Criminal Punishment/Mass Incarceration
The historical record of our enslavement shows that the root of this diabolical genocide and socialcide (Leo J. Battenhausen) are the social practice outcomes of “Chattel Slavery” in the United States, and the non-implementation of Special Field Order 15(40 Acres And A Mule). All of these actions were constructed in the wake of the very first mass incarceration prison—The Ship of Enslavement, aka,“The Slave Ship.” This so-called “Golden Age” of Racism White Supremacy terror was the period from 1700-1808. Doing this period more “African Captives” and “Descendants of Enslaved Africans” were transported than any other time; more than two-thirds of the total. This tragedy unjustly enriched the entire colonial system of mass enslavement and morphed into mass incarceration by public policy during the period from 1968-present. All human rights derive from the inherent dignity and divinity of the human being. International human rights law requires that the essential aim of all penal systems must be to allow, encourage, and facilitate rehabilitation. However since the decade of the ’80s, the US prison population has quadrupled, an increase largely driven by heavier penalties for non-violent offenses for DAEUS. At the same time, as prison building costs escalate, many states have cut funding for rehabilitation, education and other programs and have begun to construct public-private partnerships with private corporations operating prisons for profit. The United States accounts for only 5% of the world’s population but holds almost 22% of the world’s prison population. More than 2 million people are incarcerated in U.S. prisons as well as local and county jails. In the United States, 1 out of every 3 DAEUS will go to prison or jail if there is no intervention. Recently, in a report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Committee, by the Sentencing Project, a prison reform group, it is stated that disparities and vestiges of the System of Chattel Slavery pervade “every stage of the United States criminal justice system, from arrest to trial to sentencing.” The report also states that DAEUS are “more likely than white Americans to be arrested.” The report continues, “Once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted; and once convicted, they are more likely to face stiff sentences.” The report’s findings lead its authors to conclude that the U.S. is violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that all citizens must be treated equally under the law. The U.S. ratified the treaty in 1992. The U.N. Human Rights Committee, which monitors states’ compliance with their obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has expressed ongoing concern about racial disparities at different stages in the U.S. criminal justice system, including sentencing disparities and the overrepresentation of individuals belonging to racial and ethnic minorities in prisons and jails. These facts and issues confirm the failure of the United States to respect and protect the dignity and divinity of DAEUS and fulfill its obligations in regard to our rights to be free from discrimination, to constitutional liberty and security of the person, to be equal before the law and to have equal protection of the law. The kidnapping, imprisonment, and transporting of a people from the continent of Africa by another people from the continent of Europe to the continents of North and South America constitutes an act of war and an international issue of the greatest magnitude. The war continues in public policy and corporate privatization. It is a political war. Reparations is a demand calling for the war to end. [Reference: Ari S. Merretazon, Former National Co-Chair, and Northeast Representative, N’COBRA]
Reparatory Justice Outcomes & Impacts
a.) The UN should demand a complete review and study of the US public policy governing its prison system and the impact of imprisonment on DAEUS.
b) The UN Working Group should urge units of federal, state and city governments to de-privatize US prisons and jails and return control and funding back to the respective units of federal, state and city government.
c) The UN Working Group should urge the immediate dismantling of the prison-caste system that continues the enslavement of DAEUS in the US via public policy reflecting the roots of the old forms of mass incarceration-the Convict Leasing System, discrimination in employment, housing, education, public benefits, denial of the right to vote, exclusion from jury duty, the pervasive stop and frisk policy, and police brutality of DAEUS.
d) The Un Working Group should urge counseling for the victims of U.S. drug policies; address the source of drugs coming into the community and disproportionate sentencing for drug crimes; decriminalize drugs to minimize prison time; investigate keeping drugs out of the communities; counseling for families; drug rehabilitation once people leave prison; gun control; Police policies to reduce “justifiable homicide;” de-privatize prisons and return funding and control of prisons to states.
