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By • C • ,Jr.
There- is one community in
the United States which con-
- tin not to receive adequate
• attention and mncern. This .
the community.of more th
850,000 persoas who DOW Ian­
gui in the jails and pr.
both feder I and state,
throughout the nation. The
pr� comm ity i neither a
small comm . oar·· a com-
munity . ell does DOt exemplify
the gr contradictioas of this
society.
While African Americans are
approximately 14% of the
population of the United States,
are over SO% of the prisoa
population. The ra . m that .
. titutiooalized· the cr· .
jusOOe system
societal fact.
OVE fLMlNGLY, the
! persons wtio e up the pr.
populatio in the utio are
those are poor . d those
are from e· racial
communitie There· also a I
gr . number of d
children, 0 are behind
bars serving long seatenees, In
New York City, Mayor KoCh has
just opened special 815 bed
women's p . at Riker's d
ich wiJl all female· tes
to keep their infan and yo
children ·th them in prison:
Eighteen years there
a growing popular prison .. eform
movement hich peaked I
around the .. repressso of
the Attica, e York prison
protest The De media
occasion in the use to
detail so �t the cruel and un­
us al punishment that was
routinely perpetrated on the
hundreds of tho of per­
so iecarcer ted in the United
States.
Today, bowau, . the ex-
ceptioa of fe e tional
cases there·· or DO pub .
the plWbt of the
ooiDmunity of the· prisoaed.
our . t
PresideDt OD�
5
eM
RIGHTS
toured Cuban prisons. Wb .
the United States tryiDg to hide?
No IQ,atter ow many deniak
of human rights violatio in the
United States are made by the
State Department, the truth of
gross overaowding. inhamanity,
brutality and exploitation can
not be hidden from the rid·
community. It i our respo -
sibility citizens of· tion
to speak out in behalf of the
o are Ii rally kept
minimum
ge ... � .....
Shonly a�r tM July 4th
holiday, the House of
Representatwu wiU vote
ona bill of viuM i' nanc«
to Black Amer cans -
r_aising f� Fetk mini-
mum wt.:IW.
Thi-m:/umum has
not been increas"':!:ince
. 1981. Since thsu time 1M
purchasing power of tlte
minimum wage has
decreaed J!y thiT!Y-seven
percent. The subsequen:
loss &urchasiltg power
.:s ow ;:'�"�effo.ct_
poet continues to �
the Black famill with
alarming ihne-Jourths 1
t� Blade women he, .
households and worJcinB
I the minimum w� forced
, to live in poverty. In addi-
tion, BltJcl males accoum
lor /ofJY-OM percen: of t�
Black mimimum wage
popuJlllion. .
ACcO� to a �JXJft by
the Children's Defense
Fund, tlte declin« 111 tlte
e""",,, JXJwt!T of tM Black
community, ana of Black
men in particular, has
created .BTave economic
and soclO-cullural COIlSe­
q�nas. It has � sub­
itantiaJ incrt!as� ��1ty_
familil!s ana
�f;�n, and litIS
1ftIlIle a host environment
fl?T teen pregnancY·.It '.
tUM thai we stop this 1-
dous cycle.
OUT communities fU!t!d
ypw inamediale assistance.
It is imperative, tha: Y9U
help us uplt;Un to 1M u. S.
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