:19:59,198 --> 00:20:02,576
I'm mindful that drugs
are a constant temptation for millions.
284
00:20:02,660 --> 00:20:04,870
Popular opinion polls of the day
285
00:20:04,954 --> 00:20:07,915
show that it wasn't an issue
for most people in the United States.
286
00:20:07,999 --> 00:20:09,834
But Reagan was determined
287
00:20:09,917 --> 00:20:12,628
to put this onto the agenda
to define it as a problem.
288
00:20:12,712 --> 00:20:15,798
A war against drugs
is a war of individual battles.
289
00:20:15,882 --> 00:20:19,593
Reagan used his wife, for example,
in this "Just Say No" campaign.
290
00:20:19,676 --> 00:20:24,431
She has helped so many of our young people
to say no to drugs.
291
00:20:24,515 --> 00:20:26,934
Nancy, much credit belongs to you.
292
00:20:27,018 --> 00:20:28,310
This is your brain.
293
00:20:29,270 --> 00:20:30,897
This is drugs.
294
00:20:36,443 --> 00:20:38,195
This is your brain on drugs.
295
00:20:38,279 --> 00:20:39,446
I joined it.
296
00:20:39,530 --> 00:20:42,366
And some people said,
"Well, how can you join
297
00:20:42,449 --> 00:20:46,287
a person declaring a war on drugs,
someone like Ronald Reagan?"
298
00:20:46,370 --> 00:20:50,958
I joined with Nancy Reagan
because she said, "Just say no."
299
00:20:51,042 --> 00:20:55,254
Just say no so loud
that everyone around you can hear it.
300
00:20:55,337 --> 00:20:58,715
We're talking about a general education
that we're talking about.
301
00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:00,802
We're not talking about locking up people.
302
00:21:00,885 --> 00:21:05,306
We're talking about educating people.
We're talking about prevention.
303
00:21:05,389 --> 00:21:07,767
There was a crisis
in the US economy at that time.
304
00:21:07,850 --> 00:21:11,062
I regret to say
that we're in the worst economic mess
305
00:21:11,145 --> 00:21:12,729
since the Great Depression.
306
00:21:12,814 --> 00:21:14,982
There is a frontal assault
307
00:21:15,066 --> 00:21:19,195
on institutions that are designed
to assist human beings,
308
00:21:19,278 --> 00:21:23,950
on the education system, welfare,
on jobs, healthcare.
309
00:21:24,033 --> 00:21:27,829
Government programs that can't be paid for
out of a balanced budget
310
00:21:27,912 --> 00:21:30,331
must be paid for out of your pocket.
311
00:21:30,414 --> 00:21:33,459
The rich are getting richer
and the poor are getting poorer.
312
00:21:33,542 --> 00:21:37,171
The idea of expanding, uh,
the freedom of American business
313
00:21:37,254 --> 00:21:38,589
and the entrepreneurial class...
314
00:21:38,672 --> 00:21:43,219
We will save $1.8 billion
in fiscal year 1982.
315
00:21:43,302 --> 00:21:46,263
Luxury stores like
Neiman Marcus predicts record sales.
316
00:21:46,347 --> 00:21:49,225
The number of Americans
dipping under the poverty level
317
00:21:49,308 --> 00:21:51,685
has reached the highest rate
in two decades.
318
00:21:52,269 --> 00:21:55,898
Yes, there has been
an increase in poverty,
319
00:21:55,982 --> 00:21:59,526
but it is a lower rate of increase
than it was in the preceding years,
320
00:21:59,610 --> 00:22:00,777
before we got here.
321
00:22:00,862 --> 00:22:03,823
It has begun to decline,
but it is still going up.
322
00:22:03,906 --> 00:22:05,157
In the mid-1980s,
323
00:22:05,241 --> 00:22:08,494
we were already starting to embark
on a war on drugs
324
00:22:08,577 --> 00:22:11,956
and then all of a sudden,
along comes this new drug, crack cocaine.
325
00:22:12,039 --> 00:22:15,584
Steve Young reports
on a new kind of cocaine called crack.
326
00:22:15,667 --> 00:22:18,504
It's dangerous. It's deadly.
It will kill you.
327
00:22:18,587 --> 00:22:22,216
"The drug epidemic is as dangerous
as any terrorist that we face."
328
00:22:22,299 --> 00:22:25,302
That is just some of what was said today
to House and Senate committees
329
00:22:25,386 --> 00:22:27,179
holding hearings on drug abuse in America.
330
00:22:27,263 --> 00:22:30,933
We have this drug that
could be marketed in very small doses,
331
00:22:31,017 --> 00:22:32,977
relatively inexpensively,
332
00:22:33,060 --> 00:22:35,437
this was going to just
take over communities,
333
00:22:35,521 --> 00:22:38,232
and particularly
African American communities.
334
00:22:38,315 --> 00:22:42,153
Crack was largely an inner-city issue
and cocaine was largely a suburban issue.
335
00:22:42,236 --> 00:22:45,281
Smokable cocaine,
otherwise known as crack,
336
00:22:45,364 --> 00:22:47,574
it is an uncontrolled fire.
337
00:22:47,658 --> 00:22:50,202
Congress,
in virtually record time,
338
00:22:50,286 --> 00:22:54,039
established
mandatory sentencing penalties for crack
339
00:22:54,123 --> 00:22:57,584
that were far harsher than those
for powder cocaine.
340
00:22:57,668 --> 00:23:01,630
The same amount of time in prison
for one ounce of crack cocaine
341
00:23:01,713 --> 00:23:03,757
that you get for 100 ounces
of powder cocaine.
342
00:23:03,841 --> 00:23:06,552
Police here are cracking down
on crack dealers.
343
00:23:06,635 --> 00:23:13,559
Usually black or Hispanic, Latino,
they were getting long sentences
344
00:23:13,642 --> 00:23:15,102
for possession of crack.
345
00:23:15,185 --> 00:23:16,437
You're black with crack cocaine,
346
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,148
you goin' to prison
for basically the rest of your life.
347
00:23:19,231 --> 00:23:22,609
Um, and if you're white, you're
pretty much getting slapped on the wrist.
348
00:23:22,693 --> 00:23:24,194
Cocaine...
349
00:23:24,278 --> 00:23:26,030
was more sophisticated.
350
00:23:26,113 --> 00:23:27,990
It was just a powder.
351
00:23:28,074 --> 00:23:31,702
By next year,
our spending for drug law enforcement
352
00:23:31,785 --> 00:23:34,496
will have more than tripled
from its 1981 levels.
353
00:23:37,207 --> 00:23:41,587
All of a sudden, a scythe
went through our black communities,
354
00:23:42,129 --> 00:23:45,967
literally cutting off men
from their families,
355
00:23:46,050 --> 00:23:50,012
literally huge chunks
just disappearing into our prisons,
356
00:23:50,096 --> 00:23:52,514
and for really long times.
357
00:23:52,598 --> 00:23:54,516
Millions of dollars
will be allocated
358
00:23:55,351 --> 00:23:57,353
for prison and jail facilities.
359
00:23:57,436 --> 00:23:59,521
These sorts of disparities
under Reagan
360
00:23:59,605 --> 00:24:03,859
quickly exploded
into the era of mass incarceration.
361
00:24:03,942 --> 00:24:06,445
What Reagan ultimately does is...
362
00:24:06,528 --> 00:24:10,992
takes the problem of economic inequality,
363
00:24:11,075 --> 00:24:16,205
of hypersegregation in America's cities,
and the problem of drug abuse,
364
00:24:16,288 --> 00:24:21,210
and criminalizes all of that
in the form of the war on drugs.
365
00:24:21,293 --> 00:24:24,213
We absolutely should have treated
crack and cocaine,
366
00:24:24,296 --> 00:24:26,215
uh, as exactly the same thing.
367
00:24:26,298 --> 00:24:30,552
I think it was an enormous burden
on the black community,
368
00:24:30,636 --> 00:24:33,889
but it also fundamentally violated
a sense of core fairness.
369
00:24:33,972 --> 00:24:37,393
When crack cocaine hit
in the early '80s,
370
00:24:37,476 --> 00:24:40,562
there were a lot of mayors who felt
very strongly that this is a real threat
371
00:24:40,646 --> 00:24:41,981
and they wanted to crack down.
372
00:24:42,064 --> 00:24:45,234
And Rangel was one of the guys
pushing for stronger sentencing.
373
00:24:45,317 --> 00:24:48,445
It may have seemed
like a good idea at the time,
374
00:24:48,529 --> 00:24:51,240
but it sure didn't work out
as being effective.
375
00:24:51,323 --> 00:24:54,535
Then, years later,
there was an effort to rewrite history,
376
00:24:54,618 --> 00:25:00,374
that it was a racial disparity
put in by mean white people.
377
00:25:00,958 --> 00:25:02,501
Um, it's not where it came from.
378
00:25:02,584 --> 00:25:06,172
In many ways,
the so-called war on drugs
379
00:25:06,255 --> 00:25:09,091
was a war on communities of color,
380
00:25:09,175 --> 00:25:14,596
a war on black communities,
a war on Latino communities.
381
00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:18,600
And you see a rhetorical war that was,
you know,
382
00:25:18,684 --> 00:25:22,271
announced as part of a political strategy
by Richard Nixon
383
00:25:22,354 --> 00:25:26,233
and which morphed into a literal war
by Ronald Reagan,
384
00:25:26,317 --> 00:25:32,073
um, turning into something
that began to feel nearly genocidal
385
00:25:32,156 --> 00:25:34,700
in many poor communities of color.
386
00:25:34,783 --> 00:25:37,203
So Nixon's Southern strategy
387
00:25:37,286 --> 00:25:40,289
was implemented right after
the civil rights movement.
388
00:25:40,372 --> 00:25:41,707
He played on fear of crime,
389
00:25:41,790 --> 00:25:44,751
and law and order
to win the election easily.
390
00:25:46,337 --> 00:25:48,630
Reagan promised tax cuts to the rich,
391
00:25:48,714 --> 00:25:51,300
and to throw all the crack users in jail,
392
00:25:51,383 --> 00:25:53,969
both of which devastated
communities of color
393
00:25:54,053 --> 00:25:56,472
but were effective
in getting the Southern vote.
394
00:25:59,100 --> 00:26:03,354
There's really no understanding
of our American political culture
395
00:26:03,437 --> 00:26:05,189
without race at the center of it.
396
00:26:05,272 --> 00:26:08,901
And in 1981,
just before Reagan assumed the presidency,
397
00:26:08,984 --> 00:26:11,487
his campaign strategist, Lee Atwater,
398
00:26:11,570 --> 00:26:15,199
was caught on tape
explaining the Southern strategy.
399
00:26:15,282 --> 00:26:17,326
In other words, you start out...
400
00:27:30,607 --> 00:27:33,694
The war on drugs had become
part of our popular culture,
401
00:27:33,777 --> 00:27:35,362
in television programs like Cops.
402
00:27:38,156 --> 00:27:41,702
When you cut on your local news at night,
you see black men
403
00:27:41,785 --> 00:27:44,288
being paraded across the screen
in handcuffs.
404
00:27:45,747 --> 00:27:48,750
Black people, black men
and black people in general,
405
00:27:48,834 --> 00:27:53,755
are overrepresented in news as criminals.
406
00:27:53,839 --> 00:27:56,675
When I say overrepresented,
that means they are shown as criminals
407
00:27:56,758 --> 00:27:58,302
more times than is accurate,
408
00:27:58,385 --> 00:28:02,138
that they are actually criminals, right,
based on FBI statistics.
409
00:28:03,056 --> 00:28:06,768
I mean, I'm a big believer
in the power of media
410
00:28:06,852 --> 00:28:09,771
full of these clichés
that basically present
411
00:28:09,855 --> 00:28:12,816
mostly black and brown folks
who seem like animals in cages,
412
00:28:12,899 --> 00:28:16,069
and then someone
can turn off the TV thinking...
413
00:28:16,152 --> 00:28:17,488
"It's a good thing for prisons,
414
00:28:17,571 --> 00:28:20,366
because, otherwise, those crazy people
would be walking on my block."
415
00:28:20,449 --> 00:28:23,619
Creating a context
where people are afraid.
416
00:28:23,702 --> 00:28:25,537
And when you make people afraid,
417
00:28:25,621 --> 00:28:28,624
you can always justify
putting people in the garbage can.
418
00:28:28,707 --> 00:28:30,876
Chances are you could run into a kid
419
00:28:30,959 --> 00:28:33,629
waiting to relieve you
of your purse or wallet.
420
00:28:33,712 --> 00:28:36,340
Every media outlet in the country
thinks I'm less than human.
421
00:28:36,423 --> 00:28:41,177
I began to hear the word "super predator"
as if that was my name.
422
00:28:41,261 --> 00:28:42,512
Super predator.
423
00:28:42,596 --> 00:28:44,973
- Super predator.
- "Super predators," end quote.
424
00:28:45,056 --> 00:28:48,143
That's the word they used
to describe this generation,
425
00:28:48,227 --> 00:28:50,520
and it was very, very effective.
426
00:28:50,604 --> 00:28:52,356
Experts call them super predators.
427
00:28:52,439 --> 00:28:55,025
They are not just gangs of kids anymore.
428
00:28:55,108 --> 00:28:58,820
They are often the kinds of kids
that are called super predators.
429
00:28:58,904 --> 00:29:00,656
No conscience, no empathy.
430
00:29:00,739 --> 00:29:02,491
A group of kids growing up
431
00:29:02,574 --> 00:29:05,201
essentially fatherless,
godless and jobless.
432
00:29:05,285 --> 00:29:06,411
For me, what's disturbing
433
00:29:06,495 --> 00:29:08,747
is the degree to which black people
bought into that.
434
00:29:08,830 --> 00:29:12,167
Animals, beasts that needed
to be controlled.
435
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,337
When those grandmothers say,
"But he's a good boy.
436
00:29:16,422 --> 00:29:19,215
He never did anything,"
don't you believe it.
437
00:29:19,299 --> 00:29:20,842
Black communities began
438
00:29:20,926 --> 00:29:24,430
to actually support policies
that criminalized their own children.
439
00:29:24,513 --> 00:29:27,223
Last night, the eight teens
accused of the attack
440
00:29:27,308 --> 00:29:30,143
were arraigned on charges of rape
and attempted murder.
441
00:29:30,227 --> 00:29:34,564
In the Central Park jogger case,
they put five innocent teens in prison,
442
00:29:34,648 --> 00:29:35,899
because the public pressure
443
00:29:35,983 --> 00:29:38,777
to lock up these quote, unquote animals
was so strong.
444
00:29:38,860 --> 00:29:41,447
You better believe
that I hate the people
445
00:29:41,530 --> 00:29:44,366
that took this girl
and raped her brutally.
446
00:29:44,449 --> 00:29:46,827
- You better believe it.
