Yoshie Furuhashi:
> I've been making an argument that, given our limited resources, it
> makes sense to highlight the centrality of criminal justice in the
> reproduction of race & racism. It seems to me that there is a good
> chance to make a difference now, due to several reasons:
>
> 1. The "boom" -- such as it is -- of the 1990s & relatively low
> rates of unemployment have reduced crimes & made an increasing number
> of Americans less fearful about personal safety than during the
> 1980s. Since the boom is likely petering out (though it's not clear
> if it will end in a soft or hard landing) soon, we may not have much
> time left. Nonetheless, we should take advantage of low unemployment
> rates which tend to make people -- especially youths -- less
> conservative than otherwise (Seattle, A16, etc. are signs of good
> times).
>
> 2. The wars on drugs & crimes have become so costly that changes in
> policy must come, one way or another -- or so many Americans have
> begun to think. Prop. 36 in California may be a harbinger, and
> medical marijuana legalization is gaining momentum:
> ...
> 3. With the George W. Bush presidency, there is a likelihood that
> liberals & leftists will find it easier to mount an aggressive
> offensive on the criminal justice front. Who can better serve as the
> emblem of the American Panopticon than the former _Texas_ governor?
> Who can better symbolize American hypocrisy & class privilege than
> the former frat boy with criminal records who grabs the highest
> office in the country in an election tarnished with suspicions of
> frauds & intimidations of black voters?
>
> 4. With the war on drugs in Columbia, there is a chance that
> leftists will get motivated to rejuvenate & expand Central American
> solidarity groups created during the 1980s.
I hope you're right about the Drug War. But I have to point out that opposition to the Drug War isn't a particularly leftist position -- as has been noted recently, there are plenty of non-leftists who now oppose it, and on the other hand Gore's fans, including many on this mail list, couldn't see any weight in the argument that Gore's enthusiasm for this manifest crime against humanity in any way disqualified him for their support.
In regard to (3), I think Americans like hypocrisy and class privilege as long as it wins and doesn't cost them much. They have to be shown that it is _their_ ox which is (heh) gored by the police state.