† The Criminal InJustice Series is a weekly series devoted to taking action against inequities in the U.S. criminal justice system. Nancy A. Heitzeg, Professor of Sociology and Race/Ethnicity, is the Editor of CI. The Criminal Injustice Series is published every Wednesday at 6 pm CST.

Confronting the New Jim Crow in Community

by nancy a heitzeg

More on all this later i am sure, but I don’t have a lot to virtually say today because i have been busy in real time/real space getting ready for this ~

I decided to take all my information out of the classroom — off line and into the community most impacted by mass incarceration. In Minneapolis, that is the 55411. I was honored to be joined by a cast of local legends who have devoted their lives/careers to combating white supremacy where it arises, including of course the criminal injustice system.

But who ever knows who will turn up on summer day at 6 pm to discuss such daunting topics as the prison industrial complex and the school to prison pipeline??

But turn out they did — SRO. Ready, pre – Juneteenth, to confront this troubling statistic from The New Crow:

“More African American men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began.”

People are ready to take this on. To talk, to listen, to coalesce, to act.

So unplug yourselves and take it to your neighbors, your co-workers, to whomever you can, however you can.

Seize the Time…