- Donald Trump wanted to give
447
00:29:46,910 --> 00:29:48,370
these kids the death penalty,
448
00:29:48,454 --> 00:29:51,332
and he took out a full page ad
to put the pressure on.
449
00:29:52,082 --> 00:29:55,043
These children, four of them under 18,
450
00:29:55,126 --> 00:29:58,297
all went to adult prisons
for six to eleven years,
451
00:29:58,380 --> 00:30:02,050
before DNA evidence proved
they were all innocent.
452
00:30:02,133 --> 00:30:04,553
We make them their crime.
That's how we introduced them.
453
00:30:04,636 --> 00:30:06,096
"That's a rapist. That's a murderer.
454
00:30:06,179 --> 00:30:08,223
That's a robber.
That's a sex offender.
455
00:30:08,307 --> 00:30:10,559
That's a burglar.
That's a gang leader."
456
00:30:10,642 --> 00:30:13,895
And through that lens,
it becomes so much easier
457
00:30:13,979 --> 00:30:16,857
to accept that they're guilty
and that they should go to prison.
458
00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:23,989
The objective reality is...
that virtually no one who is white
459
00:30:24,656 --> 00:30:29,453
understands the challenge
of being black in America.
460
00:30:29,953 --> 00:30:36,543
So you have then educated a public,
deliberately, over years, over decades,
461
00:30:36,627 --> 00:30:42,132
to believe that black men in particular,
and black people in general,
462
00:30:42,215 --> 00:30:43,759
are criminals.
463
00:30:43,842 --> 00:30:45,010
I want to be clear,
464
00:30:45,093 --> 00:30:47,679
because I'm not just saying
that white people believe this, right?
465
00:30:47,763 --> 00:30:53,477
Black people also believe this
and are terrified of our own selves.
466
00:30:54,061 --> 00:30:56,855
You want to go back to the days
of military weakness,
467
00:30:56,938 --> 00:30:59,107
caring more about criminals than victims?
468
00:30:59,190 --> 00:31:02,110
We can't risk that.
I'd like your vote on Tuesday.
469
00:31:02,194 --> 00:31:05,572
Leadership that's on your side.
Michael Dukakis for president.
470
00:31:05,656 --> 00:31:07,949
In the midst of the, uh,
presidential campaign,
471
00:31:08,033 --> 00:31:12,954
an ad was released about a person
by the name of Willie Horton.
472
00:31:13,038 --> 00:31:15,749
Bush and Dukakis on crime.
473
00:31:15,832 --> 00:31:18,209
Dukakis not only
opposes the death penalty,
474
00:31:18,293 --> 00:31:21,797
he allowed first degree murderers
to have weekend passes from prison.
475
00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:23,173
One was Willie Horton.
476
00:31:23,256 --> 00:31:28,303
This became a focal point
of an entire presidential campaign.
477
00:31:28,387 --> 00:31:30,514
Horton fled,
kidnapped a young couple,
478
00:31:30,597 --> 00:31:33,224
stabbing the man
and repeatedly raping his girlfriend.
479
00:31:33,308 --> 00:31:36,853
Weekend prison passes.
Dukakis on crime.
480
00:31:36,937 --> 00:31:40,774
Dukakis had protected the program,
vetoed an effort to repeal it,
481
00:31:40,857 --> 00:31:43,985
in that he favored letting murderers
out on the weekend.
482
00:31:44,069 --> 00:31:46,738
That Dukakis
had a double-digit lead over Bush
483
00:31:46,822 --> 00:31:50,451
before the campaign
focused on Willie Horton,
484
00:31:50,534 --> 00:31:54,079
and after that, Bush overtook Dukakis
and won the election.
485
00:31:54,162 --> 00:31:58,083
Which candidate for president
can you count on to be tough on crime?
486
00:31:58,166 --> 00:31:59,668
George Bush.
487
00:31:59,751 --> 00:32:04,548
Bush won the election by creating fear
around black men as criminal,
488
00:32:04,631 --> 00:32:07,092
without saying that's what he was doing.
489
00:32:07,175 --> 00:32:10,345
A very racially, um...
490
00:32:10,429 --> 00:32:13,765
you know, divisive moment.
491
00:32:13,849 --> 00:32:16,477
Depicting an African American criminal,
I think, was deliberate
492
00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:18,311
on the part of that campaign.
493
00:32:18,394 --> 00:32:20,105
There's no one who can tell me otherwise.
494
00:32:20,188 --> 00:32:23,942
Liberals call him Willie Horton to make it
sound like you're being dismissive.
495
00:32:24,443 --> 00:32:28,655
Original article was Reader's Digest.
William Horton, no picture.
496
00:32:28,738 --> 00:32:30,699
The Democrats want you to know
he's black.
497
00:32:31,658 --> 00:32:32,826
Thanks, Grover.
498
00:32:35,161 --> 00:32:37,080
It was not his name,
499
00:32:37,163 --> 00:32:40,709
it was his image
that was sensationalized.
500
00:32:40,792 --> 00:32:44,546
Liberals that announced that it was mean
to pick on a murderer and a rapist
501
00:32:44,630 --> 00:32:47,799
lose all credibility on this discussion.
They just lose it.
502
00:32:47,883 --> 00:32:48,967
And people go,
503
00:32:49,050 --> 00:32:51,637
"We don't want to hear anything else
you have to say about crime."
504
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,139
No matter what anybody says
or what anybody does,
505
00:32:54,222 --> 00:32:59,227
they know exactly what button
they were trying to hit with that ad.
506
00:32:59,311 --> 00:33:01,563
Stabbing the man
and raping his girlfriend.
507
00:33:01,647 --> 00:33:07,861
It went to a kind of primitive fear,
a primitive American fear,
508
00:33:07,944 --> 00:33:13,158
because Willie Horton
was metaphorically the black male rapist
509
00:33:13,241 --> 00:33:16,119
that had been a staple
of the white imagination
510
00:33:16,202 --> 00:33:18,246
since the time just after slavery.
511
00:33:20,874 --> 00:33:24,252
Here was a black man
convicted of rape.
512
00:33:25,045 --> 00:33:28,882
"I will be the savior and protector
of the white population."
513
00:33:28,965 --> 00:33:35,305
Never minding the fact that the history
of interracial rape in this country,
514
00:33:35,388 --> 00:33:41,352
that that record is far more marked
by white rape against black women
515
00:33:41,436 --> 00:33:43,772
than of black men against white women.
516
00:33:55,075 --> 00:33:56,159
Patsey.
517
00:34:00,330 --> 00:34:05,126
This idea
that had such great artistic utility
518
00:34:05,210 --> 00:34:07,629
in 1915 in Birth of a Nation
519
00:34:07,713 --> 00:34:10,215
still had a great deal
of political utility
520
00:34:10,298 --> 00:34:11,842
almost at the end of that century.
521
00:34:11,925 --> 00:34:18,098
The way that we appeal to voters'
sense of fear and anxiety in our nation
522
00:34:18,181 --> 00:34:20,350
runs through black bodies.
523
00:35:03,935 --> 00:35:07,230
A new generation
of Democrats, Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
524
00:35:07,314 --> 00:35:09,441
They don't think the way
the old Democratic party did.
525
00:35:09,524 --> 00:35:13,153
They've sent a strong signal to criminals
by supporting the death penalty.
526
00:35:13,236 --> 00:35:18,574
Looking at the way in which
Democrats were defeated in 1988,
527
00:35:18,659 --> 00:35:21,995
or they were defeated in 1984,
or they were defeated in 1980,
528
00:35:22,078 --> 00:35:24,497
there comes to be a sentiment
among the Democrats
529
00:35:24,580 --> 00:35:29,044
that they have to adopt a position
that is much more, uh, kind of, centrist.
530
00:35:29,127 --> 00:35:30,879
It became virtually impossible
531
00:35:30,962 --> 00:35:34,549
for a politician to run
and appear soft on crime.
532
00:35:34,633 --> 00:35:37,343
I was not for the bill
that he was talking about
533
00:35:37,427 --> 00:35:39,554
because it was not tough enough
on the criminal.
534
00:35:39,638 --> 00:35:42,432
In an environment
where everybody's doing the same thing,
535
00:35:42,515 --> 00:35:44,434
everybody's competing
to be tough on crime,
536
00:35:44,517 --> 00:35:46,728
you quickly all end up in the same space,
537
00:35:46,812 --> 00:35:49,690
so it doesn't become a political advantage
unless you do something more.
538
00:35:49,773 --> 00:35:52,025
We need more police on the street.
539
00:35:52,108 --> 00:35:54,611
There is a crime bill which would
put more police on the street,
540
00:35:54,694 --> 00:35:57,447
which was killed for this session
by a filibuster in the Senate,
541
00:35:57,530 --> 00:35:59,825
mostly by Republican senators.
542
00:35:59,908 --> 00:36:03,578
We'd consistently had,
"Squishy, soft liberal won't protect you.
543
00:36:03,662 --> 00:36:06,873
Tough, conservative will protect you."
And we won that fight every time.
544
00:36:06,957 --> 00:36:09,876
And by the late '80s, early '90s,
people like Bill Clinton
545
00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:12,921
had begun to figure out
they had to be able to match us.
546
00:36:13,004 --> 00:36:17,718
I will faithfully execute the Office
of President of the United States.
547
00:36:17,801 --> 00:36:20,971
Bill Clinton is trying to figure out
548
00:36:21,054 --> 00:36:25,475
how he can deal with a country
that's still basically Reagan's country,
549
00:36:25,558 --> 00:36:28,186
but he's trying to govern as a Democrat.
550
00:36:28,269 --> 00:36:33,108
Violent crime and the fear it provokes
are crippling our society.
551
00:36:33,191 --> 00:36:37,653
Then some high-profile,
very horrendous crimes take place.
552
00:36:37,738 --> 00:36:41,700
Residents pull together
in the search for 12-year-old Polly Klaas.
553
00:36:41,783 --> 00:36:44,619
They are now coping with the discovery
of her body over the weekend.
554
00:36:44,703 --> 00:36:50,125
Polly Klaas, abducted from
her bedroom at home and ultimately killed,
555
00:36:50,208 --> 00:36:53,837
which led to the California
"three strikes and you're out" law.
556
00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:56,089
When you commit a third violent crime,
557
00:36:56,172 --> 00:36:58,967
you will be put away
and put away for good.
558
00:36:59,050 --> 00:37:01,552
Three strikes and you are out.
559
00:37:01,636 --> 00:37:03,679
A person's convicted
of their third felony,
560
00:37:03,764 --> 00:37:07,475
essentially that person is mandated
to prison for the rest of their lives.
561
00:37:07,558 --> 00:37:10,353
So many third-strike defendants
awaiting trial,
562
00:37:10,436 --> 00:37:12,063
the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department
563
00:37:12,147 --> 00:37:16,359
is forced to release 4,200
misdemeanor inmates every month
564
00:37:16,442 --> 00:37:19,570
to make room for incoming
three-strike prisoners.
565
00:37:19,654 --> 00:37:21,823
It's in line with many other policies
we've created,
566
00:37:21,907 --> 00:37:23,616
particularly mandatory minimums.
567
00:37:23,699 --> 00:37:27,453
"Mandatory sentencing." We said
we were no longer going to let judges
568
00:37:27,537 --> 00:37:29,831
consider the circumstances around a crime.
569
00:37:29,915 --> 00:37:32,250
We're just going to impose
a mandatory sentence.
570
00:37:32,333 --> 00:37:33,835
And that's a difficult thing for judges
571
00:37:33,919 --> 00:37:37,756
because they are trying
to dispense justice on a daily basis
572
00:37:37,839 --> 00:37:39,715
and are unable to do so.
573
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:44,262
In many California communities,
all civil trials have been canceled
574
00:37:44,345 --> 00:37:46,222
to catch up
with the criminal case workload.
575
00:37:46,306 --> 00:37:49,184
We've taken discretion
away from judges,
576
00:37:49,267 --> 00:37:51,394
arguably the most neutral party
in the court,
577
00:37:51,477 --> 00:37:53,897
and given it over to prosecutors.
578
00:37:53,980 --> 00:38:00,737
Ninety-five percent of elected prosecutors
throughout the United States are white.
579
00:38:00,821 --> 00:38:04,950
Serious, violent criminals
serve at least 85% of their sentence.
580
00:38:05,033 --> 00:38:07,786
We passed Truth in Sentencing
that kept people imprisoned
581
00:38:07,869 --> 00:38:09,204
for 85% of their sentence.
582
00:38:09,287 --> 00:38:12,665
Truth in Sentencing.
You're sentenced to an amount of time.
583
00:38:12,748 --> 00:38:14,125
The public wants to be confident
584
00:38:14,209 --> 00:38:17,087
that you're gonna do
just about every bit of that time.
585
00:38:17,170 --> 00:38:19,005
We've done away with parole.
586
00:38:19,089 --> 00:38:24,177
So, in the federal system, when you get
20 years or 30 years, that's what you got.
587
00:38:24,260 --> 00:38:25,929
We had parole in this country
588
00:38:26,012 --> 00:38:29,057
as a mechanism for getting people
out of jails and prisons
589
00:38:29,140 --> 00:38:31,852
when it was clear that they were
no longer a threat to public safety.
590
00:38:31,935 --> 00:38:35,521
Sharanda has spent the last 16 years
in prison, and she'll die there,
591
00:38:35,605 --> 00:38:37,899
because she was sentenced
to life without parole.
592
00:38:37,983 --> 00:38:39,985
Her only crime?
Transporting cocaine.
593
00:38:40,068 --> 00:38:42,904
And when I say "only crime,"
I mean only crime.
594
00:38:42,988 --> 00:38:44,739
She had no other arrests. None.
595
00:38:44,823 --> 00:38:50,703
The judge was required...
required to send Sharanda away for life.
596
00:38:50,787 --> 00:38:53,832
Longer sentences,
three strikes and you're out,
597
00:38:54,332 --> 00:38:58,419
almost 60
new capital punishment offenses...
598
00:38:58,503 --> 00:39:00,588
And then comes the Congress
599
00:39:00,671 --> 00:39:06,344
with a proposal for a $30 billion
federal crime bill of 1994
600
00:39:06,427 --> 00:39:10,515
that was heavily loaded towards
law enforcement incarceration.
601
00:39:10,598 --> 00:39:13,935
I propose a 21st century crime bill
602
00:39:14,018 --> 00:39:16,354
to deploy
the latest technologies and tactics
603
00:39:16,437 --> 00:39:19,190
to make our communities even safer.
604
00:39:19,274 --> 00:39:21,276
That omnibus crime bill was responsible
605
00:39:21,359 --> 00:39:24,779
for a massive expansion
of the prison system.
606
00:39:24,863 --> 00:39:29,450
And beyond that, it provided all kinds
of money and perverse incentives
607
00:39:29,534 --> 00:39:31,953
for law enforcement
to do a lot of the things
608
00:39:32,037 --> 00:39:34,164
that we nowadays consider to be abusive.
