[lbo-talk] Re: war propaganda

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>>No, they actually lie. Good lawyers tell the truth -- about what 
>>the proof is, what the law shows. What the facts really are, the 
>>jury decides. Obviously reasonable minds can differ on what the 
>>proof is and what the law shows, which is why we have an adversary 
>>system to present what is supposed to be the best arguments for 
>>eacch point of view.
>
>[By golly, Justin, as PR-spinning goes, it's hard to beat your 
>clarion declaration of juridical high-mindedness.  But our legal 
>system is of course a sham.  From the NY Times, the latest exhibit:]
>
>Prison Rates Among Blacks Reach a Peak, Report Finds
>
>By FOX BUTTERFIELD
>
>An estimated 12 percent of African-American men ages 20 to 34 are in 
>jail or prison, according to a report released yesterday by the 
>Justice Department.
>
>The proportion of young black men who are incarcerated has been 
>rising in recent years, and this is the highest rate ever measured, 
>said Allen J. Beck, the chief prison demographer for the Bureau of 
>Justice Statistics, the statistical arm of the Justice Department.
>
>By comparison, 1.6 percent of white men in the same age group are 
>incarcerated.
>
>The report found that the number of people in United States jails 
>and prisons exceeded 2 million for the first time last year, rising 
>to 2,019,234. ...
>
>Mr. Beck said that the 12 percent of black men in their 20's and 
>early 30's in jail or prison was "a very dramatic number, very 
>significant."
>
>That is just the rate on a given day, Mr. Beck said. Over the course 
>of a lifetime, the rates are much higher, he said. The Bureau of 
>Justice Statistics has calculated that 28 percent of black men will 
>be sent to jail or prison in their lifetime.
>
><http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/07/national/07PRIS.html>
>
>Carl

Is this not a crime against humanity in itself?  Are there any other 
nations in the world that have imprisoned such astonishingly high 
proportions of men of their oppressed communities?
-- 
Yoshie

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