race and abu ghraib
Aug. 23rd, 2004 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frandroidfrom today's Znet mailout by Norman Solomon:
While the uprising was multiracial, most of the 1,281 prisoners involved were black, reflecting the prison population as a whole. In the film, Smith said: "Attica was about wants and needs. Attica was a lot about class and a lot about race."
Although U.S. media outlets have rarely dropped a hint along this line, Abu Ghraib was also about class and race. From a global perspective, American troops -- sent to Iraq by the richest nation in the world -- serve elite interests in the United States. And anti-Arab racism made it easier for Americans to torture prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
Meanwhile, back in the USA, a third of a century after the Attica uprising, just about every jail and prison continues to be "a lot about class and a lot about race." With more than 2 million people now behind bars -- 63 percent black or Latino -- the incarcerated population is vastly skewed toward low income and dark skin.
While there was big noise about how women got in the game at Abu Ghraib, I'm thinking that from all the pictures I've seen, most if not all of the perpetrators of the crap there were white which, if I'm right, would be interesting considering how multiracial the U.S. army is. Has anyone followed this more closely? Has anyone seen articles about this?
While the uprising was multiracial, most of the 1,281 prisoners involved were black, reflecting the prison population as a whole. In the film, Smith said: "Attica was about wants and needs. Attica was a lot about class and a lot about race."
Although U.S. media outlets have rarely dropped a hint along this line, Abu Ghraib was also about class and race. From a global perspective, American troops -- sent to Iraq by the richest nation in the world -- serve elite interests in the United States. And anti-Arab racism made it easier for Americans to torture prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
Meanwhile, back in the USA, a third of a century after the Attica uprising, just about every jail and prison continues to be "a lot about class and a lot about race." With more than 2 million people now behind bars -- 63 percent black or Latino -- the incarcerated population is vastly skewed toward low income and dark skin.
While there was big noise about how women got in the game at Abu Ghraib, I'm thinking that from all the pictures I've seen, most if not all of the perpetrators of the crap there were white which, if I'm right, would be interesting considering how multiracial the U.S. army is. Has anyone followed this more closely? Has anyone seen articles about this?
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no subject
Date: 2004-08-24 03:12 am (UTC)For a lot of poor, rural or small town whites, it's the only option.
Also the U.S. is 75% white, so the army is going to be about that percentage. Maybe it's less in the army, but it's still a majority.