609
00:39:34,247 --> 00:39:39,044
It will be used to build prisons to keep
100,000 violent criminals off the street.
610
00:39:39,127 --> 00:39:42,713
Not only does he increase
funding to states to build prisons
611
00:39:42,797 --> 00:39:46,301
to lock up as many people
involved in drug crimes,
612
00:39:46,384 --> 00:39:49,804
but also to put
100,000 police officers on the street.
613
00:39:49,888 --> 00:39:55,726
Crime has been a hot political issue
used too often to divide us.
614
00:39:55,810 --> 00:39:58,438
What President Clinton did in 1994
615
00:39:58,521 --> 00:40:02,317
is actually far more harmful
than his predecessors
616
00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:05,111
because he actually built
that infrastructure that we see today,
617
00:40:05,195 --> 00:40:10,951
the militarization all the way down
to small, rural police departments
618
00:40:11,034 --> 00:40:13,078
that have SWAT teams.
619
00:40:13,161 --> 00:40:15,163
And again we see
this kind of notching up
620
00:40:15,246 --> 00:40:18,416
of the number of people who were
being arrested at every level
621
00:40:18,499 --> 00:40:22,712
and this kind
of exploding prison population.
622
00:40:24,672 --> 00:40:26,882
We are a nation
that professes freedom,
623
00:40:26,967 --> 00:40:31,137
yet we have this mass incarceration,
this hyperincarceration,
624
00:40:31,221 --> 00:40:35,016
uh, that is trawling into it,
grinding into it,
625
00:40:35,100 --> 00:40:37,102
our most vulnerable citizenry,
626
00:40:37,185 --> 00:40:40,271
and is overwhelmingly biased
towards people of color.
627
00:40:51,992 --> 00:40:54,077
But I want to say
a few words about it.
628
00:40:56,955 --> 00:41:00,124
Because I signed a bill
that made the problem worse.
629
00:41:00,625 --> 00:41:02,418
And I want to admit it.
630
00:41:02,502 --> 00:41:06,922
His 1994 crime bill, something
that he now admits was a mistake...
631
00:41:07,007 --> 00:41:08,799
There were longer sentences.
632
00:41:10,843 --> 00:41:15,140
And most of these people
are in prison under state law,
633
00:41:15,223 --> 00:41:18,226
but the federal law set a trend.
634
00:41:20,353 --> 00:41:22,647
And that was overdone.
We were wrong about that.
635
00:41:22,730 --> 00:41:27,902
Well, I think it's important
that President Clinton, um, acknowledges
636
00:41:27,986 --> 00:41:34,700
that things didn't turn out exactly
as he and all of us would've wished.
637
00:41:34,784 --> 00:41:38,579
I'm happy that he realizes
the error of his ways.
638
00:41:38,663 --> 00:41:41,791
I think he knew back then that
it wasn't good policy, I'll be honest.
639
00:41:41,874 --> 00:41:46,004
Back then, there was an outcry
over the rising crime rate.
640
00:41:46,087 --> 00:41:50,091
And people from all communities
were asking that action be taken.
641
00:41:50,175 --> 00:41:54,095
Now, my husband said
at the NAACP last summer
642
00:41:54,179 --> 00:41:57,932
that it solved some problems,
but it created other problems,
643
00:41:58,016 --> 00:41:59,100
and I agree.
644
00:41:59,184 --> 00:42:02,353
I'm glad to see that he is apologetic,
645
00:42:02,437 --> 00:42:06,024
but I think he has to take responsibility
and accountability for that,
646
00:42:06,107 --> 00:42:07,317
and so does Hillary,
647
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:10,445
because she supported it,
then and up until recently.
648
00:42:10,528 --> 00:42:14,990
Bill Clinton faced off against
a group of Black Lives Matter protestors
649
00:42:15,075 --> 00:42:17,577
protesting a 1994 crime bill
650
00:42:17,660 --> 00:42:21,247
that they say led to a surge
in the imprisonment of black people.
651
00:42:21,330 --> 00:42:24,083
I don't know how you would characterize
652
00:42:24,167 --> 00:42:28,963
the gang leaders who got
13-year-old kids hopped up on crack
653
00:42:29,047 --> 00:42:34,260
and sent 'em out onto the street
to murder other African American children.
654
00:42:34,344 --> 00:42:37,888
Maybe you thought they were good citizens.
She didn't.
655
00:42:37,972 --> 00:42:39,599
She didn't!
656
00:42:39,682 --> 00:42:44,437
You are defending the people
who kill the lives you say matter.
657
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:45,855
Tell the truth.
658
00:42:46,356 --> 00:42:48,858
We can't ignore the reality of force here.
659
00:42:48,941 --> 00:42:52,112
The policies
that Bill Clinton put forward,
660
00:42:52,195 --> 00:42:54,739
you know, mandatory minimums,
three strikes...
661
00:42:54,822 --> 00:42:57,242
Those were a use of political force.
662
00:42:57,325 --> 00:42:59,160
They forced millions of people,
663
00:42:59,244 --> 00:43:02,413
who would not otherwise
be in prison today, into prison.
664
00:43:02,497 --> 00:43:04,374
They forced families to be broken.
665
00:43:04,457 --> 00:43:06,834
They forced children
to live without their parents.
666
00:43:06,917 --> 00:43:07,960
That's what happened.
667
00:43:15,301 --> 00:43:16,385
Why?
668
00:43:18,429 --> 00:43:21,766
We shouldn't ask,
"Why is Bill Clinton so strong?"
669
00:43:21,849 --> 00:43:24,394
We should ask,
"Why is the black community so weak
670
00:43:24,477 --> 00:43:26,521
in our inability to defend ourselves?"
671
00:43:26,604 --> 00:43:31,192
Let's not forget how many martyrs
we put in the ground in the '60s and '70s.
672
00:43:31,276 --> 00:43:35,863
Let's not forget how many of our leaders
had to leave the country or are in prison.
673
00:43:35,946 --> 00:43:40,034
You stripped out
a whole generation of leadership.
674
00:43:40,118 --> 00:43:42,828
You ran them out the country,
you put them in prison,
675
00:43:42,912 --> 00:43:45,540
you put them in... in cemeteries.
676
00:43:45,623 --> 00:43:48,083
And then you unleash this blitzkrieg,
677
00:43:48,168 --> 00:43:50,753
and we don't have the ability
to defend ourselves.
678
00:43:50,836 --> 00:43:56,884
You can tell the story
of white leadership in America
679
00:43:56,967 --> 00:43:59,011
and never mention the FBI one time.
680
00:43:59,095 --> 00:44:03,057
You can't tell the story
of black leadership, not one,
681
00:44:03,433 --> 00:44:06,561
without having to deal
with the full weight
682
00:44:06,644 --> 00:44:09,689
of the criminal justice system
weaponizing its black dissent.
683
00:44:09,772 --> 00:44:13,484
I'm tired of living every day
under the threat of death.
684
00:44:13,568 --> 00:44:15,570
I have no martyr complex.
685
00:44:15,653 --> 00:44:19,407
I want to live as long
as anybody in this building tonight.
686
00:44:19,490 --> 00:44:23,953
Dr. King, people forget,
was not this beloved figure
687
00:44:24,036 --> 00:44:25,996
that everybody wants to put on a pedestal.
688
00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:29,417
Uh, he was considered one
of the most dangerous people in America
689
00:44:29,500 --> 00:44:32,462
by the head
of the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
690
00:44:34,172 --> 00:44:36,632
Don't tell me
that Dr. King has no relevance
691
00:44:36,716 --> 00:44:38,009
to young brothers in the street.
692
00:44:38,092 --> 00:44:40,720
They dealing with little cops.
He was dealing with the top cop.
693
00:44:40,803 --> 00:44:43,764
We were brought here
against our will.
694
00:44:43,848 --> 00:44:46,934
We were not brought here
to be made citizens.
695
00:44:47,017 --> 00:44:52,482
We were not brought here
to enjoy the, uh, constitutional gifts
696
00:44:52,565 --> 00:44:54,567
that they speak so beautifully about.
697
00:44:54,650 --> 00:44:58,738
Malcolm's whole entourage
was infiltrated with police.
698
00:44:58,821 --> 00:45:00,573
He may have had as many police
699
00:45:00,656 --> 00:45:03,493
as he had regular folk
in his entourage, under cover.
700
00:45:03,576 --> 00:45:05,245
So afraid of black dissent.
701
00:45:05,328 --> 00:45:08,289
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
today asserted that the Black Panthers
702
00:45:08,373 --> 00:45:10,750
represent the greatest internal threat
to the nation.
703
00:45:11,292 --> 00:45:12,793
J. Edgar Hoover said
704
00:45:12,877 --> 00:45:17,047
these Panthers represent
the greatest threat
705
00:45:17,131 --> 00:45:19,467
to American democracy at the time.
706
00:45:20,885 --> 00:45:23,846
The Panthers never were that big.
707
00:45:23,929 --> 00:45:26,766
I mean, no one in their right mind
could ever believe
708
00:45:26,849 --> 00:45:29,560
that the Black Panthers
were gonna bring down
709
00:45:29,644 --> 00:45:33,648
the greatest military force
in the history of the world.
710
00:45:33,731 --> 00:45:35,983
The whole movement was criminalized
711
00:45:36,066 --> 00:45:39,236
and destroyed systematically
by the government.
712
00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:41,989
People haven't thought about
what it means to lose a Fred Hampton,
713
00:45:42,072 --> 00:45:45,576
who somehow was able to pull together
blacks and whites
714
00:45:45,660 --> 00:45:48,120
and Puerto Ricans and Native Americans
715
00:45:48,203 --> 00:45:50,831
to fight for justice at 21.
716
00:45:50,915 --> 00:45:53,501
We're going to say it after this
and after I'm locked up
717
00:45:53,584 --> 00:45:55,085
and after everybody's locked up,
718
00:45:55,169 --> 00:45:58,798
that you can jail revolutionaries,
but you can't jail a revolution.
719
00:45:58,881 --> 00:46:00,341
He had to go.
720
00:46:00,425 --> 00:46:05,596
The head of the Black Panthers in Illinois
was killed today by police in Chicago.
721
00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:08,641
Illinois Panther Chairman
Fred Hampton and another Panther leader
722
00:46:08,724 --> 00:46:11,101
from Peoria, Illinois, were killed.
723
00:46:11,185 --> 00:46:13,980
This is where our chairman
had his brains blown out
724
00:46:14,063 --> 00:46:17,900
as he lay in his bed
sleeping at 4:30 in the morning.
725
00:46:17,983 --> 00:46:21,571
They literally went
and shot his whole house up,
726
00:46:21,654 --> 00:46:24,532
with his pregnant wife
next to him in the bed.
727
00:46:25,408 --> 00:46:29,870
So afraid of a leader
that could unite people.
728
00:46:29,954 --> 00:46:31,872
We know the history of folks
729
00:46:31,956 --> 00:46:34,834
who've done this kind of standing up
to these systems,
730
00:46:34,917 --> 00:46:37,545
and we know how the system has
murdered them, assassinated them,
731
00:46:37,628 --> 00:46:42,007
exiled them, excluded them,
or found ways to discredit them.
732
00:46:43,551 --> 00:46:46,554
Assata Shakur was one of the great leaders
of the Black Liberation Army.
733
00:46:46,637 --> 00:46:50,641
That, um, order given by J. Edgar Hoover
734
00:46:50,725 --> 00:46:56,856
was essentially
to destroy any black, progressive...
735
00:46:58,190 --> 00:47:00,568
Third World movement in this country.
736
00:47:00,651 --> 00:47:02,069
They put her in prison,
737
00:47:02,152 --> 00:47:05,280
and her allies said,
"We're not gonna leave her in prison."
738
00:47:05,364 --> 00:47:07,742
Her white allies said,
"We're not gonna leave her in prison."
739
00:47:07,825 --> 00:47:10,703
And pulled her out of prison and got her
to Cuba. She's in Cuba right now.
740
00:47:10,786 --> 00:47:13,748
And within the next five years,
741
00:47:13,831 --> 00:47:19,462
something like, uh, 300 prisons
are in the planning stages.
742
00:47:19,545 --> 00:47:20,921
This government has the intentions
743
00:47:21,005 --> 00:47:24,008
of throwing more and more people
in prison.
744
00:47:25,175 --> 00:47:27,970
Criminalization of Assata Shakur,
745
00:47:28,053 --> 00:47:33,976
the use of the media to represent her
as a dangerous criminal.
746
00:47:34,059 --> 00:47:36,604
And of course, in my own case,
747
00:47:36,687 --> 00:47:42,109
where I was represented by the FBI
as being armed and dangerous.
748
00:47:42,192 --> 00:47:44,945
The FBI has put
black militant Angela Davis
749
00:47:45,029 --> 00:47:47,448
on its list
of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
750
00:47:47,532 --> 00:47:51,452
Then with Angela Davis,
the power of the black intellect...
751
00:47:51,535 --> 00:47:53,454
One thing
that we have to talk about,
752
00:47:53,538 --> 00:47:56,707
coming to grips with,
is this whole question of crime.
753
00:47:56,791 --> 00:48:00,210
What does it mean
to be a criminal in this society?
754
00:48:00,294 --> 00:48:01,671
That had to be broken up.
755
00:48:01,754 --> 00:48:05,466
And in my case, Ronald Reagan
was the governor of California,
756
00:48:05,550 --> 00:48:07,802
Richard Nixon was
the president of the US.
757
00:48:07,885 --> 00:48:12,473
The whole apparatus of the state
was set up against me,
758
00:48:12,557 --> 00:48:16,644
and they really meant to send me
to the death chamber
759
00:48:16,727 --> 00:48:18,395
in order to make a point.
760
00:48:18,479 --> 00:48:21,649
The actions of the FBI
in apprehending Angela Davis,
761
00:48:21,732 --> 00:48:25,319
a rather remarkable, uh, story again...
762
00:48:25,402 --> 00:48:28,072
The system tried
to put the sister on trial,
763
00:48:28,155 --> 00:48:30,908
and the sister said,
"No, we puttin' you on trial."
764
00:48:34,244 --> 00:48:36,664
Comes in, the big Afro,
she didn't go press her hair.
765
00:48:36,747 --> 00:48:38,541
She was facing major time.
766
00:48:38,624 --> 00:48:41,085
You know, most people,
they'd have got a nice little press.
767
00:48:41,168 --> 00:48:44,004
You know? They'd have been
in there with little white gloves on,
768
00:48:44,088 --> 00:48:45,923
praying to Jesus.
She came in like this.
769
00:48:46,841 --> 00:48:51,261
And she devastated the prosecution
and walked out of there free.
770
00:48:53,973 --> 00:48:56,058
But the question is
how do you get there?
771
00:48:56,141 --> 00:48:58,769
Do you get there
by confrontation, violence?
