Professor Robert Reich said it well and truly the other day when he asked if maybe we didn't incarcerate so many people, so many black Americans especially, in particular and instead, put that money into their schools and neighborhoods and lives. What a concept.
1--We imprison more of our citizens than any other nation, including China which dwarfs us
U.S. incarcerates more than any other nation
2--We incarcerate more black Americans, as a total percentage of our people, far more than white Americans and for the same offenses as whites.
Black Americans incarcerated
five times more than white
We're "exceptional" all right.
Imagine putting all that money into these people's lives, their homes, their neighborhoods, their schools, even into their health care instead of putting them into prisons and incarceration.
Again, what a concept.
And the heck of it?
It would, first, strengthen the nation and second, improve our economy. But then same thing with cutting the obscene defense budget and plowing that money into our infrastructure.
Tell me all about that "American Exceptionalism."
