Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 265

Chloe x Halle: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

'Powerful sister duo Chloe x Halle went all out on this one. Flanked by personal memorabilia supplied by their mother, the Bailey sisters did their best to make this studio performance really feel like a home concert. As they volley off each other, swapping lead and harmonies, it's amazing to watch how years of practice and innate genetic chemistry have them synced tighter than a SMPTE timecode. "Baby Girl," the second song here, starts with notes reminiscent of Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)," and is preceded with Chloe sharing "I know this year 2020 has been absolutely bonkers for all of us. For those moments where you kinda feel less than and you're not good enough ... that's why we wrote this song. ... Whatever happens, we'll be OK. And this is our world." Fusing R&B, soul and pop, backed by a talented nine-piece female band, this performance is surely to delight Chloe x Halle's global fanbase.'

Captured By The Game: Nipsey Hussle

 

'After LA rapper Nipsey Hussle was murdered in 2019, city officials praised him for his community advocacy. But NPR has learned that behind the scenes, some law enforcement officers branded Nipsey as a gang member, and that label meant another man from Nipsey's neighborhood would be sent to jail — just for interacting with him. So why did California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation lie to us about it? And what does that say about the impact of law enforcement categorizing thousands of Black and brown men as potential criminals?'

South Africa After the Rainbow: A Conversation with Anne-Maria Makhulu

'When professor Anne-Maria Makhulu returned to South Africa to start her research in the late 1990's, the South African Truth & Reconciliation Commission was just beginning to start it's work. She says that while the newly established transparency was important for understanding the workings of the government during apartheid, the commission's function was largely symbolic. "It concretely didn't address the needs of the vast majority of South Africans who had suffered forms of systemic and structural violence, not the kind of violence that a human rights framework would address." In her research as a cultural anthropologist, Makhulu seeks to untangle the racial and class disparities that still exist in South Africa despite the transition to a Black-majority, democratic government.' -- Sanford School @ Duke

Sanford School @ Duke · South Africa After the Rainbow

Stopping the Exploitation of Prisoners and Their Families Requires More Comprehensive Solutions by Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.

Credit: Bryan Thomas

Stopping the Exploitation of Prisoners and Their Families Requires More Comprehensive Solutions 

by Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. | @DrBenChavis | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile)

 

2020 brought renewed global focus to issues of social justice in America.  From the racial disparities and inequities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic to the killings of George Floyd and so many other Black and Brown Americans at the hands of police officers have all contributed to the evolving social justice “reckoning” across the nation. 

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As part of this long overdue redress about institutional and systemic racism, renewed attention should also be focused on the many injustices within the U.S. correctional system. Black and Brown Americans are disproportionately imprisoned in the United States. 

  

Much of the public outrage has been directed at officials who have been unable to prevent the fatal spread of COVID-19 in jails and prisons throughout the country. But in addition, there were too many governors who were unwilling to reduce prison populations by releasing individuals who posed no threat to public safety. As a result, nearly 200,000 incarcerated Americans have been infected as of November 2020 according to the Marshall Project. 

  

And the criticism of the correctional system does not stop with the prison officials themselves but extends to the full spectrum of private companies that provide services to correctional agencies. Among those that find themselves in the crosshairs of the growing critical scrutiny are a group of specialized telecommunications companies.  

  

These companies provide two connected services to the corrections industry: communications tools that people in jails and prisons use to connect with family and people on the outside (telephones, but also modern devices like digital tablets); and security and investigatory tools built into the communications tech, which help correctional agencies monitor for criminal activity. 

  

On the surface, these may appear to be both good things. The problem, however, comes in how these products are paid for. See, it’s not the correctional agencies that pay for these services – companies charge for every call made, but it’s the families and friends of the imprisoned making the calls or accepting the calls that end up paying those bills. 

  

It obviously costs money to build, install, maintain, and secure this technology.  But, not all or even most of this money that is paid for those services goes to the telecoms themselves. 

  

What most people do not know is that the government takes a cut of the revenue – in many cases, the lion’s share. For example, in 2018 incarcerated individuals in Connecticut paid $13.2 million for phone calls. Nearly 60% of that money went to the state. 

  

Because of this model, the cost of making a call or sending an email from a correctional facility can be much higher than on the outside. And these costs can vary widely from state to state. In 2019, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, the average cost of a call from a jail in New Jersey cost $1.26, while that same call in Arkansas cost $14.49. 

  

Prison telecom companies have faced strong criticism in recent years from elected and community leaders for their role in these charges. I have expressed concern about the way these contracts put an unreasonable financial burden on families in our communities. In my civil rights career, I have experienced firsthand how prisoners and their families are taken advantage of and financially challenged by jail and prison regulated services. 

  

And at least one of these companies, Securus Technologies, appears to have taken this criticism to heart. In 2017, Securus was acquired by Platinum Equity, which is headed by Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores. At the time, many of us would have reasonably assumed that a private equity firm would simply extract as much value from the company as possible and then sell it at a profit. 

  

But that’s not what Gores did. Instead, he appears to have undertaken an effort to change some of the problematic business practices that have long plagued the correctional telecom industry. At the beginning of this year Gores brought in a new CEO for Securus, who committed to lowering their prices and improving the services they provide to incarcerated Americans. 

