Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, May 30, 2003, Page 6, Image 6

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    20 million people could
be fed worldwide if food
was grown instead of me.
- c.
' m'
u n i ve rs i ty
COMMONS
apartments
90 Commons Drive
Eugene, OR 97401
Come Check
Us Out!
338.4000
Open Mon - Fri: 9 am - 6 pm * Sat: 10 am - 4 pm
Furnished 1, 2 & 4 Bedroom
Apartments with Washer & Dryer
—.i
1I
• clubhouse w/game room
• fitness center
• ample resident and visitor parking
• resort-like swimming pool
• lighted volleyball & basketball courts
• outdoor gas grills & bbq
• decked out kitchens
• cable/internet hookups
• emergency alarm buttons
• individual leases
• roommate matching service
• on bus route to campus
Bring this bill in and receive $100 off on your security deposit
limited time offer — '
www.universitycommons.com
University Commons Open Monday-Saturday
FIND THINGS IN ODE CLASSIFIEDS (BICYCLES, PETS, CARS, JOBS,
ROOMMATES, APARTMENTS, CONCERT TICKETS, PLANE TICKETS,
STUFF YOU LOST, TYPING SERVICES, ON-CAMPUS OPPORTUNITIES)
Wendy Kieffer for the Emerald
History professor Martin Summers takes notes while Dylan Rodriguez speaks about
issues of mass imprisonment, law enforcement and minorities.
Prisons
continued from page 1
“How sweeping and ominous po
lice and prisons have become,” Ro
driguez said. “You can’t imagine safe
ty and peace without ... someone
with a gun and a badge. ”
The term, coined by President
Dwight Eisenhower, has grown in the
past three decades, along with the
term “law and order,” to become
what policing is today, Rodriguez
said. He added that the Prison Indus
trial Complex is a series of relation
ships between different enforcement
agencies, such as security guard
unions and prisons and government
think tanks, that turn prisons into,
for example, places of profit.
“This phrase is not hyperbolic or
metaphorical—it’s empirical,” he said.
Lecture emcee and University
history Professor Carlos Aguirre
said America is a prime example of
the complex.
“United States leads the world in
incarceration rate,” he said, adding
that while the United States has 5
percent of the world’s population, it
has 25 percent of the world’s incar
cerated prisoners.
Rodriguez said imprisonment and
punishment is the way freedom is
valued in America, but that prisons
no longer care about rehabilitation
—their original goal—and that now
they care about punishing those who
don’t assimilate into society.
University Professor Emeritus Ed
win Coleman, whose name was also
used for the title of the lecture series
that included Thursday’s event, said
people of color are more susceptible
to being targeted by law enforcement.
“Because of DNA testing, a lot of
black people who are on death row
are being found innocent... but our
social justice system does not allow
them to have fair trials,” he said.
Rodriguez said popular culture
views of prisons are incorrect be
cause they show an equal threat
from prisoners and guards, when in
reality the guards have all the pow
er, and by portraying a main charac
ter as innocent and undeserving of a
prison sentence, films suggest that
everyone else is guilty.
He also said law enforcement
needs to be revised. Self-defense and
community accountability—a situ
ation, for example, where someone
knows he will be killed if he attempts
to rape a woman — can keep the
community safer than police officers
could, who currently have that task.
“Once you’re convicted or incar
cerated, you no longer exist,” he said,
adding that once people are in prison,
they are converted to slaves through
physical and psychological torture,
and are not allowed to have any con
tact with the outside world. “I would
caution you to think you’re getting jus
tice from the justice system.”
Contact the reporter
atromangokhman@dailyemerald.com.
016581
£ntesi, to.
WIN (JIUI!
100 • 'CO • '2C UQ (flmtus (flui
Ou,tlte-!}vd&Metcj0.to:..
www.pulseresearch.com/
dailyemerald
The online reader survey is
lent, Ian, andeaAy to do. Just
type in the web address and
answer the questions. Your
opinion is extremely
important to us.
Winners will be selected from all survey
respondents in a reader survey being
conducted by this paper.
Oregon Daily Emerald
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
I WOMEN'S A CAPPELLA
VMSI
SPRING CONCERT
SUN, JUNE 1,2003 8 PM
with special guests:
o O^t&e Rp'cMsi'
§ and OA/&VCA4&
CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
555 E. 15th (corner of 15th &Patterson)
$4 students, $7 non-students
check us out at: http://divisi.does.it
Today's crossword solution