Mass Incarceration of Oppressed People Is A US Crisis

Mumia Abu-Jamal is off death row and in general population in the Pennsylvania correctional system. Occupy the Justice Department is demanding his release. Photo was taken on February 2, 2012., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Mass incarceration of minorities, new US crisis: American analyst

Sun Apr 22, 2012 7:20AM GMT
presstv.ir

There is a human rights crisis in this country and it is called the criminalization of black and Latino men ... immigrants, minorities and Muslims.”

Johanna Fernandez, an organizer of ‘Occupy the Department of Justice’

The mass incarcerations of minority members in the United States has laid bare the new state of human rights violations in the American society, a US activist tells Press TV.

“There is a human rights crisis in this country and it is called the criminalization of black and Latino men ... immigrants, minorities and Muslims,” said Johanna Fernandez, an organizer of ‘Occupy the Department of Justice’ and a Filmmaker, on Saturday.

“The crisis of mass incarcerations in the US is the most important civil rights crisis of our time. Mass incarceration is the new face of racism in the US,” Fernandez added.

The call to “Occupy the Justice Department” came on December 9, 2011, marking the thirtieth anniversary of the incarceration of prominent African-American activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, accused of murdering a police officer in 1982.

Fernandez also harshly criticized the US government over its indifference towards “an increase in scapegoating” of minority groups in the American society and called on Washington to address the issue as an “endemic problem.”

The activist also expressed regret over the fact that some 25 percent of the world’s jailed population live in the US, and pointed out that that the level of crime has not changed since the 1970s, when mass incarceration became the most important public policy issue in the US.

The remarks come as Occupy the Justice Department is set to hold a national rally at the headquarters of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on April 24, in Washington DC to call for the release of Abu-Jamal.

The protesters will also urge the DOJ to help create jobs, education and healthcare instead of jails, and to end solitary confinement, torture, racist death penalties and the mistreatment of immigrants, and to free all political prisoners.