772
00:48:58,853 --> 00:49:00,563
Oh, was that the question you were asking?
773
00:49:00,646 --> 00:49:01,814
Yeah.
774
00:49:01,897 --> 00:49:04,149
So, I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.
775
00:49:04,233 --> 00:49:05,442
Uh...
776
00:49:06,151 --> 00:49:11,031
Uh, after the four young girls who were...
who lived very...
777
00:49:11,115 --> 00:49:14,118
who lived...
One of them lived next door to me.
778
00:49:14,201 --> 00:49:17,287
I was very good friends
with the sister of another one.
779
00:49:17,371 --> 00:49:19,373
My sister was good friends
with all three of them.
780
00:49:19,456 --> 00:49:22,126
My mother taught one of them in her class.
And they went down.
781
00:49:22,209 --> 00:49:26,672
And what did they find? They found limbs
and heads just strewn all over the place.
782
00:49:27,172 --> 00:49:29,884
I remember,
from the time I was very small,
783
00:49:29,967 --> 00:49:33,763
I remember the sounds of bombs
exploding across the street.
784
00:49:33,846 --> 00:49:35,305
Our house shaking.
785
00:49:35,389 --> 00:49:39,894
I remember my father having to have guns
at his disposal at all times
786
00:49:39,977 --> 00:49:46,108
because of the fact that at any moment
we might expect to be attacked.
787
00:49:46,191 --> 00:49:50,404
I mean, that's why,
when someone asks me about violence, uh...
788
00:49:51,446 --> 00:49:53,991
I just, uh...
I just find it incredible.
789
00:49:54,074 --> 00:49:57,411
Because what it means is that
the person who's asking that question
790
00:49:57,494 --> 00:50:01,165
has absolutely no idea
what black people have gone through,
791
00:50:01,248 --> 00:50:03,543
what black people have experienced
in this country
792
00:50:03,626 --> 00:50:08,130
since the time the first black person
was kidnapped from the shores of Africa.
793
00:50:09,048 --> 00:50:11,717
And when you strip out
a whole generation of leadership,
794
00:50:11,801 --> 00:50:14,804
running folk out the country,
killing folk, framing folk,
795
00:50:14,887 --> 00:50:18,098
you will be vulnerable
to Bill Clinton or anybody else.
796
00:50:18,182 --> 00:50:20,142
They'll do to you what they will.
797
00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:24,874
An armed
neighborhood watch leader
798
00:51:24,957 --> 00:51:28,252
saw Martin walking inside
a gated subdivision near Orlando.
799
00:51:28,335 --> 00:51:30,838
He thought the 17-year-old
looked suspicious.
800
00:51:31,463 --> 00:51:34,299
He's got his hand in his waistband.
801
00:51:36,426 --> 00:51:37,970
And he's a black male.
802
00:51:40,264 --> 00:51:42,516
These assholes,
they always get away.
803
00:51:43,684 --> 00:51:46,186
- Are you following him?
- Yep.
804
00:51:46,270 --> 00:51:49,064
We don't need you to.
805
00:51:49,773 --> 00:51:51,817
Do you think he's yelling "help"?
806
00:51:52,151 --> 00:51:53,861
- Yes.
- All right, what is your...
807
00:51:56,155 --> 00:51:57,906
A deadly shooting in Sanford.
808
00:51:57,990 --> 00:52:00,701
Police have the gun,
they've got the shooter,
809
00:52:00,785 --> 00:52:02,452
but they have not arrested him.
810
00:52:03,329 --> 00:52:05,080
Zimmerman,
armed with a gun,
811
00:52:05,164 --> 00:52:08,000
followed this
quote, unquote suspicious kid
812
00:52:08,083 --> 00:52:10,294
after the dispatcher told him not to.
813
00:52:11,420 --> 00:52:13,505
They ended up on the ground in a fight,
814
00:52:13,588 --> 00:52:16,759
and George Zimmerman
shot and killed Trayvon Martin.
815
00:52:19,053 --> 00:52:21,263
The police could not arrest Zimmerman
816
00:52:21,346 --> 00:52:24,266
because of this Florida law called
Stand Your Ground,
817
00:52:24,350 --> 00:52:27,019
which says that you can kill someone
if you feel threatened.
818
00:52:27,436 --> 00:52:29,021
Even though it was Zimmerman
819
00:52:29,104 --> 00:52:32,357
who had pursued Martin
throughout the neighborhood with a gun.
820
00:52:32,441 --> 00:52:38,030
Mr. Zimmerman felt that he,
in self-defense, needed to, uh...
821
00:52:38,113 --> 00:52:39,489
to fire his weapon.
822
00:52:39,573 --> 00:52:41,784
Not only was he not arrested,
823
00:52:41,867 --> 00:52:45,037
but in court,
Zimmerman actually pleaded self-defense
824
00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:47,873
and got off
under the Stand Your Ground law.
825
00:52:47,957 --> 00:52:51,126
We, the jury,
find George Zimmerman not guilty.
826
00:52:52,086 --> 00:52:54,421
That Stand Your Ground law
that was passed in Florida
827
00:52:54,504 --> 00:52:57,257
played a huge role
in the Trayvon Martin tragedy
828
00:52:57,341 --> 00:53:00,677
and this really ignited the movement
that we see today.
829
00:53:02,471 --> 00:53:04,390
In the wake
of Trayvon Martin's death,
830
00:53:04,473 --> 00:53:07,184
Florida's Stand Your Ground law
came into the spotlight.
831
00:53:07,267 --> 00:53:11,146
How did this law not only get in place
in Florida, but around the country?
832
00:53:11,230 --> 00:53:13,774
And all the fingers kept pointing
back to ALEC.
833
00:53:16,861 --> 00:53:19,696
ALEC sounds like the name
of a high school lacrosse player
834
00:53:19,780 --> 00:53:21,949
who just got baked
and wrecked his dad's Saab.
835
00:53:22,032 --> 00:53:26,036
But incredibly, it's actually even worse.
836
00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:30,374
- ALEC is a political lobbying group.
- ALEC is a political lobbying group.
837
00:53:30,457 --> 00:53:32,960
-They write laws...
-They write laws...
838
00:53:33,043 --> 00:53:36,463
-and give them to Republicans.
-and give them to Republicans.
839
00:53:36,546 --> 00:53:38,632
-Stand Your Ground...
-Stand Your Ground...
840
00:53:38,716 --> 00:53:41,343
-was written by ALEC.
-was written by ALEC.
841
00:53:42,052 --> 00:53:43,846
ALEC is this private club,
842
00:53:43,929 --> 00:53:47,516
and its members are
politicians and corporations.
843
00:53:47,599 --> 00:53:48,934
But the real question is,
844
00:53:49,018 --> 00:53:53,063
should politicians and corporations
be in the same private club?
845
00:53:53,147 --> 00:53:55,107
Under the umbrella of ALEC
846
00:53:55,190 --> 00:53:59,653
corporate members, uh, get to propose laws
to their political counterparts,
847
00:53:59,736 --> 00:54:01,571
most of whom are Republicans.
848
00:54:02,406 --> 00:54:05,910
So, through ALEC, corporations have
a huge say in our lawmaking.
849
00:54:05,993 --> 00:54:07,661
And at ALEC task force meetings,
850
00:54:07,744 --> 00:54:11,706
corporate lobbyists
secretly vote as equals with lawmakers
851
00:54:11,791 --> 00:54:14,001
on bills that those lawmakers
then introduce
852
00:54:14,084 --> 00:54:16,503
to become laws in our states.
853
00:54:16,586 --> 00:54:18,047
ALEC is everywhere.
854
00:54:18,130 --> 00:54:21,091
Roughly one in four state legislators
are members.
855
00:54:21,175 --> 00:54:24,053
And I'm proud to stand with ALEC today.
856
00:54:24,136 --> 00:54:28,015
And it's not hard to see why.
ALEC makes their jobs troublingly easy.
857
00:54:28,098 --> 00:54:30,434
Here's their model
Electricity Freedom bill,
858
00:54:30,517 --> 00:54:33,353
which at one point says,
"Be it therefore enacted,
859
00:54:33,437 --> 00:54:38,358
that the State of repeals
the renewable energy mandate."
860
00:54:38,442 --> 00:54:42,696
So, as long as you can remember
and spell the name of your state,
861
00:54:42,779 --> 00:54:44,698
you can introduce legislation.
862
00:54:44,781 --> 00:54:46,992
We've also seen ALEC bills introduced
863
00:54:47,075 --> 00:54:50,537
where a lawmaker forgot
to take the ALEC letterhead off the bill.
864
00:54:50,787 --> 00:54:52,957
Without remembering to take off
the ALEC letterhead
865
00:54:53,040 --> 00:54:57,502
to try to distance the real role of ALEC
and ALEC corporations from those bills.
866
00:54:57,586 --> 00:54:58,879
I'm just curious. Does it have...
867
00:54:58,962 --> 00:55:01,840
Does the legislation have
some connection to ALEC?
868
00:55:01,924 --> 00:55:06,220
Representative Atkins, I'm not sure why
we're pursuing this course of questioning.
869
00:55:06,303 --> 00:55:08,722
This bill is my bill.
It's not ALEC's bill.
870
00:55:08,805 --> 00:55:12,517
The reason I ask is because
earlier you passed out a handout
871
00:55:12,601 --> 00:55:16,438
that says "Gottwalt" at the top,
and it says "Health Care Compact,"
872
00:55:16,521 --> 00:55:19,399
and there's a logo
right in the middle of that page.
873
00:55:19,483 --> 00:55:21,902
And I went to the ALEC website,
874
00:55:21,986 --> 00:55:27,449
and there's exactly the same font,
the same size and the same logo.
875
00:55:27,532 --> 00:55:29,493
I mean, literally, it's verbatim.
876
00:55:29,576 --> 00:55:30,828
It's shocking to know
877
00:55:30,911 --> 00:55:33,914
that ALEC has been around
for more than four decades now.
878
00:55:34,581 --> 00:55:37,877
And it's even more startling
to see how it began.
879
00:55:37,960 --> 00:55:40,212
ALEC has forged
a unique partnership
880
00:55:40,295 --> 00:55:44,674
between state legislators and leaders
from the corporate and business community.
881
00:55:44,758 --> 00:55:47,761
Corporations have influenced
laws for decades, through ALEC.
882
00:55:47,845 --> 00:55:50,138
They want everybody to vote.
883
00:55:50,680 --> 00:55:52,682
I don't want everybody to vote.
884
00:55:52,766 --> 00:55:56,353
As a matter of fact, our leverage
in the elections quite candidly goes up
885
00:55:56,436 --> 00:55:58,188
as the voting populace goes down.
886
00:55:59,148 --> 00:56:02,276
Nearly every ALEC bill
benefits one of its corporate funders.
887
00:56:04,694 --> 00:56:08,115
And the corporation Wal-Mart
was a long-standing member of ALEC
888
00:56:08,198 --> 00:56:11,911
at the time that it adopted
the so-called Stand Your Ground law.
889
00:56:11,994 --> 00:56:16,540
It's a law that created
an atmosphere where gun sales boomed.
890
00:56:16,623 --> 00:56:19,960
Wal-Mart is the biggest seller
of long guns in the US,
891
00:56:20,044 --> 00:56:23,130
has been the largest retailer
of bullets in the world.
892
00:56:24,464 --> 00:56:26,633
So it's reasonable to think
that Wal-Mart benefited
893
00:56:26,716 --> 00:56:29,136
from these Stand Your Ground laws
that ALEC pushed
894
00:56:29,219 --> 00:56:33,265
that initially prevented the arrest
of the killer of Trayvon Martin, uh,
895
00:56:33,348 --> 00:56:36,726
and was designed to prevent the arrest,
prosecution and conviction
896
00:56:36,810 --> 00:56:39,980
of the killer of Trayvon Martin, including
through changing the jury instructions
897
00:56:40,064 --> 00:56:41,690
to require that a jury be told
898
00:56:41,773 --> 00:56:44,443
that someone like George Zimmerman
has a right to stand his ground,
899
00:56:44,526 --> 00:56:47,529
but not that someone like Trayvon Martin
has a right to stand his ground
900
00:56:47,612 --> 00:56:51,491
against someone like George Zimmerman
with a gun assailing him.
901
00:56:57,081 --> 00:57:00,917
After the outcry over Stand Your Ground
and the Trayvon Martin tragedy...
902
00:57:01,001 --> 00:57:04,421
Wal-Mart stepped out of ALEC.
It left ALEC, abandoned ALEC.
903
00:57:04,504 --> 00:57:06,965
But the Wal-Mart family
continues to fund ALEC.
904
00:57:07,049 --> 00:57:10,219
Other corporations
followed suit and stepped away from ALEC,
905
00:57:10,302 --> 00:57:13,597
but many corporations
are still members, including...
906
00:57:13,680 --> 00:57:16,141
Koch Industries,
State Farm Insurance,
907
00:57:16,225 --> 00:57:19,269
PhRMA, which is the lobbying group
for the pharmaceutical industry.
908
00:57:19,353 --> 00:57:21,855
ALEC has been supported
by the tobacco industry
909
00:57:21,939 --> 00:57:23,773
as well as AT&T and Verizon.
910
00:57:23,857 --> 00:57:25,692
And for nearly two decades,
911
00:57:25,776 --> 00:57:28,195
one corporation was
Corrections Corporation of America.
912
00:57:28,778 --> 00:57:31,531
Every day,
we serve our communities.
913
00:57:31,615 --> 00:57:33,325
From small towns to large cities,
914
00:57:33,408 --> 00:57:36,495
at more than 60 locations
across our country.
915
00:57:36,578 --> 00:57:39,248
As the nation's fifth largest
correctional system,
916
00:57:39,331 --> 00:57:43,793
we build, own and manage
secure correctional facilities.
917
00:57:43,877 --> 00:57:46,380
CCA was the first
private prison corporation in the US.
918
00:57:46,463 --> 00:57:49,341
It started as a small company,
in Tennessee, in 1983.
919
00:57:50,425 --> 00:57:52,636
These folks started
making contracts with states.
920
00:57:52,719 --> 00:57:54,554
And they had to protect their investments,
921
00:57:54,638 --> 00:57:58,225
so the states were required
to keep these prisons filled
922
00:57:58,308 --> 00:57:59,809
even if nobody was committing a crime.
923
00:58:00,394 --> 00:58:03,981
And in the late '80s and early '90s,
this became a growth industry
924
00:58:04,064 --> 00:58:07,317
unlike very few growth industries
in America's history.
925
00:58:07,401 --> 00:58:12,197
Uh, it was absolutely
a model guaranteed to succeed.
926
00:58:13,698 --> 00:58:18,745
And one of the ways we see that
is through the role of CCA within ALEC
927
00:58:18,828 --> 00:58:20,705
to advance a series of bills.
928
00:58:20,789 --> 00:58:22,791
All the legislation you could think of
929
00:58:22,874 --> 00:58:26,628
that we fight so hard against,
"three strikes, you're out..."
