The most recent U.S. Census data estimates African Americans comprise 12.22 percent of the population, but the figure more than doubles to 30.4 percent when it comes to the nation’s prison population. This appalling stat begs the question: who controls the criminal justice system? Private companies operate over 250 correctional facilities, which then raises a “prisoner for profit” issue.
Directed by Harry Davis, the gritty film Joy Road stars Wood Harris, perhaps best known for his role in The Wire, and tells the story of a fictional corporation that is paid to come up with laws that send and keep people in jail. A winner at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, Hamptons Black International Film Festival and an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival in 2009, the indie project is set to hit theaters in October.
Until then, you can download the film’s free app which can be used to obtain more info and voice your opinions about this injustice. But first, share them with us.
How do we fix this problem? Are you serious? Private prisons are only tangentially (minimally) a problem. If you are a black man and woman, who was raised by two parents who STRESSED the importance of education and as a result you had achieved academic success, chances are you aren’t randomly finding yourself locked up.
We need to stop playing ourselves in believing that others are the cause of our own shortcomings. Yes, government policy is always gonna be a battle that we need to fight. But to blame prison policy when 82% of us don’t have an involved father to that raises black children… or the absolutely low level of academic achievement…common son!
My parents are African immigrants…we had language barriers and poverty… put me in the same school as as African-Americans and I still performed well despite my peers getting locked up/ pregnant/ dropping out/ just barely graduating. There’s something to be said about a value system deficit in the African-American community that we need to stop ignoring.
I’m always personally way more outraged when I see how black people keep our own selves down, as opposed to this prison stuff which doesn’t faze me–I don’t expect much from the majority group that for generations profited off imperialism and slavery.
We need to do better for ourselves..
Agreed. I too (as well as my brother) were raised in a house with a mother and father. We are African Americans and neither of us have feed the system. It is a choice. I’m not even sure if being raised by a mother and father make that difference because i know plenty who were not and are not in the system. After a certain age it is a choice!
Perfectly said!
@ Youngzo
You’re an idiot. The prisoner complex is a modern day slave plantation, devised to keep black men in prison. Why do you think there are harsher jail sentences for narcotics? As oppose to “white collar crimes”? Do you think those white boys that created that madness on wallstreet are gonna see the same amount of time as Ray-ray down the block that was arrested for weed possession? C’mon now.
DITTO!!! I couldn’ve said it better.
@CIRC1984- you’re the idiot. Since WE KNOW the system is created for us to fail – WHY DO WE KEEP FALLING INTO THEIR TRAP??? Like Youngzo said – they’re something to be said about value system deficit in the AA community. Ok – so yeah prisons can be considered mordern slavery, but guess what, our brothers have a choice not to become slaves!!! Maybe because I too was raised in a two parent home – I get it. My brother and I have never been “victims” of the system. We can’t expect “the man” to give a dayum about us – we have to care for ourselves. So instead of highlighting the fact that prisons are modern day slave systems – how about we start a dialogue about preventing our youth from even getting caught up in such a system. At the end of day, we all know the difference between right and wrong.
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The real way to “fix it” is to not feed the system with doing crimes…period, end of story…
EXACTLY.
At first I was reaaaalll happy to see what this movie had to offer, however after watching I no longer care for it. While the story they are telling is true, the way in which the story is being told fits right into Hood Films of the 90s. If anything, the movie should have been more critical of the system, similar to American Violet. I give this movie ✩ star for effort.
As to fixing the problem: Let it be clear that the same system that brought you plantations, brought you the prison system. It is a part of this nations capitalistic and imperialistic control: free labor and the exploitation of human rights. Black bodies are still attached to the idea of commodities. This is why there is racial profiling and higher prison rates for people of color. Statistically, white individuals participate in more criminal activities than people of color. The state is a fascist, racist, terrorist organization that is beyond reform. It is intrinsically anti-Black. And this system has become globalized. So what does all this mean? We need more activism in our local communities and we need more social (survival) programs that help fight the institution on it own terms. We can’t think just because “i made it” “Obama made it” etc. that everyone else will have the same opportunity and chances. Not true. Families, communities, cultures, all vary. It’s not that simple. However, what is simple is that everyone deserves the same chance at life. And since the inception of the new world, everyone has not gotten it. (Gets off soap box)
So true!
