Query #11 - Social and Economic Justice
How are we beneficiaries of inequality and exploitation? How are we victims of inequity and exploitation? In what ways can we address these problems?What can we do to improve the conditions in our correctional institutions and to address the mental and social problems of those confined there?
We agreed that those of us who are comfortably off enough to buy such things as clothing and gasoline regularly pay unnaturally low prices due to low-wage labor, especially in less-developed countries, government subsidies and low taxes, especially on gas and oil.
Soon we moved beyond this topic to try to figure out why the rich and poor in the United States are becoming farther and farther apart and what keeps the poor from succeeding. Although some of us grew up in places where we were sheltered from the realities of want and unrest, we know now that when a poor person becomes stuck in a seeming dead end, it affects us all.
We have all made some effort and taken some risks to put ourselves in situations where we can talk to and begin to understand those who struggle with poverty and who are often angry or defeated.
It is hard to come from a background where people are not functioning well in the modern workplace and still find a way to be economically self-sufficient. This can be as true of a rural White person or reservation Native American as it is of an urban African-American or Latino. Such folks may be struggling with lack of selfesteem, fear of taking responsibility for themselves, and/ or a family history of dependency on the system. The jobs they need simply may not be available or may not pay a living wage.
At times people really do need to use the social services that are available, and we deplored the demeaning way in which those who apply are often treated. It can be especially difficult for such services to place those who do not fit into the corporate world, whose gifts are creative or are better to suited to the hands-on jobs that are no longer plentiful.
Solving these problems relates directly to reducing the prison population and finding more appropriate ways to deal with crime. There seems to be a vicious cycle in which people, often lacking education or communication skills, are treated disrespectfully. If the next step leads to incarceration, the treatment they receive there solidifies their anger and low selfesteem. Programs such as the Alternatives to Violence Project sometimes offer the first chance to speak and be heard with respect that inmates have ever experienced, and this opportunity can pay off in lower recidivism rates.
We need to know more about the people in prison and conditions there. Most of us don’t know enough even to protest prison conditions effectively.
Apparently Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, is now researching prison conditions, and we may learn a lot when his book comes out.