Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 5, 2017)
July 5, 2017 Page 7 Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. O PINION Prisons, Poverty and the Price of Freedom Jay-Z gesture bring focus to justice reforms m arC h. m orial Hip-hop legend Jay-Z recently cele- brated Father’s Day by allowing incarcerated fathers to spend the day with their families. Pick any day of the week in America and an estimated 700,000 people are populating our nation’s local city and county jails. Of those behind bars, 60 percent, nearly half a mil- lion people—many of them black and Hispanic—will remain in jail, not because they have been con- victed of any crime, but because they are guilty of the unpardon- able crime of poverty and cannot afford the court-stipulated price tag placed on their freedom. Pretrial incarceration can look very different based on race and socio-economic status. A Bureau of Justice study found that African by Americans are 66 percent more likely to remain incarcerated be- fore trial and Hispanic defendants were 91 percent more likely to re- main trapped behind bars, in com- parison to white defendants. If a defendant cannot afford bail (nationally, 61 percent of defendants are required to post bail for pre- trial release), he or she will stay behind bars until trial. It is in that purgatory of be- ing presumed legally inno- cent, but locked away from your family, your job and support networks that Black and Hispanic communities are further trauma- tized and shattered. For decades, activists and so- cial justice groups have fought against this destructive facet of mass criminalization and incar- ceration. This year, the movement to reform our criminal justice sys- tem’s current application of pre- trial incarceration added the plat- form, power and philanthropy of a high-profile ally to its unceasing work: Jay-Z. The rapper, entrepreneur—not a businessman, but a business, man—and now proud father of three, donated to Southerners on New Ground and Color of Change to free and reunite incarcerated fathers with their families on Fa- ther’s Day—the continuation of an earlier campaign to bail out mothers of color for Mother’s Day. To put the impact of incarcer- ation on communities of color in context, it is important to note that today one in nine Black children living in America has an incarcer- ated parent in jail. In an essay for Time magazine explaining why he was taking on the “exploitative” bail industry, Jay-Z was personal and poignant: If you’re from neighborhoods like the Brooklyn one I grew up in, if you’re unable to afford a pri- vate attorney, then you can be dis- appeared into our jail system sim- ply because you can’t afford bail. Millions of people are separated from their families for months at a time — not because they are con- victed of committing a crime, but because they are accused of com- mitting a crime. […] When black and brown people are over-po- liced and arrested and accused of crimes at higher rates than others, and then forced to pay for their freedom before they ever see trial, big bail companies prosper. This pre-incarceration conundrum is devastating to families. The cost of being imprisoned as if you are guilty while you are legally innocent is high and the damage extends well beyond jail- house bars. From the separation of family members to jeopardiz- ing current—and future—hous- ing, benefits and work, studies have also consistently found that in comparison to defendants who were released before trial, defen- dants who remained incarcerated were three times more likely to be sentenced to prison, tended to receive longer sentences, and are more likely to reoffend the longer they are incarcerated. Be- cause the inability to pay bail is both an impediment to freedom and a major cause of pretrial in- carceration, people are essential- ly being punished for being poor. Like so many other misguided criminal justice actions, pretrial incarceration makes us less safe and poorer. As a nation, we are collectively footing a monstrous $9 billion dollar annual bill to incarcerate people who have not been convicted of a crime, while the ballooning bail bond industry continues to profit off the pover- ty and desperation of vulnerable communities. Many solutions to the problem of pretrial incarceration have been proposed, from limiting the use of pretrial incarceration to individ- uals who pose a threat to society to implementing alternative forms of bail besides cash bail—or forc- ing defendants to use bail bond companies that put profits before people and engage in predatory lending practices. We must reform this two-tiered system of injustice urgently—to save lives, families, communities, and restore our faith in our badly damaged criminal justice system. Marc H. Morial is president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League. Training and Connecting People to Employment Budgets reflect priorities and values j ameS P aulSon As the chair of Worksystems, the Portland Metro Workforce Devel- opment Board, the Trump Administra- tion’s new focus on workforce development sounds promising and signals a recogni- tion that improving the skills of American workers is key to ad- vancing and sustaining the great- ness of the nation. However, the President’s proposed budget plan includes a 40 percent cut in the primary resources used by the public workforce development system to train and connect people to employment. Funding for workforce devel- opment has already been reduced by $1 billion since 2010. Cutting further is counterintuitive and would be devastating to millions of job seekers around the country. Here at home, a cut of that mag- nitude would mean nearly 24,000 fewer people will be trained and placed in jobs. As is often the case, many of those impacted would be by our most vulnerable, at-risk, and underrepresented citizens. The President is focusing his jobs training message and dollars on the apprenticeship model. We support promoting appren- ticeships as a workforce strategy -it is a highly suc- cessful model that needs to be expanded. We have worked hard to advance this approach locally, among other proven programs, for many years. We completely disagree with the Administration’s claim that the federally funded workforce system is inefficient. What is needed is better alignment of job training resources with the public workforce system and increased coordination of programs target- ing job seekers with barriers to employment. The framework for this in- creased alignment and coordina- tion is outlined in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), passed with overwhelm- ing, bi-partisan support in July 2014. Implementation is just get- ting underway and needs to be al- lowed to continue. Locally, Worksystems is work- ing with our network of partners to coordinate and align resources to support the training and em- ployment needs of job seekers and employers in the Portland region. Each year, 60,000+ people visit one of our five WorkSource cen- ters to receive assistance - many of whom are low-income with barriers to entering the workforce. Our resources provide a broad range of services that enables job seekers to develop new skills and to advance in their career. We close the skills gap and put people to work every day while providing local employers with the skilled workers they need to compete and grow. Budgets reflect our nation’s priorities and values. The smart way to make America great again is to support our entire workforce so that everyone can maximize their potential and contribute to our economy. Investing in our workforce is the best investment that government can make. We need more funding to do this im- portant work, not the devastating cuts proposed by the Trump Ad- ministration. Worksystems is a non-profit agency that accelerates econom- ic growth in the City of Portland, Multnomah and Washington counties by pursuing and invest- ing resources to improve the qual- ity of the workforce. We design and coordinate workforce devel- opment programs and services need to go to work or to advance delivered through a network of lo- in their careers. cal partners to help people get the James Paulson is chair of skills, training and education they Worksystems. Advertise with diversity in The Portland Observer Call 503-288-0033 or email ads@portlandobserver.com