THANK YOU TRUTHBTOLD FOR BEING REAL IN YOUR POINT OF VIEW…I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOUNGZO IS TALKING ABOUT..BC IF YOU WERE AN AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND NOW YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN YOU HAVE SEEMINGLY FORGOTTEN THE ODDS THAT WERE STACKED UPON YOUR FAMILY WHEN YOU LEFT YOUR COUNTRY…STOP TRYING TO ELOQUENTLY TEAR DOWN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE AND MAKE YOURSELF SHINE…YOU SAY YOUR FAMILY IS BETTER AND YOU GREW UP IN A TWO FAMILY HOME…WELL THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PRISON SYSTEM AND THE SLAVE DOCTRINE THEY’VE ADOPTED…I’VE SEEN VERY EDUCATED WELL TO DO FAMILIES IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD RAISE MANY OF MY FRIENDS AND TODAY I COULD NOT TELL YOU HOW MANY OF THEM ARE ON DRUGS, AND HABITUAL CRIMINALS…
As I mentioned in the first post the antecedents of those that operate prisons today are former slave-masters/ colonial oligarchs (and i think that we all agree that the institutional similarities between the two forms are glaringly obvious). Notwithstanding this challenge (which I said we should continue to demand change on) our BIGGEST problem starts much closer to home. It is absurd that huge factions of the African-American community look outside their own community as the primary source of our disadvantaged situation. This is lunacy.
Why don’t we focus on fixing the problems inside our homes instead of making the primary focus on changing the minds of our oppressors (I’m not saying we can’t do both, but let us first put an emphasis on what we can change ourselves without assent from Republican or Democratic congress!). Just look at how poor immigrants who are presently outperforming their black peers despite having similar economic barriers, and greater cultural and language barriers being new to American society. You are trying to tell me we can’t do better than this because of prisons and discrimination? Wake up my friend.
News flash, no matter what country you go to rich people don’t face the same level of punishment as the less well-to-do. Is this fair? Obviously it’s not, but it’s completely illogical to attribute this as the cause of African-American plight, while ignoring the far more consequential components that are keeping black folk down –like having one of the WORLD’S highest (if not the highest in the world) rates of children born out of wedlock (African’s don’t live like this in Africa and we damn sure shouldn’t tolerate it here either!)
Discrimination exists but even that is changing with demographic shifts that will see black/latino/minorities as a collective majority group in the coming decades. Without a strong emphasis on academics, and a strong two-parent support system, where will we be even if all prisons were abolished tomorrow?
Wake up and take charge!
I like Truth’s and Youngzo’s comments.
i will b 1st in line to see this…..we need to stop attracting attention with our cars and clothes they already looking because we black so have your ass covered(no warrants)and you will have the upper hand and no drinking and driving! drink & smoke at home
It’s a part of the black tax – we have to work harder/be better to get ahead. Which means we can’t commit petty crimes and expect the same judgement as our white counterparts. WE HAVE TO DO BETTER AND NOT GET CAUGHT UP IN THE SYSTEM. Black folks are in serious denial about what’s really going on in our community. We make ourselves victims and until we get another mindset, NOTHING will never change.
@CSOF1023 LOVE LOVE LOVE your comments as well as the others that are making sense…
educate, educate, educate!!! Start at grassroots, schools(perferably elementary), churches, community outreach programs. Heck it doesn’t hurt to get to know the local police department. (Not all police are crooked) But we have to roll our sleeves up and start teaching moral values; particular at a young age. When everyone feels that law enforcement and goverment are causing tyranny among the AA communities, instead of being stupid and burning down neighborhoods; looting and rioting; How about there be civil protest, boycotts, recalls. Create legislature, camp out in front of capital hill and present those proposed ideas. Start boycotting products and associations that sponsors the degradation of AAs. Post protesting vidoeos on youtube, twitter, and facebook. But first must work on oneself and don’t loose site of moral values in order to make some change. Because no one is going to take any person serious attending council meetings cursing like a sailors, screaming at the top of their lungs like a mad man/woman, and not providing evidence and signatures backing legislative change.