930
00:58:26,711 --> 00:58:28,963
Three strikes and you are out.
931
00:58:29,048 --> 00:58:30,715
...mandatory minimum sentencing laws...
932
00:58:30,799 --> 00:58:33,302
...serve at least 85% of their sentence.
933
00:58:33,385 --> 00:58:35,554
...were the ones
they were putting out there
934
00:58:35,637 --> 00:58:39,599
like on a premiere
pre-fixed dinner menu,
935
00:58:39,683 --> 00:58:44,229
a steady influx of bodies
to generate the profit
936
00:58:44,313 --> 00:58:46,481
that would go to the shareholders.
937
00:58:47,691 --> 00:58:51,236
Through ALEC,
CCA became the leader in private prisons.
938
00:58:51,945 --> 00:58:56,658
It's a multibillion-dollar business today
that gets rich off punishment.
939
00:58:56,741 --> 00:58:59,661
We are America's leader
in partnership corrections.
940
00:58:59,744 --> 00:59:01,080
We are CCA.
941
00:59:01,163 --> 00:59:02,622
And so, through ALEC,
942
00:59:02,706 --> 00:59:06,293
CCA had a hand in shaping crime policy
across the country,
943
00:59:06,376 --> 00:59:11,173
including, not just prison privatization,
but the rapid increase in criminalization.
944
00:59:11,757 --> 00:59:15,927
I think this accusation, you know,
quite frankly, is just false.
945
00:59:16,010 --> 00:59:21,641
That somehow ALEC was in favor
of imprisoning a bunch of people, uh,
946
00:59:21,725 --> 00:59:23,435
because of private prisons...
947
00:59:23,518 --> 00:59:28,148
I think that's just, unfortunately,
one of these tactics they do on ALEC.
948
00:59:28,232 --> 00:59:32,152
ALEC pushed forward a number of policies
to increase the number of people in prison
949
00:59:32,236 --> 00:59:35,114
and to increase the sentences
of people who are in prison.
950
00:59:35,197 --> 00:59:39,326
I'm trying to think how you address it.
It's hard to address something that's like
951
00:59:39,409 --> 00:59:41,286
almost like folklore at this point.
952
00:59:41,370 --> 00:59:44,414
They are not doing anything
to really clean up that past
953
00:59:44,498 --> 00:59:47,167
or to address the real consequences
for real people
954
00:59:47,251 --> 00:59:48,918
of the extreme policies they've pushed.
955
00:59:49,002 --> 00:59:51,004
In fact, it doesn't talk about
its past history.
956
00:59:51,088 --> 00:59:55,008
I mean, it's hard for me
to even understand, uh,
957
00:59:55,092 --> 00:59:57,469
what they're even talking about.
A lot of it.
958
00:59:57,552 --> 01:00:00,805
CCA directly benefited,
directly profited from its investment
959
01:00:00,889 --> 01:00:03,057
in ALEC,
the American Legislative Exchange Council.
960
01:00:03,142 --> 01:00:06,520
And the American people, in many ways,
were harmed by these policies
961
01:00:06,603 --> 01:00:10,023
due to the mass incarceration
of people, particularly people of color.
962
01:00:10,107 --> 01:00:15,529
Look, right now our position
is that we want less people in prison.
963
01:00:15,612 --> 01:00:18,823
I don't think that helps the private
prison industry, quite frankly.
964
01:00:18,907 --> 01:00:20,367
I think myself and the lawmakers,
965
01:00:20,450 --> 01:00:23,828
we're just always looking for better,
innovative ways to run government.
966
01:00:23,912 --> 01:00:24,955
I think that's one thing
967
01:00:25,038 --> 01:00:27,833
as conservatives, who believe in
the free market and limited government,
968
01:00:27,916 --> 01:00:28,834
we pride ourselves on.
969
01:00:28,917 --> 01:00:31,211
We're supposed to be
the party of innovation.
970
01:00:32,045 --> 01:00:36,425
Another bill
that ALEC innovated was SB 1070.
971
01:00:36,508 --> 01:00:39,303
CCA was on the ALEC task force
that pushed that law
972
01:00:39,386 --> 01:00:41,763
that gave police
the right to stop anyone
973
01:00:41,846 --> 01:00:43,807
they thought looked like an immigrant.
974
01:00:45,642 --> 01:00:47,977
This law filled
immigration detention facilities,
975
01:00:48,061 --> 01:00:51,148
and it directly benefited
an ALEC member, CCA.
976
01:00:53,107 --> 01:00:56,695
CCA could potentially reap
huge financial benefits from SB 1070,
977
01:00:56,778 --> 01:01:01,241
since 1070 was designed to lock up
a lot more people in Arizona
978
01:01:01,325 --> 01:01:03,577
on federal immigration charges.
Cha-ching!
979
01:01:03,660 --> 01:01:07,206
An influx of undocumented
immigrants, many of them children...
980
01:01:07,289 --> 01:01:11,460
In Arizona, Corrections
Corporation of America, or CCA,
981
01:01:11,543 --> 01:01:14,713
holds the federal contract
to house detained immigrants.
982
01:01:14,796 --> 01:01:18,883
It's worth more than $11 million
every month.
983
01:01:20,594 --> 01:01:23,388
Our, uh, immigration facilities
are a disgrace.
984
01:01:23,472 --> 01:01:28,059
There are families kept there,
uh, in horrible conditions.
985
01:01:29,018 --> 01:01:32,231
They're called "detention facilities,"
but they're really prisons for immigrants.
986
01:01:32,314 --> 01:01:34,900
Calling them "detention facility"
doesn't make them not a prison.
987
01:01:34,983 --> 01:01:36,943
They're a prison.
They just have a different name.
988
01:01:37,026 --> 01:01:42,073
We're having what some people are saying
is a creation of a "crimmigration" system.
989
01:01:42,156 --> 01:01:45,702
That there's the merger
of our immigration enforcement
990
01:01:45,785 --> 01:01:47,954
and our law enforcement system.
991
01:01:48,037 --> 01:01:51,500
And so, that's some of the same things
that were used in the war on drugs,
992
01:01:51,583 --> 01:01:53,793
are now migrating to other populations.
993
01:01:53,877 --> 01:01:58,673
You heard it, uh, with Donald Trump,
not about blacks but with Mexicans.
994
01:01:58,757 --> 01:02:01,468
You know,
"Oh, well, they're rapists, murderers.
995
01:02:01,551 --> 01:02:04,137
Oh, and by the way,
some of 'em may be good people."
996
01:02:05,597 --> 01:02:08,225
Oh, boy. You know, where do you start
on something like that?
997
01:02:09,601 --> 01:02:13,897
In late 2010, CCA left ALEC
after a big NPR story came out
998
01:02:13,980 --> 01:02:17,108
accusing ALEC of pushing SB 1070.
999
01:02:17,442 --> 01:02:20,153
ALEC doesn't do anything on immigration.
1000
01:02:20,237 --> 01:02:24,324
No. No which way. Not to the right,
not to the left. Nothing.
1001
01:02:24,408 --> 01:02:27,160
So, I don't really have anything
for you on that one. Sorry.
1002
01:02:27,244 --> 01:02:30,497
ALEC has recently made
what I would describe as a PR move
1003
01:02:30,580 --> 01:02:32,624
to say that it's gonna be right on crime.
1004
01:02:32,707 --> 01:02:36,044
That it's gonna be on the right side
of criminal justice policy and reform.
1005
01:02:36,127 --> 01:02:41,466
That move comes in the wake of its loss
of a massive number of corporations.
1006
01:02:42,842 --> 01:02:47,681
What ultimately happened is our board
looked at the issues that ALEC worked on
1007
01:02:47,764 --> 01:02:50,183
and decided
that we don't do social issues,
1008
01:02:50,267 --> 01:02:52,352
we're focused on economic issues.
1009
01:02:52,436 --> 01:02:57,691
We jettisoned basically almost
all of our legislation that was pre-2007.
1010
01:02:57,774 --> 01:03:00,694
So we basically...
Fresh slate going forward.
1011
01:03:00,777 --> 01:03:02,570
A fresh start going forward.
1012
01:03:03,154 --> 01:03:05,490
This industry knows that it's dying...
1013
01:03:06,616 --> 01:03:10,620
and is actually preparing
for the next thing.
1014
01:03:10,704 --> 01:03:14,416
And the animating factors that have
led to such a system like bail.
1015
01:03:14,499 --> 01:03:19,379
We're always gonna see
new permutations of a cancer. Right?
1016
01:03:19,463 --> 01:03:20,589
And that's what this is.
1017
01:03:20,672 --> 01:03:23,550
And over the last couple years,
since 2008,
1018
01:03:23,633 --> 01:03:27,637
we've been involved really
in a wholesale reform effort,
1019
01:03:27,721 --> 01:03:32,559
where 31 states have now adopted
positive changes on sentencing,
1020
01:03:32,642 --> 01:03:34,728
on parole and probation reforms.
1021
01:03:34,811 --> 01:03:38,565
ALEC has a concerted effort to privatize
almost every aspect of government,
1022
01:03:38,648 --> 01:03:40,775
but we had no idea
that they were also aiming
1023
01:03:40,859 --> 01:03:43,361
to try to privatize probation and parole.
1024
01:03:43,653 --> 01:03:47,073
ALEC is no longer concerned
about CCA and CCA's interest.
1025
01:03:47,156 --> 01:03:49,618
CCA no longer has
a seat at the table with ALEC,
1026
01:03:49,701 --> 01:03:52,746
so it doesn't have a financial interest
in advancing policies
1027
01:03:52,829 --> 01:03:55,164
that increase the profits of CCA.
1028
01:03:55,248 --> 01:03:57,709
But the American Bail Coalition
is still part of ALEC.
1029
01:03:57,792 --> 01:04:00,504
Today, our state penitentiaries
1030
01:04:00,587 --> 01:04:05,008
are filled to the brim
and overflowing with inmates.
1031
01:04:05,091 --> 01:04:07,886
When I think
of systems of oppression,
1032
01:04:07,969 --> 01:04:11,973
uh, historically, in this country
and elsewhere, they're durable.
1033
01:04:12,056 --> 01:04:15,309
And they tend to reinvent themselves,
and they do it right under your nose.
1034
01:04:15,394 --> 01:04:18,062
One of the things they want to do
is GPS monitoring.
1035
01:04:18,146 --> 01:04:21,358
Having a home confinement system
for juveniles, I think, is a great thing
1036
01:04:21,441 --> 01:04:24,318
'cause it forces the parents
to take responsibility and step up.
1037
01:04:24,403 --> 01:04:27,822
Prisons would be
more embedded in our homes.
1038
01:04:27,906 --> 01:04:30,241
Some of them would be monitored
on GPS and things like that.
1039
01:04:30,324 --> 01:04:34,621
So folks won't be locked up in a cage,
in a cell, inside of an institution,
1040
01:04:34,704 --> 01:04:37,832
but they will have ankle bracelets on.
They'll have wrist bracelets on.
1041
01:04:37,916 --> 01:04:40,960
Would that help to solve
the prison overcrowding problem?
1042
01:04:41,044 --> 01:04:42,211
Absolutely.
1043
01:04:42,295 --> 01:04:46,425
And what I worry about is that
we fall asleep at the wheel and wake up,
1044
01:04:46,508 --> 01:04:49,302
and realize that we may not
have people in prisons
1045
01:04:49,386 --> 01:04:51,304
in rural communities all over America,
1046
01:04:51,388 --> 01:04:54,182
but that we're incarcerating people
right in their communities.
1047
01:04:54,265 --> 01:04:57,852
That is what I see,
what a lot of the focus is on,
1048
01:04:57,936 --> 01:04:59,270
is taking people from prison,
1049
01:04:59,353 --> 01:05:01,690
putting them in community corrections
parole and probation,
1050
01:05:01,773 --> 01:05:04,275
and really investing in those programs.
1051
01:05:04,358 --> 01:05:05,819
How much progress is it really,
1052
01:05:05,902 --> 01:05:10,657
if communities of color are still under
perpetual surveillance and control,
1053
01:05:10,740 --> 01:05:15,662
but now there's a private company
making money off the GPS monitor,
1054
01:05:15,745 --> 01:05:18,623
rather than the person
being locked in a literal cage?
1055
01:05:18,707 --> 01:05:21,751
If we can help you...
1056
01:05:23,253 --> 01:05:26,464
save crime victims
in your legislative district...
1057
01:05:28,007 --> 01:05:29,926
you don't mind me making a dollar.
1058
01:05:31,219 --> 01:05:34,973
And so, ALEC continues
to be a body that,
1059
01:05:35,056 --> 01:05:37,183
while it may have some
really strong rhetoric
1060
01:05:37,266 --> 01:05:41,145
on why it supports
crime reform now, suddenly,
1061
01:05:41,229 --> 01:05:42,772
uh, sort of out of the blue,
1062
01:05:42,856 --> 01:05:45,442
it actually has real financial interests.
1063
01:05:45,525 --> 01:05:47,193
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
1064
01:05:48,778 --> 01:05:53,032
If you're in the prison business,
uh, you don't want reform.
1065
01:05:53,116 --> 01:05:54,451
You may say you do, but you don't.
1066
01:05:54,534 --> 01:05:57,871
And there are a bunch of people out there
desperately trying to make sure
1067
01:05:57,954 --> 01:06:00,874
that that prison population
does not drop one person,
1068
01:06:00,957 --> 01:06:03,835
because their economic model needs that.
1069
01:06:03,918 --> 01:06:09,591
Prison industrial complex refers
to the system of mass incarceration
1070
01:06:09,674 --> 01:06:12,426
and companies that profit
from mass incarceration.
1071
01:06:12,511 --> 01:06:14,763
That includes
both operators of private prisons,
1072
01:06:14,846 --> 01:06:20,184
which get a lot of attention,
as well as a vast sea of vendors.
1073
01:06:20,268 --> 01:06:24,397
From SECURUS Technologies,
that supplies telephone services,
1074
01:06:24,481 --> 01:06:27,817
that made $114 million
in profits last year...
1075
01:06:27,901 --> 01:06:32,280
Those calls to family and friends are
costing a pretty penny in state prisons.
1076
01:06:32,363 --> 01:06:36,242
They inflate the price that they charge
the inmate and the inmate's family.
1077
01:06:36,325 --> 01:06:39,037
For example, in Maryland,
if you earn minimum wage,
1078
01:06:39,120 --> 01:06:42,791
you'd have to work an hour and a half
to afford a ten minute phone call.
1079
01:06:46,169 --> 01:06:50,339
There's also Aramark,
one of the big food service providers.
1080
01:06:50,924 --> 01:06:53,009
In more than one state,
they have been accused
1081
01:06:53,092 --> 01:06:55,887
of having maggots in the food
that they've served.
1082
01:06:59,015 --> 01:07:03,394
Corizon Healthcare provides healthcare
services in 28 different states.
