2008 Woodie Awards
"Race War" Fueled by the Media's Hype
Tensions run deeper than just race.
Will Reyes
Issue date: 3/29/06 Section: Opinion
Gang wars have resulted in hundreds of injuries and two deaths in California prisons since this past February, exposing a serious problem and leading to the glorification of a so called "Race war" between black and Hispanic men.
The ongoing prison riots brought the sensitive subject of race relations between California's two biggest minority groups directly to center stage.
The problem with the news coverage is that they set their focus on the wrong issue, giving nearly all their attention to race and ignoring other factors.
California has 33 prisons with a total population of roughly 170,000 inmates; approximately 40 percent of which are Hispanic and 30 percent are black.
Many of those are non-violent offenders sent into a state corrections system that has a budget of more than $7 billion dollars.
While racism is definitely a factor and a reality among today's poor California communities, which account for a significant number of the people sent into the prison system, it isn't the sole or even most important issue.
The recent violence is the result of a number of issues that go beyond much more than just gang-induced hate and skin color, but stem from exaggerated and harsh laws, segregationist prison policies and a lack of reform alternatives for criminals.
California's strict "Three Strikes" law is notorious for condemning criminals to long-term sentences for repeat convictions regardless of the severity of the crimes, and other broad anti-gang laws send many members to jail simply for being in a gang.
"California's answer to gangs is 25-to-life for teenagers," said J.R., a gang intervention speaker and former gang member who spent 12 years in prison.
The poor conditions present in the areas where gangs thrive and the sense of belonging they give disadvantaged youth are never taken into account by the system that failed them.
Valid alternatives are rarely offered and young gang members are instead given a ticket to a "criminal university" that instills racism and harvests hate that spills back out onto the streets.
The ongoing prison riots brought the sensitive subject of race relations between California's two biggest minority groups directly to center stage.
The problem with the news coverage is that they set their focus on the wrong issue, giving nearly all their attention to race and ignoring other factors.
California has 33 prisons with a total population of roughly 170,000 inmates; approximately 40 percent of which are Hispanic and 30 percent are black.
Many of those are non-violent offenders sent into a state corrections system that has a budget of more than $7 billion dollars.
While racism is definitely a factor and a reality among today's poor California communities, which account for a significant number of the people sent into the prison system, it isn't the sole or even most important issue.
The recent violence is the result of a number of issues that go beyond much more than just gang-induced hate and skin color, but stem from exaggerated and harsh laws, segregationist prison policies and a lack of reform alternatives for criminals.
California's strict "Three Strikes" law is notorious for condemning criminals to long-term sentences for repeat convictions regardless of the severity of the crimes, and other broad anti-gang laws send many members to jail simply for being in a gang.
"California's answer to gangs is 25-to-life for teenagers," said J.R., a gang intervention speaker and former gang member who spent 12 years in prison.
The poor conditions present in the areas where gangs thrive and the sense of belonging they give disadvantaged youth are never taken into account by the system that failed them.
Valid alternatives are rarely offered and young gang members are instead given a ticket to a "criminal university" that instills racism and harvests hate that spills back out onto the streets.