Someone mentioned earlier about immigrants coming here to the US illegal/legal and out shining black peers, they put family moral value first.
In all, good comments. Keep them going.
We are the makers of the film in question. Please know that we created an iphone and android APP in connection with the film called “Joy Road”. In the APP, you can record your views and send them to our youtube site. We’d like to get a Global conversation started – also in the APP, you can protest the prison movement by sending a resolution to your Governor.
Check it out – download the APP now from either itunes or the Android market – It’s free.
The mentality that MRS. T. CHAMPION has been indoctrinated with is a great example of the challenges we face in the African-American community. Because I said that blacks in America would prosper more and be incarcerated less -even in a heavily discriminatory society- if we focused primarily on the things we can change like father involvement in black households and greater stress on education, she rebukes me as “TEAR[ING] DOWN THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURE.”
With that said, I can only imagine all the African-American academics over the last century and a half who would be turning in their graves at her suggestions that the black culture cannot be synonymous with academic achievement and a strong Afrocentric two-parent value system.
MRS. T. CHAMPION, how is my statement that we can approach a greater potential by changing the things inside our community that marginalize black success equivalent in your head to someone “TEAR[ING] DOWN AFRICAN-AMERICAN CULTURE”?
The belief set observed by MRS. T. CHAMPION is like a cancer in our community. If we don’t believe that we ought to do much better for ourselves, then how can we expect our children to shine at school or strive to study so they can meet their highest professional potential? If we cannot make appropriate introspective criticisms about our actions as far as they relate to the connection with the prison problem, then how are we gonna change the prison problem? Through a Republican/Democratic majority white congress?? Wake up! Yes MRS. T. CHAMPION, education and parenting are DIRECTLY RELATED TO INCARCERATION(and I wasn’t off topic by bring them up)…look at the typical background of an incarcerated African-American: most had single mother upbringings and a great number never graduated from high school and VERY few of them university-educated. I’m surprised that anyone would need to explain this link because it seems obvious to most people.
For example, we listen to self-hating music that actually preaches “killin niggas” and we are surprised that the white man no longer is our greatest nemesis– we are to ourselves. I don’t expect much from rappers who are themselves paid by white music execs to promote black underachievement,consumerism and thus poverty…but I DO expect more from parents and communities who can ban together and not allow their children to be poisoned with this backwards mentality. After a child has been brainwashed for years by the tolerance of their community towards keepin it real and the music they listen to that actually promotes crime and acquiring superficial wealth etc etc, why would you be surprised that they end up locked up if that same child has no father to set him straight and is constantly facing an uphill battle in life?
Would you be surprised that a white child who was allowed by their parents to listen to hate-music against blacks turned out to become a supremacists? So why are we shocked and looking everywhere but in our own actions when it comes to the things we permit (and even worse, promote) that could ONLY serve to keep us down? like the type of raps I keep hearing on the radio.
Yes, prisons are like traps…but to suggest that we have to fall for this same trap unless laws are changed even though we know how to avoid the trap is completely backwards and illogical to me.
You’re on point YoungZo!!!
It is so funny to view the comments of the YoungZO… so what you are saying is that one african american made it so can the others. Forget the systematic injustice that blacks face everyday, but I guess if you continue to use big words you may be able to convience more people you actually know what the hell you are talking about… LOL!!!
Great Comments!!
Yes! Yes! I feel the same way! Same thing I said about people starting a petition so that selling Crack and selling Cocaine would be on the same “playing field” when it comes to sentencing since apparently cocaine gets a lighter sentence, since “apparently” its sold more by white people. Lol absolutely not! Its illegal PERIOD, so if you think your getting an unfair treatment during your illegal actions perhaps you should smarten up and stop doing it! Its common knowledge the judicial system isnt fair, so in my opinion the only way to fix it is for people to realize crime is not the way to go.
Great Comments!
Said a lot more but apparently everything i wrote is awaiting moderation. But bottom line we need to stop all the finger pointing and start taking some responsibility for the issues that are going on our community.
interesting comments today. *clap clap*
Firt of all I’m just happy that were having a healthy debate about how to improve as a people instead of talking about how many babies little wayne has or what Rhianna had on yesterday! Secondly I have to agree with Youngzo, if we are aware of how the system treats us unfairly, then don’t get caught up in it!!!!! Lastly, when 80% of our homes don’t have a father in them, you can pretty much write us off until that changes!
