The U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment invests the power in the court system to carry out a sentence of slavery through imprisonment. Since the only slaves in this country were people of African descent, we already know who that clever section of the amendment was intended for. That still holds true today. 

The evil intent of this amendment shows up in the mass arrests and sentencing throughout the legal system and all other systems that we designed to deter blacks from being equals. Its consequences surpass the sentenced person and directly affect their families, causing havoc in the communities. It reinforces and continues the historical trauma blacks have suffered since they were stolen and separated from their loved ones and homelands.

I’m not going to go into the harm and the damage this unjust system purposely creates to keep the prison system well stocked, but let’s look at some of the damage it does to the family unit and the community.

Here’s a good example from a recent interview Akili did: “Interview with My Brother”.  

In the interview, Akili’s older brother, Anthony, talks about how it felt having his younger brother snatched out of his life.  He feared his brother’s life and what could happen to him behind those prison walls. He was scared, not knowing if he was able to survive the level of threats, abuse, and mental torture. How would he protect himself? What kind of person would he be if he made it out? It was a dying experience not being able to see him, talk with him, or just get a word that he was ok …alive. It felt as if he had died in real time.

He was missed at family gatherings.  When life’s big events took place, such as marriages, the birth of children, graduations, family members passing away, promotions at work, all those once-in-a-lifetime moments, he was not there to share them with.

The prison system made that connection even harder by sending him over 10 hours’ drive away. The guards made the experience of coming to see him dehumanizing and humiliating to the point of inducing trauma just thinking about going there for the few hours you may get, as you sat separated by a wall with thick glass to look at the poor physical condition he was in.

For this family and many others around the country, the horror was intensified through the use of solitary confinement. Akili, Anthony’s baby brother, was subjected to this inhuman punishment for 17 years because the system unjustifiably labeled him as a gang member. That was 17 years of not being able to see or talk to him. Not knowing  how he was.  Akili was not the only one; some guys were and still are locked away in solitary confinement for decades. [Yes, right here in this USA]. 

For many prisoners, their children have to grow up without  a father or mother to support and guide them into adulthood. Unfortunately, this leaves the children to make unguided, bad choices that often lead them into the prison pipeline; all by design.

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