  

If you approach such a promise with a healthy dose of skepticism, you’re not alone – especially knowing the history of this industry. But for the moment, Securus seems to be making good on its promises. 

  

According to company updates, Securus has so far reduced the average cost of calls by 30%. It has renegotiated lower rates with 56 correctional agencies this year. It has been offering free calls and other communications to incarcerated individuals impacted by the pandemic – over 30 million to date. 

  

Was that enough? No.  Far from it. But it was an important start, and one that no other company in the prison telecom space has so far matched. Yet Gores appears to have been singled out for criticism by a group of advocates for the incarcerated. Sometimes even those with good intentions can find themselves caught up in the systemic problems of the correctional industry.

  

Those attacks came to a head this year when critics demanded that the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA) remove Gores from its board. They called him a “prison profiteer,” despite the fact that – as the LA Times notes – Gores had pledged 100% of his personal stake in Securus to helping reform its operations. 

  

LACMA eventually bowed to pressure and, to avoid further friction, Gores resigned his seat. This is exactly an example the consequences of poor judgement in public advocacy that does not actually help bring relief to the families of the mass incarcerated. Did LACMA improve the life of a single incarcerated individual by doing so? It did not. 

  

To be clear, the prison telecom industry remains in need of serious reform. We need to hold Securus and other telecoms accountable for changing their harmful business practices. But if we want people to do the right thing then we need to acknowledge when they actually strive to do the right thing. 

  

So where do we go from here? The solution is not, as some have suggested, to eliminate these companies altogether. The services they provide are needed, and few believe they could be offered at the same quality or efficiency by the public sector. And the security tools offered are necessary as well – among other things, they help prevent attempts to cause harm from within prison walls, from harassing victims to operating criminal activities on the outside. 

  

But individuals who have been sentenced to prison for a crime are already paying their debt to society. They should not also be forced to pay to help plug holes in the budget of a local warden or sheriff. 

  

State and county officials need to stop collecting “commissions” on these services, and where possible they should contribute public funds to reduce the costs of these communications tools for incarcerated Americans. 

  

Securus also needs to go further. Although they have lowered costs, their products remain far too costly for some of the most vulnerable members of our society. And their competitors need to follow suit – including the biggest operator in this space, Global Tel Link. 

  

While our democracy remains politically, socially, and economically divided, we all have just witnessed the transformative power of the vote by millions of people who care about the future of our nation. 

 

Ultimately, correctional telecom companies depend on contracts from state and local correct agencies. The heads of those agencies are appointed by elected officials. Criminal justice reform was on the national ballot.   

 

Voters must now hold all elected officials accountable on a wide array of issues including the issue of improving the telecom services offered to prisoners and their families. Stop the exploitation of prisoners and their families.  Prison wardens, county sheriffs, and state officials resolutely should stop taking advantage of incarcerated people.   

 

*** 

 

Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. is President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and Executive Producer/Host of The Chavis Chronicles www.TheChavisChronicles.com& dr.bchavis@nnpa.org  

Challenging The NCAA: HBCUs Say No More Discrimination In Academic Rules

'For more than 50 years, the NCAA has imposed academic rules to make sure college athletes aren't just athletes, and the decades-long process has generated plenty of controversy. Critics claim the academic standards, and the penalties for not meeting them, discriminate against Black college athletes and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.Now, lawyers have filed a class action, civil rights lawsuit demanding the NCAA's current system, called the Academic Performance Program, be abolished.' -- All Things Considered

On 'Still Here,' PJ Morton Reflects On Surviving 2020

'PJ Morton's new song, written for Morning Edition's Song Project, is about working — alongside the whole world — to get through a year of challenges and loss.'

'Farewell Amor': How Long Can A Family Stay Apart And Remain A Family?

'NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with filmmaker Ekwa Msangi about her new movie, Farewell Amor, which tells the story of a family reunited in New York City after 17 years apart due to visa issues.'

Fictional Blues: Narrative Self-Invention from Bessie Smith to Jack White – Author Kimberly Mack in Conversation with Emily J. Lordi

'Kimberly Mack and Emily J. Lordi in conversation about Mack’s book, Fictional Blues: Narrative Self-Invention from Bessie Smith to Jack White (University of Massachusetts Press, December 2020). They talk about multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to writing about music, with a specific focus on music and literature. Within the context of Fictional Blues, Mack and Lordi have a larger conversation about the importance and usefulness of narrative, particularly of the autobiographical variety, in popular music. How does fictionalized autobiographical storytelling function in blues song lyrics, vocalization, performance, and oral history? And why does it matter?'

Left of Black S11 · E7 | Joshua M. Myers on the Howard University Protest of 1989

Student protests have become a part of campus life to gain equity and visibility from university administrators. The 1989 Howard University protests were no different in raising issues of the time for a more Afrocentric curriculum among other concerns. Joshua M. Myers, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, joins Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal to discuss his latest publication, We Are Worth Fighting For: A History of the Howard University Student Protest of 1989, that delves into the politics that lead up to those protests and how they impacted one of the most prestigious HBCU's in the country.

'Black Swans': New Collection Features Recordings Of Early Black Classical Musicians

'NPR's Audie Cornish talks with Saïs Kamalidiin, a Howard University professor, about a new collection showcasing 25 recordings of early Black classical musicians, called Black Swans.' -- All Things Considered