1083
01:07:03,477 --> 01:07:05,855
Multimillion-dollar contracts
for this service.
1084
01:07:05,939 --> 01:07:11,235
Huge incentives given to contractors
for very long contracts,
1085
01:07:11,319 --> 01:07:13,822
so it's actually a disincentive
to provide the service,
1086
01:07:13,905 --> 01:07:15,657
because you're going to be paid anyway.
1087
01:07:22,455 --> 01:07:24,332
One of the reasons it's so difficult
1088
01:07:24,415 --> 01:07:27,710
to talk about mass incarceration
in this country, and to question it,
1089
01:07:27,794 --> 01:07:31,548
is because it has become
so heavily monetized.
1090
01:07:31,631 --> 01:07:33,675
A little company called UNICOR,
1091
01:07:33,758 --> 01:07:36,678
that does $900 million
in business annually.
1092
01:07:36,761 --> 01:07:38,471
How do they do it?
1093
01:07:38,555 --> 01:07:40,264
Volume.
1094
01:07:40,348 --> 01:07:42,433
- Also, prison labor.
1095
01:07:42,517 --> 01:07:45,270
Partnerships between
correctional industries
1096
01:07:45,353 --> 01:07:46,521
and private business
1097
01:07:46,605 --> 01:07:50,567
are a rapidly growing segment of
a multibillion dollar industry in America.
1098
01:07:50,650 --> 01:07:53,653
We talk about sweatshops and we,
1099
01:07:53,737 --> 01:07:58,992
you know, we beat our fists at people
overseas for exploiting poor, free labor,
1100
01:07:59,075 --> 01:08:01,786
but we don't look that it's happening
right here at home every day.
1101
01:08:01,870 --> 01:08:03,537
You have corporations
1102
01:08:03,622 --> 01:08:06,540
who are now invested
in this free labor.
1103
01:08:06,625 --> 01:08:08,710
It's all over.
1104
01:08:08,793 --> 01:08:14,090
It's from sports, uniform,
hats, Microsoft, Boeing.
1105
01:08:14,173 --> 01:08:16,134
Federal inmates are making
the guidance systems
1106
01:08:16,217 --> 01:08:17,426
for the Patriot missile system.
1107
01:08:17,510 --> 01:08:19,763
JCPenney jeans are made in Tennessee.
1108
01:08:19,846 --> 01:08:21,723
Victoria's Secret.
1109
01:08:22,223 --> 01:08:24,601
Anderson flooring wood products
are made in Georgia.
1110
01:08:24,684 --> 01:08:26,770
It's always been Idaho potatoes.
1111
01:08:26,853 --> 01:08:31,733
They're planted, grown, harvested,
packed and shipped by inmates.
1112
01:08:31,816 --> 01:08:35,361
Victoria's Secret and JCPenney
switched suppliers
1113
01:08:35,445 --> 01:08:37,822
once their ties came to light.
1114
01:08:38,114 --> 01:08:42,076
Simply put,
corporations are operating in prisons
1115
01:08:42,160 --> 01:08:44,037
and profiting from punishment.
1116
01:08:45,664 --> 01:08:49,250
Prison industries have gotten so big
1117
01:08:49,333 --> 01:08:52,295
that it's very difficult now
to try and do away with them.
1118
01:08:52,378 --> 01:08:53,546
Too much money out there,
1119
01:08:53,630 --> 01:08:57,341
too many lawmakers that support it
because they're being lobbied.
1120
01:08:57,425 --> 01:09:00,261
So, the public's got to stand up
and take it back.
1121
01:09:00,344 --> 01:09:01,763
It'll never get done if they don't.
1122
01:09:22,241 --> 01:09:23,701
The night of his arrest,
1123
01:09:23,785 --> 01:09:27,038
Kalief Browder was walking home from
a party with his friends in the Bronx,
1124
01:09:27,121 --> 01:09:28,748
when he was stopped by police.
1125
01:09:30,792 --> 01:09:36,089
Kalief was, um, charged with a crime,
a really petty crime,
1126
01:09:36,172 --> 01:09:38,299
that it turns out he didn't commit.
1127
01:09:38,382 --> 01:09:40,677
Then they said,
"We're gonna take you to the precinct,
1128
01:09:40,760 --> 01:09:42,512
and most likely,
we'll let you go home."
1129
01:09:42,595 --> 01:09:45,181
But then, I never went home.
1130
01:09:45,264 --> 01:09:49,185
-They told you that you could post bail.
-Yes, that's correct.
1131
01:09:49,268 --> 01:09:50,644
-$10,000.
-Yes.
1132
01:09:50,729 --> 01:09:53,272
-And, of course...
-I couldn't make that.
1133
01:09:53,356 --> 01:09:54,941
-Hmm.
-My family couldn't pay it.
1134
01:09:55,024 --> 01:09:58,361
There are thousands of people
in jails right this moment
1135
01:09:58,444 --> 01:10:00,780
that are sitting there for no other reason
1136
01:10:00,864 --> 01:10:03,282
than because they're too poor to get out!
1137
01:10:03,366 --> 01:10:05,576
We have a criminal justice system
that treats you better
1138
01:10:05,659 --> 01:10:08,371
if you're rich and guilty
than if you're poor and innocent.
1139
01:10:08,454 --> 01:10:10,957
Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes.
1140
01:10:11,040 --> 01:10:12,500
I think what most Americans think of,
1141
01:10:12,583 --> 01:10:16,004
'cause they've watched so many
courtroom dramas and things like that,
1142
01:10:16,087 --> 01:10:19,132
they think that the criminal justice
system is about judges and juries.
1143
01:10:19,215 --> 01:10:21,384
Well, that's really
stopped being the case.
1144
01:10:21,467 --> 01:10:26,973
This system simply cannot exist
if everyone decides to go to trial.
1145
01:10:27,056 --> 01:10:28,682
If everybody insisted on a trial,
1146
01:10:28,767 --> 01:10:30,226
the whole system would shut down.
1147
01:10:30,309 --> 01:10:32,603
What typically happens
is the prosecutor says,
1148
01:10:32,686 --> 01:10:35,481
"You know, you can make a deal
and we'll give you three years,
1149
01:10:35,564 --> 01:10:38,026
or you can go to trial
and we'll get you 30.
1150
01:10:38,109 --> 01:10:40,069
So, you want to take that chance,
feel free."
1151
01:10:40,611 --> 01:10:42,655
Nobody in the hood goes to trial.
1152
01:10:42,739 --> 01:10:46,075
97% of those people
who were locked up
1153
01:10:46,159 --> 01:10:47,368
have plea bargain.
1154
01:10:48,536 --> 01:10:53,750
And that is one of the worst violations
of human rights
1155
01:10:53,833 --> 01:10:56,127
that you can imagine in the United States.
1156
01:10:56,210 --> 01:10:58,379
We have, in this country,
people pleading guilty
1157
01:10:58,462 --> 01:10:59,881
to crimes they didn't commit,
1158
01:10:59,964 --> 01:11:03,843
just because the thought of going to jail
for what the mandatory minimums are
1159
01:11:03,927 --> 01:11:05,219
is so excruciating.
1160
01:11:05,762 --> 01:11:08,681
Kalief Browder decided,
"I'm not gonna take the plea."
1161
01:11:08,765 --> 01:11:12,601
So, you had to choose between
being in prison for up to 15 years
1162
01:11:12,685 --> 01:11:15,729
and going home right then by admitting
you did a crime you didn't do.
1163
01:11:15,814 --> 01:11:17,023
I felt like I was done wrong.
1164
01:11:17,106 --> 01:11:20,485
I felt like something needed to be done.
I felt like something needs to be said.
1165
01:11:20,568 --> 01:11:24,030
If I just cop out and say that I did it,
nothing's gonna be done about it.
1166
01:11:24,113 --> 01:11:26,074
I didn't do it.
No justice is served.
1167
01:11:26,157 --> 01:11:31,037
What you're not taught is that
if you exercise that right to a trial,
1168
01:11:31,120 --> 01:11:34,290
and you are convicted,
we will punish you more.
1169
01:11:34,373 --> 01:11:36,625
The courts basically punished him
1170
01:11:36,709 --> 01:11:40,254
for having the audacity
to not take a plea deal
1171
01:11:40,338 --> 01:11:41,881
and to want to take it to trial.
1172
01:11:41,964 --> 01:11:43,257
In that time, those three years
1173
01:11:43,341 --> 01:11:46,385
that he was sitting there
and not being charged for anything,
1174
01:11:46,469 --> 01:11:50,139
that's when, um, the mental health issue
started to deteriorate
1175
01:11:50,223 --> 01:11:52,100
and he started to get into fights.
1176
01:11:55,061 --> 01:11:57,230
After a while,
I kept hearing the same thing
1177
01:11:57,313 --> 01:11:58,898
from the whole three years,
1178
01:11:58,982 --> 01:12:02,443
and I just learned to cope
with just being in there,
1179
01:12:02,526 --> 01:12:05,196
and that was rough.
I already knew...
1180
01:12:05,947 --> 01:12:08,074
After a while, I just gave up hope.
1181
01:12:15,498 --> 01:12:19,418
Three years on Rikers Island,
two of that in solitary confinement,
1182
01:12:19,502 --> 01:12:21,254
and he was a child, a baby.
1183
01:12:21,337 --> 01:12:23,422
You miss everything.
Everything about being home.
1184
01:12:23,506 --> 01:12:27,385
The fresh air, your family,
certain events. You want to be home.
1185
01:12:27,468 --> 01:12:29,929
When they give you an offer
to go home right then and there,
1186
01:12:30,013 --> 01:12:32,640
it's like, "I want to go home,"
but then you know you didn't do it,
1187
01:12:32,723 --> 01:12:34,058
so you don't wanna plea,
1188
01:12:34,142 --> 01:12:36,352
take the plea and say that you do it,
it's not right.
1189
01:12:42,275 --> 01:12:45,611
I was scared all day because I didn't know
where it would come from.
1190
01:12:45,694 --> 01:12:48,156
I don't know where any harm would come.
1191
01:12:48,239 --> 01:12:50,199
Kalief suffered through
so many beatings,
1192
01:12:50,283 --> 01:12:53,327
both by the people he was locked up with
and the guards,
1193
01:12:53,411 --> 01:12:56,664
he ended up attempting suicide
on several occasions.
1194
01:12:58,207 --> 01:13:01,335
After almost three years in jail,
waiting his trial,
1195
01:13:01,419 --> 01:13:04,172
they dropped all the charges,
and he was set free.
1196
01:13:07,341 --> 01:13:10,094
He spent two years
in an environment that
1197
01:13:10,178 --> 01:13:13,014
people have argued
is designed to break you within 30 days.
1198
01:13:13,556 --> 01:13:16,684
I mean, I can't really tell you
what's next, but...
1199
01:13:18,561 --> 01:13:20,271
This happens every day.
1200
01:13:21,605 --> 01:13:23,774
Two years after
his release from jail,
1201
01:13:23,857 --> 01:13:27,820
Kalief Browder hanged himself
at his home in the Bronx.
1202
01:13:33,284 --> 01:13:35,369
He was 22 years old.
1203
01:13:50,093 --> 01:13:54,180
If I would've just pled guilty,
then my story would've never been heard.
1204
01:13:54,263 --> 01:13:56,515
Nobody would've took the time
to listen to me.
1205
01:13:56,599 --> 01:13:59,352
I'd have been just another criminal.
1206
01:14:01,770 --> 01:14:04,857
Prison industrial complex,
the system, the industry,
1207
01:14:04,941 --> 01:14:08,027
it is a beast.
1208
01:14:08,111 --> 01:14:11,948
It eats black and Latino people
1209
01:14:12,031 --> 01:14:14,533
for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
1210
01:14:16,785 --> 01:14:19,538
We didn't even think about
who gets the jobs
1211
01:14:19,622 --> 01:14:21,332
of spending time with these folks.
1212
01:14:22,583 --> 01:14:24,961
Otherwise, we'd want
social workers and teachers.
1213
01:14:25,044 --> 01:14:28,714
We'd want people
with understanding of human behavior.
1214
01:14:30,841 --> 01:14:32,385
And we do the opposite.
1215
01:14:41,560 --> 01:14:43,104
You become numb.
1216
01:14:43,187 --> 01:14:46,149
I think that's what jail does to humans.
1217
01:14:46,232 --> 01:14:49,568
That immediate dehumanization
and sensory deprivation
1218
01:14:49,652 --> 01:14:52,780
that nobody can really understand
unless they live through it.
1219
01:14:55,491 --> 01:14:59,620
So the last 14 years,
my son has not had any human contact,
1220
01:14:59,703 --> 01:15:03,041
other than to be handcuffed by an officer.
1221
01:15:03,124 --> 01:15:05,334
Uh, he doesn't even have
a window in his cell,
1222
01:15:05,418 --> 01:15:07,836
and that's one thing
that really disturbs me.
1223
01:15:07,920 --> 01:15:09,047
It troubles me.
1224
01:15:11,340 --> 01:15:12,633
I just couldn't believe it.
1225
01:15:12,716 --> 01:15:14,593
I couldn't believe
1226
01:15:14,677 --> 01:15:18,764
that we would even have such
an architectural design in our country.
1227
01:15:18,847 --> 01:15:21,725
I never realized that there was
prison cells built like that.
1228
01:15:21,809 --> 01:15:26,480
Human beings are not born
to be locked up and encaged.
1229
01:15:26,564 --> 01:15:30,068
Most people wouldn't keep
their pets in the kind of conditions
1230
01:15:30,151 --> 01:15:31,652
that we keep people in.
1231
01:15:31,735 --> 01:15:35,114
Prisons and jails have become warehouses,
in the sense that, um,
1232
01:15:35,198 --> 01:15:37,200
where we've moved as a society is that
1233
01:15:37,283 --> 01:15:41,245
it's not enough
to just deprive you of your liberty.
1234
01:15:41,329 --> 01:15:43,872
Um, but we want to punish you, too.
1235
01:15:43,956 --> 01:15:47,210
Most of the society, um,
1236
01:15:47,293 --> 01:15:50,879
don't understand what it means
to be behind those big gates
1237
01:15:50,963 --> 01:15:52,256
and those barb wires.
1238
01:15:55,884 --> 01:15:59,138
Once somebody is arrested
and convicted, they're gone.
1239
01:15:59,221 --> 01:16:01,307
Nobody particularly cares about them.
1240
01:16:02,225 --> 01:16:05,436
In many ways, the prison systems
are sort of in the dark.
1241
01:16:05,519 --> 01:16:08,981
So it makes it a lot easier,
you know, cognitively and emotionally.
1242
01:16:09,065 --> 01:16:11,442
It makes it a lot easier to say,
"Send people there."
1243
01:16:13,069 --> 01:16:15,863
If you look at the whole problem,
you say, "What are we doing?"
