On October 4, 1978, nine Ellis Prison inmates in east Texas went on strike against the unpaid labor they had to do every day, refusing to pick cotton in hard labor.
if only anyone could help me figure out what other events that went on for quite a while in this exceptional country full of pure untapped exceptionalism this reminds me of? 'tis a mystery.
"if the police showed up at their house, they must have done something criminal"
there's a lot of layers of ugliness, abuse, racism, protestant/calvinist unethical work ethic etc, etc, to peel back, and as long as for profit warehousing of people is a thriving industry, I'm having a hard time being optimistic about anything substantial changing any time soon.
especially in hardcore bible thumping shotgun toting extra insufferable east texas. (I've seen it, and it was nothing to shake a stick at).
Yeah I have similar feelings. There's been times I could have been with the wrong people or a cop could have decided to search some cars. I take the "it only takes one thing" approach, that it takes only a little for the prison system to latch on to you and have a hold or a shadow over you for the rest of your life.
That was the strangest thing about my former employer's move to Teams during the glorious heyday of "Work from Home" everyone was asked to post a picture of themselves for a profile pic. I am willing to bet that 3 out of 4 were people sitting in their cars with their shades on their heads while they squint at their phones. Really weird.
Oh yeah up there is the really dumb logic loophole of "If you are being investigated, you had to have done something wrong". Yeah basic fundamental attitudes to lawbreaking, drugs, and legal responses have to change for anything to happen. Til then it's not just even "for profit" prisons, but the system itself. Those clothes, that substandard food, the basic goods that are needed to keep those prisons going has got to be a massive industry worth billions.
oh, I completely agree, and you are a lot more eloquent in expressing it.
I suppose what I was trying to say is that the for profit part makes the already bad system overall worse, and at the same time change harder to achieve.
a few little asides (or maybe not so aside-y after all?)
the reality of the American prison system hit me like a ton of bricks when we bought a summer house in Michigan City, IN which just so happened to be down the street from Indiana State Prison.
sure enough, I fired up the google machine, and found a report that made my blood curdle. no adequate heating in fucking Northwestern Indiana just for starters and because of course, if you're an inmate, you deserve it.
not long after that I looked a little bit into the madness that is Cook County Jail, and then I have a cousin who works in the prison in Joliet, IL and had him tattle out of school a little bit.
oh, and did I mention that half of my husband's family is working as LEOs for the CPD?
well, and to round it all up, I had some very insightful conversations with former inmates of various Midwestern prisons usually not too far from Chicago.
the stories I heard, read, and saw still give me sleepless nights because WTF are we doing to our own people? this is pure sadism, and I swear someone gets off on that shit.
We fucking used to invade countries over lesser infractions while we are doing all kinds of human rights violations to our own people.
On October 4, 1978, nine Ellis Prison inmates in east Texas went on strike against the unpaid labor they had to do every day, refusing to pick cotton in hard labor.
if only anyone could help me figure out what other events that went on for quite a while in this exceptional country full of pure untapped exceptionalism this reminds me of? 'tis a mystery.
No (he said not knowing whether there is something called The Fifth worthy of attention or this is an elaborate Daniel joke)
"if the police showed up at their house, they must have done something criminal"
there's a lot of layers of ugliness, abuse, racism, protestant/calvinist unethical work ethic etc, etc, to peel back, and as long as for profit warehousing of people is a thriving industry, I'm having a hard time being optimistic about anything substantial changing any time soon.
especially in hardcore bible thumping shotgun toting extra insufferable east texas. (I've seen it, and it was nothing to shake a stick at).
Yeah I have similar feelings. There's been times I could have been with the wrong people or a cop could have decided to search some cars. I take the "it only takes one thing" approach, that it takes only a little for the prison system to latch on to you and have a hold or a shadow over you for the rest of your life.
You were supposed to decline to answer.
seems kind of up the next delusion alley from "Trump won".
nothing good will come out of this massive cognitive dissonance, whether it ever resolves itself or not.
That was the strangest thing about my former employer's move to Teams during the glorious heyday of "Work from Home" everyone was asked to post a picture of themselves for a profile pic. I am willing to bet that 3 out of 4 were people sitting in their cars with their shades on their heads while they squint at their phones. Really weird.
Didn't get the memo
Oh yeah up there is the really dumb logic loophole of "If you are being investigated, you had to have done something wrong". Yeah basic fundamental attitudes to lawbreaking, drugs, and legal responses have to change for anything to happen. Til then it's not just even "for profit" prisons, but the system itself. Those clothes, that substandard food, the basic goods that are needed to keep those prisons going has got to be a massive industry worth billions.
oh, I completely agree, and you are a lot more eloquent in expressing it.
I suppose what I was trying to say is that the for profit part makes the already bad system overall worse, and at the same time change harder to achieve.
a few little asides (or maybe not so aside-y after all?)
the reality of the American prison system hit me like a ton of bricks when we bought a summer house in Michigan City, IN which just so happened to be down the street from Indiana State Prison.
sure enough, I fired up the google machine, and found a report that made my blood curdle. no adequate heating in fucking Northwestern Indiana just for starters and because of course, if you're an inmate, you deserve it.
not long after that I looked a little bit into the madness that is Cook County Jail, and then I have a cousin who works in the prison in Joliet, IL and had him tattle out of school a little bit.
oh, and did I mention that half of my husband's family is working as LEOs for the CPD?
well, and to round it all up, I had some very insightful conversations with former inmates of various Midwestern prisons usually not too far from Chicago.
the stories I heard, read, and saw still give me sleepless nights because WTF are we doing to our own people? this is pure sadism, and I swear someone gets off on that shit.
We fucking used to invade countries over lesser infractions while we are doing all kinds of human rights violations to our own people.
shining city on the hill my ass.
I refer to this case frequently. It's a good 'ern.
I wish it'd stay off.
Where else but Texas would, "Let's give the white prisoners guns and have them guard the black prisoners" sound like a good idea?
30 seconds is longer than Melanie will give the former guy now, much less going in for a conjugal visit.
Reminds me I owe someone an email.
LOL. Same.