This just another one of those things that if we cant change it, then we must go around it. There are a lot of things that are unfair to certain groups of people, and because it makes money for others, there is a drive for it to continue. That’s a FACT! Now, we have been aware of this unfair treatment, for over a 100 years. Yet, it doesn’t stop us from trying our hand at selling a lil’ bit of dope to make a few bucks, and when we get caught were put under the jail. So, knowing that my crime will not fit my time, is enough for me to see that my little mistake, could last me a life time. We KNOW, that prisons don’t really rehabilitate drug dealer’s. So the law knows how much they want to give in punishment, as does the offender, so we need to take that into consideration and dig deep inside and find a better way at making a living. Now for those who are just products of their environment, then the real concern should start there. In their schools, homes, and how we parent our children, and educate them on perseverance. But it is so hard for young men, and women to OBTAIN A JOB that is full of glitz and glam, as the people they so admire! Its that what our goals in life should be? Why do we feel that having that famous life will give us happiness? Is that what life is, fame, and fortune? For many, YES! Stay out the system or you could be lost forever. For those who are lost, and then transition into prison need an intervention at a young age. Maybe a film that documents us going to reach out to the inner cities, and following kids in their lives can nip it in the butt before they are just facilitated black men AND WOMEN! Any volunteers? Opportunities available at your local schools, and projects! When it gets to the point when we know why we suffer, and we continue to fall into that trap it shows mental illness, and we need to build ourselves back up, and not also fall into the trap that “we black, and this is how black folks live” There are so many Black people who have open doors for us, that now its really just on how strong we are to make it through all the bull life throws at us!! stay up, and shoot for the stars!
A lot of great comments.
I live in NYC and I’m actually starting to see things being done about this. A local church was hadning out flyers to have men come out every thursday morings to hold a prayer meeting & talking about improving the community.
Although I know many ppl wont come out, it’s good to just SEE these things are going on…the more and more our young ppl see these things, eventually things will start to change.
stop commiting crimes = no jail PROBLEM FIXED……
I just paid $22.87 for an iPad2-64GB and my girlfriend loves her Panasonic Lumix GF 1 Camera that we got for $38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $675 which only cost me $62.81 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from, HitPenny.çom
This movie is a FAILURE, just based on the trailer. We have had enough movies semi glorifying crime, while at the same time trying to portray blacks in position positions of government. But the message that will be ultimately taken away from the film will be glorification of street thugs, down ass bitches, and deplorable neighborhoods that look like shit.
I give the movie and “F-”, it basically reaches back to other films that has brainwashed out minds and led us to the sad economic situation we are in today.
As in films like this of the past, it is easy for black men to try and portray a life of crime and jail incarceration and think that it is normalness to be a repeat offender and live in trashy hoods and destroy the very same property that they live in.
This is just another remake of the same bullshit, we have been feed and thought to believe how u make it in life.
Black men are easily persuaded to leave a movie theater and go out and incorporate these characters as a part of who they are and act out the same crimes. History has proven it.
Chuck, we made this film, Joy Road. You are wrong to assume you know what it’s about. The film chronicles the journey of Attorney, Tony Smalls (Wood Harris) as he struggles to accept and embrace his identity and role as a member of the AA middle class. The thugs in the film are actually exploited by the corrupt system as thug mascots. There will always be a bigger thug and many times the bigger thug is the system itself.
So please give the film a chance. Be open minded. It is a “smart” film that was in Sundance. Trust us, the regular black film fodder would not be accepted into sundance.
This is real. Finally educating our youth . Hooray to the people who put this together together great job good luck
*Stop committing crimes. It’s as simple as that. There are black people that live their whole life without going to jail or being arrested. They aren’t just people who live in middle-classs or upscale neighborhoods. There are millions of black folks in rural and urban “hoods” that actually live a life free of prison/jail. It’s up to the individual. We know right from wrong. We know what will get us behind bars.
* Exception – those wrongly accused