1244
01:16:15,946 --> 01:16:19,158
We have too many laws locking
too many people up for too many things,
1245
01:16:19,242 --> 01:16:22,953
giving them sentences that are too harsh,
putting them in prison,
1246
01:16:23,037 --> 01:16:24,246
and while they're in prison,
1247
01:16:24,330 --> 01:16:26,832
doing very little, if anything,
to rehabilitate them
1248
01:16:26,915 --> 01:16:29,502
so that they can reenter civil society
when they get out.
1249
01:16:29,585 --> 01:16:32,004
And then when they get out, we shun them.
1250
01:16:32,088 --> 01:16:35,508
Over 40,000 collateral consequences
1251
01:16:35,591 --> 01:16:38,219
for people that come through
our criminal justice system.
1252
01:16:38,302 --> 01:16:40,721
It's that question,
"Have you been convicted of a felony?"
1253
01:16:40,804 --> 01:16:42,890
that appears on the job application.
1254
01:16:42,973 --> 01:16:45,643
In some cases, it can affect
your access to student loans.
1255
01:16:45,726 --> 01:16:48,729
They can't get many business licenses,
food stamps if they're hungry.
1256
01:16:48,812 --> 01:16:50,856
...private rentals in regards to housing.
1257
01:16:50,939 --> 01:16:54,110
It's that question
that appears on life insurance.
1258
01:16:54,193 --> 01:16:58,156
The scarlet letter follows you
for the rest of your life in this country.
1259
01:16:59,240 --> 01:17:00,658
In March of 2015,
1260
01:17:00,741 --> 01:17:03,619
we had tens of thousands of people
come to Selma
1261
01:17:03,702 --> 01:17:05,163
to celebrate the 50th anniversary
1262
01:17:05,246 --> 01:17:07,415
of the crossing
of the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
1263
01:17:07,498 --> 01:17:09,583
And very few of those people realized
1264
01:17:09,667 --> 01:17:13,254
that nearly 30% of the black male
population of Alabama today
1265
01:17:13,337 --> 01:17:17,508
has permanently lost the right to vote
as a result of a criminal conviction.
1266
01:17:19,260 --> 01:17:22,138
If you do something wrong,
you should pay it back,
1267
01:17:22,221 --> 01:17:23,847
and then move forward with your life.
1268
01:17:23,931 --> 01:17:27,310
But yet, in America,
there's absolutely zero closure.
1269
01:17:27,393 --> 01:17:32,731
We actually tell American citizens,
when they pay back their debt to society,
1270
01:17:32,815 --> 01:17:35,526
their citizenship
will still be denied from them.
1271
01:17:35,609 --> 01:17:39,863
So many aspects of the old Jim Crow
are suddenly legal again
1272
01:17:39,947 --> 01:17:42,908
once you've been branded a felon.
1273
01:17:42,991 --> 01:17:47,580
And so it seems that in America,
we haven't so much ended racial caste,
1274
01:17:47,663 --> 01:17:49,540
but simply redesigned it.
1275
01:18:10,060 --> 01:18:11,437
We are now in an era
1276
01:18:11,520 --> 01:18:14,607
where Democrats and Republicans alike
have decided
1277
01:18:14,690 --> 01:18:20,571
that it's not in their interest anymore
to maintain the prison system as it is.
1278
01:18:20,654 --> 01:18:21,739
Now, all of a sudden,
1279
01:18:21,822 --> 01:18:24,408
Hillary Clinton is meeting
with Black Lives Matter activists,
1280
01:18:24,492 --> 01:18:25,493
and talking about it.
1281
01:18:25,576 --> 01:18:31,957
It's time to change our approach
and end the era of mass incarceration.
1282
01:18:32,040 --> 01:18:33,834
She's made a major address on it.
1283
01:18:33,917 --> 01:18:39,047
We will reform our criminal justice system
from end to end
1284
01:18:39,131 --> 01:18:45,388
and rebuild trust between law enforcement
and the communities they serve.
1285
01:18:45,471 --> 01:18:48,807
President Obama going to prison, you know,
as the first sitting President
1286
01:18:48,891 --> 01:18:50,100
to ever visit a prison.
1287
01:18:50,183 --> 01:18:52,853
We've got an opportunity to make
a difference at a time when
1288
01:18:52,936 --> 01:18:55,773
overall violent crime rates
have been dropping
1289
01:18:55,856 --> 01:18:57,816
at the same time
as incarcerations last year
1290
01:18:57,900 --> 01:18:59,943
dropped for the first time in 40 years.
1291
01:19:00,027 --> 01:19:04,240
And conservatives, who were always seen
or understood within the narrative
1292
01:19:04,323 --> 01:19:07,743
as being the tough-on-crime ones, um,
1293
01:19:07,826 --> 01:19:10,746
have now embraced justice reform.
1294
01:19:10,829 --> 01:19:13,081
It's very, uh, man bites dog.
1295
01:19:13,165 --> 01:19:18,170
You see, Texas used to spend billions
locking people up for minor offenses.
1296
01:19:18,754 --> 01:19:21,840
We shifted our focus
to diversionary programs,
1297
01:19:21,924 --> 01:19:23,676
like community supervision.
1298
01:19:23,759 --> 01:19:25,010
We got to ask ourselves,
1299
01:19:25,093 --> 01:19:29,056
"Do we feel comfortable with people
taking the lead of a conversation,
1300
01:19:29,139 --> 01:19:31,517
in a moment
where it feels right politically?"
1301
01:19:31,600 --> 01:19:38,106
Historically, when one
looks at efforts to create reforms,
1302
01:19:38,190 --> 01:19:43,446
they inevitably lead to more repression.
1303
01:19:43,529 --> 01:19:45,531
So, if we leave it up to them,
what they're gonna do
1304
01:19:45,614 --> 01:19:47,283
is they're gonna tinker with the system.
1305
01:19:47,366 --> 01:19:49,535
They're not gonna do the change
that we need to see
1306
01:19:49,618 --> 01:19:51,537
as a country to get us out of this mess.
1307
01:19:51,620 --> 01:19:53,789
And they're certainly not
gonna go backwards
1308
01:19:53,872 --> 01:19:55,458
and fix the mess that they have made,
1309
01:19:55,541 --> 01:19:57,501
because they're not ready
to make that admission.
1310
01:19:57,585 --> 01:20:01,464
But as a country, I don't think we've
ever been ready to make the admission
1311
01:20:01,547 --> 01:20:04,592
that we have steamrolled
through entire communities
1312
01:20:04,675 --> 01:20:06,469
and multiple generations
1313
01:20:06,552 --> 01:20:09,054
when you think about things like
slavery and Jim Crow,
1314
01:20:09,138 --> 01:20:13,225
and all the other systems of oppression
that have led us to where we are today.
1315
01:20:14,518 --> 01:20:16,729
So much fun! I love it, I love it!
1316
01:20:16,812 --> 01:20:19,064
We havin' a good time?
1317
01:20:19,147 --> 01:20:20,983
USA! USA!
1318
01:20:21,066 --> 01:20:25,153
USA! USA! USA! USA!
1319
01:20:25,237 --> 01:20:27,531
USA! USA! USA! USA!
1320
01:20:27,615 --> 01:20:30,534
- Fuck you! Fuck you!
- Fuck you! Fuck you!
1321
01:20:30,617 --> 01:20:33,495
Don't you dare do that!
Don't you dare do that!
1322
01:20:33,579 --> 01:20:36,248
Knock the crap out of 'em,
would you? Seriously!
1323
01:20:36,332 --> 01:20:38,959
Get him out.
Get him out of here!
1324
01:20:43,797 --> 01:20:46,091
In the good old days,
this doesn't happen,
1325
01:20:46,174 --> 01:20:49,302
because they used to treat them
very, very rough.
1326
01:20:49,387 --> 01:20:51,597
And when they protested once,
1327
01:20:51,680 --> 01:20:53,807
you know,
they would not do it again so easily.
1328
01:20:53,891 --> 01:20:57,353
I'd like to punch him
in the face, I'll tell you.
1329
01:21:02,024 --> 01:21:03,484
I love the old days.
1330
01:21:03,567 --> 01:21:07,029
You know what they used to do
to guys like that in a place like this?
1331
01:21:08,113 --> 01:21:10,991
They'd be carried out
on a stretcher, folks.
1332
01:21:13,201 --> 01:21:14,495
Yeah, it's true.
1333
01:21:14,578 --> 01:21:15,954
Knock the hell out of that mouth.
1334
01:21:16,038 --> 01:21:18,540
The next time we see him,
we might have to kill him.
1335
01:21:19,542 --> 01:21:21,710
In the good old days,
1336
01:21:21,794 --> 01:21:24,963
they'd rip him out of that seat so fast...
1337
01:21:28,509 --> 01:21:30,678
- Shut up. Shut the hell up.
- No, fuck no.
1338
01:21:30,761 --> 01:21:32,095
No, I will not shut the hell up.
1339
01:21:32,179 --> 01:21:33,472
Why are you even here?
1340
01:21:34,139 --> 01:21:35,724
Get the fuck out of here, man.
1341
01:21:36,100 --> 01:21:37,393
Get out of here.
1342
01:21:39,186 --> 01:21:41,772
- Be respectful!
- I care about my son's future!
1343
01:21:44,608 --> 01:21:46,109
In the good old days...
1344
01:21:47,152 --> 01:21:50,989
law enforcement
acted a lot quicker than this.
1345
01:21:52,700 --> 01:21:53,742
A lot quicker.
1346
01:21:54,910 --> 01:21:56,620
And we are going
to enforce the law,
1347
01:21:56,704 --> 01:21:59,832
and Americans should remember that,
if we're going to have law and order.
1348
01:22:01,208 --> 01:22:06,922
I am...
the law and order candidate.
1349
01:22:09,842 --> 01:22:13,762
We thought... I mean,
they called the end of slavery "jubilee."
1350
01:22:13,846 --> 01:22:15,597
We thought we were done then.
1351
01:22:15,806 --> 01:22:19,142
And then you had 100 years
of Jim Crow, terror and lynching.
1352
01:22:20,352 --> 01:22:24,022
Dr. King, these guys come on the scene,
Ella Jo Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer,
1353
01:22:24,106 --> 01:22:26,191
we get the bills passed to vote,
1354
01:22:26,274 --> 01:22:28,026
and then they break out the handcuffs.
1355
01:22:28,110 --> 01:22:31,363
Label you felon,
you can't vote or get a job.
1356
01:22:31,447 --> 01:22:35,534
So, we don't know
what the next iteration of this will be,
1357
01:22:35,617 --> 01:22:38,036
but it will be. It will be.
1358
01:22:38,120 --> 01:22:39,788
And we will have to be vigilant.
1359
01:23:03,646 --> 01:23:08,734
The Bureau of Justice reported
That one in three young, black males
1360
01:23:08,817 --> 01:23:11,361
is expected to go to jail or prison
during his lifetime,
1361
01:23:11,444 --> 01:23:14,364
which is
an unbelievably shocking statistic.
1362
01:23:22,289 --> 01:23:26,251
Black men account
for roughly 6.5% of the US population.
1363
01:23:26,334 --> 01:23:30,213
They make up 40.2%
of the prison population.
1364
01:23:34,259 --> 01:23:37,763
We now have more African Americans
under criminal supervision
1365
01:23:37,846 --> 01:23:39,890
than all the slaves back in the 1850s.
1366
01:23:39,973 --> 01:23:42,810
The prison industrial complex, uh...
1367
01:23:42,893 --> 01:23:47,480
relies historically
on the inheritances of slavery.
1368
01:23:50,192 --> 01:23:51,860
The 13th Amendment says,
1369
01:23:51,944 --> 01:23:55,739
"No involuntary servitude except for those
who have been duly convicted of a crime."
1370
01:23:55,823 --> 01:23:59,702
So once you've been convicted of a crime,
you are in essence a slave of the state.
1371
01:24:01,203 --> 01:24:03,831
The stroke of a pen is not self-enforcing.
1372
01:24:03,914 --> 01:24:07,000
And so, while the 13th Amendment is hailed
as this great milestone for freedom,
1373
01:24:07,084 --> 01:24:10,879
and abolitionists celebrate,
and this is the end of a lifelong quest,
1374
01:24:10,963 --> 01:24:12,673
the reality is much more problematic.
1375
01:24:12,756 --> 01:24:16,051
Well, once that clause is inserted
in there, it becomes a tool.
1376
01:24:16,134 --> 01:24:18,220
It's there.
It's embedded in the structure.
1377
01:24:18,303 --> 01:24:22,808
And for those who seek to use
this criminality clause as a tool,
1378
01:24:22,891 --> 01:24:25,602
it can become a pretty powerful one,
because it's privileged.
1379
01:24:25,686 --> 01:24:28,355
It's in the constitution,
it's the supreme law of the land.
1380
01:24:30,899 --> 01:24:33,110
Throughout American history,
1381
01:24:33,193 --> 01:24:35,988
African Americans
have repeatedly been controlled
1382
01:24:36,071 --> 01:24:39,908
through systems of racial
and social control that appear to die,
1383
01:24:39,992 --> 01:24:42,327
but then are reborn in new form,
1384
01:24:42,410 --> 01:24:44,997
tailored to the needs and constraints
of the time.
1385
01:24:45,080 --> 01:24:46,999
You know, after the collapse of slavery,
1386
01:24:47,082 --> 01:24:50,252
a new system was born,
convict leasing,
1387
01:24:50,335 --> 01:24:53,631
which was a new form of slavery.
1388
01:24:54,882 --> 01:24:59,261
And once convict leasing faded away,
a new system was born,
1389
01:24:59,344 --> 01:25:00,804
a Jim Crow system,
1390
01:25:00,888 --> 01:25:06,268
that relegated African Americans
to a permanent second-class status.
1391
01:25:07,686 --> 01:25:08,812
And here we are,
1392
01:25:08,896 --> 01:25:12,399
decades after the collapse
of the old Jim Crow,
1393
01:25:12,482 --> 01:25:15,694
and a new system
has been born again in America.
1394
01:25:15,778 --> 01:25:19,197
A system of mass incarceration
that, once again,
1395
01:25:19,281 --> 01:25:21,825
strips millions of poor people,
1396
01:25:21,909 --> 01:25:24,161
overwhelmingly poor people of color,
1397
01:25:24,244 --> 01:25:27,915
of the very rights supposedly won
in the civil rights movement.
1398
01:25:27,998 --> 01:25:30,417
And so instead of talking about it,
1399
01:25:30,500 --> 01:25:32,085
we just tried to move on.
1400
01:25:32,169 --> 01:25:34,963
After the Civil Rights Act was passed
and after the civil rights laws,
1401
01:25:35,047 --> 01:25:36,423
we tried to play it off.
1402
01:25:36,506 --> 01:25:37,716
Because we didn't deal with it,
1403
01:25:37,800 --> 01:25:40,385
that narrative
of racial difference continued.
