Jesus People and The New Jim Crow

In a post last year (The Seminary) I took a look at the case of a formerly incarcerated individual who was fired from his job at a seminary because of a prior conviction. Since that time I have been involved in work on the issue of restorative justice and particularly “Mass Incarceration” as it is defined in the book by Michelle Alexander, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In the age of Colorblindness”. What I realized after reading this book is that the case of that individual and the seminary was only the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of thousands of men (and increasing numbers of women), primarily people of color, almost exclusively people on the lower wrung of the socio-economic ladder are being arrested, convicted, sentenced to prison, probation, or once in prison, eventually paroled and systematically denied the basic rights of citizenship in the United States.

Because many of these people do not have access to quality legal representation they often do not have the benefit of the right to a trial by a jury of their peers. “Tens of thousands of people go to jail every year without ever talking to a lawyer,” writes Ms. Alexander. Without legal representation these people are left to the aggressive tactics of federal, state, and local prosecutors many of whom are perusing their own personal political ambitions and agendas. Added to this is the proliferation of the private prison industry which literally trades in the caging of human beings. CCA, the largest of the private prison companies in the US recently made a bid to take over the prisons in 48 states in an offer to the governors of those states conditioned on a guarantee of 90% occupancy. The discomforting question in all of this is where is the church? Why is the church so seemingly quiet on the issue of mass incarceration in this country in particular?

Now this is not to say that people of faith are not involved in the work of dismantling the system of criminal injustice that exists in the US. This does say, however, that there should be a louder cry from the pulpits, and more action from the pews of our churches against the injustices of the system that we currently have in place. Ms. Alexander was correct when she stated that, “this is not a criminal justice issue it is a human rights issue.” Some fifty years ago or more Dr. Howard Thurman wrote of the system of Jim Crow was rooted in the mind and mood of the human spirit. That mood and mentality was and is no less prevalent in the segregated “north” than in the “Jim Crow south”. Thurman argued that if we did not get to that root then we would not truly defeat Jim Crow, rather something worse and more insidious would rise up in its place. Thurman’s words have proven true in the form of the system of mass incarceration.

Michelle Alexander voiced similar sentiment when she said at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference in Chicago, that the “core challenge to ending mass incarceration is dispelling the myth that some of us are not worthy of genuine care, concern, and compassion.” This is essentially, the heart of the issue; how we view and consequently how we treat people. Do we treat people as if they are trash to be thrown away? Do we feel that they are not worthy of our care and compassion.

Surely for Jesus people this cannot be the case. For Jesus people who pray for their enemies, give to those who cannot give back in return, turn the other cheek, heal the sick, bind up the wounded hearts, surely every life has worth and value. For Jesus people understand that the very foundation of our faith hangs on just two things, “Love God with all you’ve got, and love others as you love your own self.” Let’s ask ourselves Jesus people, to what extent does how we treat those who are, or have been, incarcerated demonstrate that we really believe what Jesus said? What does it say about Jesus people that we allow people to be used to work at jobs for essentially no pay while in prison, that they will not be hired for when they are released? What does our silence say about us when 90% of drug arrests come from 14% of the people who are involved in illegal drug activity? There is a time when we should not want the rocks to cry out for us!

The good news is that there are “other sheep” who may not be “of this fold” who are engaging these injustices. These other sheep do believe that every life has value and they are working, in that faith, to bring in the reign of God. That God’s will is “done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Jesus people these other sheep are all around you, in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, DC, Florida, all over. I have met them! Seek them, find them, join them! Be Jesus people, because every life does have value, all of us and each of us is worthy of genuine care, concern, and compassion.

Make a difference . . . . . . . . . For Life!!!!!!