1404
01:25:40,468 --> 01:25:44,181
And it turned into this presumption
of dangerousness and guilt
1405
01:25:44,264 --> 01:25:47,267
that follows every black and brown person
wherever they are.
1406
01:25:51,063 --> 01:25:53,899
You need to get out
of the street immediately.
1407
01:25:53,982 --> 01:25:55,358
Get out of the way!
1408
01:25:58,195 --> 01:25:59,988
This is St. Louis County Police.
1409
01:26:00,072 --> 01:26:01,448
Stay off the roadway.
1410
01:26:01,949 --> 01:26:05,243
Ferguson was not simply
about Mike Brown.
1411
01:26:05,327 --> 01:26:11,166
It was also this pattern of mass
criminalization and mass incarceration.
1412
01:26:12,167 --> 01:26:14,544
Back off. Back off.
1413
01:26:15,170 --> 01:26:18,674
There was an average of three warrants
per household in Ferguson.
1414
01:26:19,800 --> 01:26:22,678
And so people rose up
because they understood
1415
01:26:22,761 --> 01:26:27,515
that they were also enemies of the state,
seen as enemies of the state.
1416
01:26:29,517 --> 01:26:34,272
The communities in which black people live
really become occupied territories,
1417
01:26:34,356 --> 01:26:40,112
and black people have become seen
as, um, enemy combatants, right,
1418
01:26:40,195 --> 01:26:42,072
who don't have any rights,
1419
01:26:42,155 --> 01:26:45,658
and who can be stopped and frisked
1420
01:26:45,743 --> 01:26:48,996
and, you know, arrested
and detained and questioned
1421
01:26:49,079 --> 01:26:50,706
and killed with impunity.
1422
01:26:57,004 --> 01:26:59,089
If we were to look at
1423
01:26:59,172 --> 01:27:03,676
the larger-scale riots that we know of
in, you know, our recent history,
1424
01:27:03,761 --> 01:27:05,303
from Rodney King,
1425
01:27:05,387 --> 01:27:07,765
to the Detroit riot in 1967,
1426
01:27:07,848 --> 01:27:09,766
the Newark riot in 1967,
1427
01:27:09,850 --> 01:27:13,437
Harlem riot in 1964,
Watts in 1965.
1428
01:27:13,520 --> 01:27:16,940
Every single one of those riots
was a result of police brutality.
1429
01:27:17,024 --> 01:27:18,025
That is the common thread.
1430
01:27:18,108 --> 01:27:21,737
-Fight back! Fight back!
-Fist up! Fist up!
1431
01:27:21,820 --> 01:27:25,907
It would be a mistake to say,
as many do in the current context,
1432
01:27:25,991 --> 01:27:28,827
that if you're against the police,
then you're against law and order.
1433
01:27:28,910 --> 01:27:32,247
These are hardworking civil servants
putting their lives on the line every day.
1434
01:27:32,330 --> 01:27:33,331
And that's true.
1435
01:27:33,415 --> 01:27:37,669
People who join the police do so,
you know, to do these sorts of things.
1436
01:27:38,670 --> 01:27:44,092
But if you dismiss black complaints
of mistreatment by police
1437
01:27:44,176 --> 01:27:46,344
as being completely rooted
in our modern context,
1438
01:27:46,428 --> 01:27:48,055
then you're missing the point completely.
1439
01:27:48,138 --> 01:27:50,348
There has never been
a period in our history
1440
01:27:50,432 --> 01:27:56,229
where the law and order branch
of the state has not operated against
1441
01:27:56,313 --> 01:27:59,817
the freedoms, the liberties,
the options, the choices
1442
01:27:59,900 --> 01:28:02,903
that have been available for
the black community, generally speaking.
1443
01:28:02,986 --> 01:28:07,825
And to ignore that racial heritage,
to ignore that historical context,
1444
01:28:07,908 --> 01:28:09,868
means that you can't have
an informed debate
1445
01:28:09,952 --> 01:28:13,288
about the current state
of blacks and police relationship today,
1446
01:28:13,371 --> 01:28:15,248
'cause this didn't just appear
out of nothing.
1447
01:28:15,332 --> 01:28:18,376
This is the product
of a centuries-long historical process.
1448
01:28:18,460 --> 01:28:22,047
And to not reckon with that
is to shut off solutions.
1449
01:28:22,130 --> 01:28:25,675
We may have lost the sheets
of the Ku Klux Klan,
1450
01:28:25,758 --> 01:28:28,887
but, clearly, when you see
black kids being shot down...
1451
01:28:29,471 --> 01:28:32,808
then, obviously,
we didn't cut out this cancer.
1452
01:28:34,852 --> 01:28:36,228
For many of us, you know,
1453
01:28:36,311 --> 01:28:39,147
whose families
lived through this,
1454
01:28:39,231 --> 01:28:41,691
who are extensions
of this kind of oppression,
1455
01:28:41,774 --> 01:28:44,652
we don't need to see pictures
to understand what's going on.
1456
01:28:44,736 --> 01:28:47,865
It's really to kind of, like,
speak to the masses
1457
01:28:47,948 --> 01:28:50,325
who have been ignoring this
for the majority of their life.
1458
01:28:50,408 --> 01:28:53,411
But I also think there's trouble
of just showing,
1459
01:28:53,495 --> 01:28:56,414
you know,
black bodies as dead bodies, too.
1460
01:28:56,498 --> 01:28:59,751
Too much of anything
becomes unhealthy, unuseful.
1461
01:29:00,961 --> 01:29:05,298
I think they need to be seen,
if the family is okay with it.
1462
01:29:05,841 --> 01:29:09,761
It wasn't until things were made visual
in the civil rights movement,
1463
01:29:09,845 --> 01:29:12,555
that we really saw, uh,
1464
01:29:12,639 --> 01:29:16,518
folks come out
and being shocked into movement.
1465
01:29:16,601 --> 01:29:19,646
You have to shock people
into paying attention.
1466
01:29:19,729 --> 01:29:23,566
But there's a kind of historical
trajectory that we can trace here, um,
1467
01:29:23,650 --> 01:29:25,818
through media and technology.
1468
01:29:25,903 --> 01:29:29,156
We went back to, um, the slavery era,
1469
01:29:29,239 --> 01:29:32,450
when people were writing autobiographies
or slave narratives.
1470
01:29:34,202 --> 01:29:35,828
Later in the 19th century,
1471
01:29:35,913 --> 01:29:37,455
when people began to use photographs
1472
01:29:37,539 --> 01:29:39,374
and they showed images.
1473
01:29:40,500 --> 01:29:43,420
There's a famous image
of slave Gordon and his back,
1474
01:29:43,503 --> 01:29:46,839
and you can see just this
kind of lattice of scar tissue
1475
01:29:46,924 --> 01:29:50,552
that is evidence of the whippings
that he received.
1476
01:29:50,635 --> 01:29:54,681
Or the images of lynchings,
which white people produced.
1477
01:29:56,599 --> 01:29:59,477
The murder of Emmett Till
was really thought of as being
1478
01:29:59,561 --> 01:30:02,898
one of the primary catalysts
for the civil rights movement.
1479
01:30:04,024 --> 01:30:06,109
The willingness of his mother
1480
01:30:06,193 --> 01:30:09,612
to have an open-casket funeral.
1481
01:30:12,365 --> 01:30:15,994
Hundreds and hundreds
of black folks filed past
1482
01:30:16,078 --> 01:30:18,205
and see this young boy
1483
01:30:18,288 --> 01:30:21,458
who had been killed
by white supremacists in the South.
1484
01:30:23,376 --> 01:30:26,964
To publish those photographs
in black publications
1485
01:30:27,047 --> 01:30:31,801
so the entire black world, like
our Facebook or our Twitter now, right?
1486
01:30:31,884 --> 01:30:35,722
So that the whole black world
could see what had happened.
1487
01:30:35,805 --> 01:30:39,934
In the 1950s, Dr. King
and the civil rights movement
1488
01:30:40,018 --> 01:30:41,269
used television in this way.
1489
01:30:41,353 --> 01:30:43,480
"Look, this is what segregation
looks like.
1490
01:30:43,563 --> 01:30:47,484
These are dogs attacking children.
These are people being fire hosed."
1491
01:30:49,402 --> 01:30:54,241
Searching for the medium of technology,
that will confirm your experience
1492
01:30:54,324 --> 01:30:57,119
such that your basic humanity
can be recognized.
1493
01:30:57,202 --> 01:31:00,330
The difference now is
somebody can hold up one of these,
1494
01:31:00,413 --> 01:31:01,748
get what's going on.
1495
01:31:01,831 --> 01:31:06,336
They can put it on YouTube,
and the whole world has to deal with it.
1496
01:31:06,419 --> 01:31:07,629
That's what's new.
1497
01:31:07,712 --> 01:31:10,007
It's not the protest.
It's not the brutality.
1498
01:31:10,090 --> 01:31:12,509
It's the fact that we can force
a conversation about it.
1499
01:31:12,592 --> 01:31:16,596
We have been consistently been murdered
as a result of police aggression.
1500
01:31:16,679 --> 01:31:20,600
They generally would excuse it
by calling us criminals.
1501
01:31:21,268 --> 01:31:23,270
When they was killing Oscar Grant...
1502
01:31:30,443 --> 01:31:32,279
When they got to Eric Garner...
1503
01:31:32,862 --> 01:31:34,531
I can't breathe.
1504
01:31:34,614 --> 01:31:35,865
I can't breathe.
1505
01:31:35,948 --> 01:31:38,618
I can't breathe.
I can't breathe.
1506
01:31:38,701 --> 01:31:40,078
I can't breathe.
1507
01:31:40,162 --> 01:31:42,539
I can't breathe.
I can't breathe.
1508
01:31:42,622 --> 01:31:44,582
Everyone pointed out
that he was saying,
1509
01:31:44,666 --> 01:31:46,418
"I can't breathe.
I can't breathe."
1510
01:31:46,501 --> 01:31:48,211
But the sentences before that were,
1511
01:31:48,295 --> 01:31:50,505
"Why are you always stopping me?
1512
01:31:50,588 --> 01:31:55,468
Why is it, day in and day out,
week in and week out, you're stopping me?"
1513
01:31:55,552 --> 01:31:58,930
And that, I think, is hugely important.
1514
01:31:59,013 --> 01:32:02,975
When we think about the children
who were killed at the hands of the state,
1515
01:32:03,060 --> 01:32:06,313
I think about Tamir Rice at 12 years old,
1516
01:32:06,396 --> 01:32:09,941
and the way that he was killed,
you know, it hits my heart.
1517
01:32:10,900 --> 01:32:14,154
Go ahead and take
your seat belt off. Stop. Stop!
1518
01:32:22,995 --> 01:32:24,164
You good?
1519
01:32:30,128 --> 01:32:32,672
- Roll on your stomach. Now!
- Stop fighting!
1520
01:32:35,217 --> 01:32:38,345
- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- Oh, shit.
1521
01:32:38,428 --> 01:32:41,306
He shot me, man. I was shot.
1522
01:32:41,389 --> 01:32:43,016
He didn't do shit.
You didn't.
1523
01:32:43,099 --> 01:32:45,685
- I'm losing breath.
- Fuck your breath.
1524
01:32:45,768 --> 01:32:47,437
Stay with me.
1525
01:32:47,520 --> 01:32:50,773
We got pulled over
for a busted taillight in the back.
1526
01:33:17,342 --> 01:33:18,968
Police violence,
1527
01:33:19,051 --> 01:33:21,888
that isn't the problem
in and of itself.
1528
01:33:21,971 --> 01:33:26,017
It's reflection of a much larger,
brutal system
1529
01:33:26,100 --> 01:33:29,604
of racial and social control
known as mass incarceration,
1530
01:33:29,687 --> 01:33:33,608
which authorizes
this kind of police violence.
1531
01:33:33,691 --> 01:33:36,653
That's why, for me,
the brilliance of Black Lives Matter...
1532
01:33:36,736 --> 01:33:41,574
They have a distributed leadership model.
You can't find their address.
1533
01:33:41,658 --> 01:33:44,661
I mean, Black Lives Matter
is not a stoppable phenomenon,
1534
01:33:44,744 --> 01:33:46,454
by a bullet or anything else.
1535
01:33:46,538 --> 01:33:48,415
And so, there's hope there
because of that.
1536
01:33:49,081 --> 01:33:51,543
Having people truly understand
1537
01:33:51,626 --> 01:33:54,379
that when black lives matter,
1538
01:33:55,046 --> 01:33:57,006
everybody's life matters,
1539
01:33:57,089 --> 01:34:02,011
including every single person
that enters this criminal justice system
1540
01:34:02,094 --> 01:34:04,096
and this prison industrial complex.
1541
01:34:04,181 --> 01:34:07,058
It's not just even about
only black lives, right?
1542
01:34:07,141 --> 01:34:11,646
It's about changing the way
this country understands human dignity.
1543
01:34:24,951 --> 01:34:28,580
That's what, really,
this Black Lives Matter moment is about.
1544
01:34:28,663 --> 01:34:33,125
This question of whose life
do we recognize as valuable?
1545
01:34:45,513 --> 01:34:48,558
The opposite of criminalization
is humanization.
1546
01:34:48,641 --> 01:34:51,477
That's the one thing I hope
that people will understand.
1547
01:34:53,020 --> 01:34:56,608
It's about rehumanizing us,
as a people,
1548
01:34:56,691 --> 01:34:59,652
and us, right, as a people,
all of us.
1549
01:35:08,245 --> 01:35:11,414
The system of mass incarceration
has grown,
1550
01:35:11,498 --> 01:35:14,417
and sprawled and developed an appetite
1551
01:35:14,501 --> 01:35:19,088
that is gobbling up people
in communities of all colors.
1552
01:35:19,171 --> 01:35:20,757
But if it hadn't been for the fact
1553
01:35:20,840 --> 01:35:25,553
that it began with a group of people
defined by race,
1554
01:35:25,637 --> 01:35:28,848
that we as a nation
have learned not to care about,
1555
01:35:28,931 --> 01:35:33,603
we wouldn't be talking about
two million people behind bars today.
1556
01:35:33,686 --> 01:35:34,729
People say all the time,
1557
01:35:34,812 --> 01:35:37,148
"I don't understand how people
could've tolerated slavery.
1558
01:35:37,231 --> 01:35:39,359
How could they have made peace with that?
1559
01:35:39,442 --> 01:35:43,280
How could people have gone to a lynching
and participated in that?
1560
01:35:43,363 --> 01:35:47,074
How did people make sense
of the segregation,
1561
01:35:47,158 --> 01:35:50,286
this white and colored-only drinking...
That's so crazy.
1562
01:35:50,370 --> 01:35:54,374
If I was living at that time, I would
have never tolerated anything like that."
1563
01:35:54,457 --> 01:35:57,752
And the truth is, we are living
at this time, and we are tolerating it.