Homeboy Sandman
GoldenUndergroundTV recently released an interview I did with them late last year. I got a bit animated at the end. Only so many interviews in a row I could handle being asked about Chief Keef.
My tirade wasn’t really about Chief Keef. It wasn’t about Gucci Mane or Wocka Flocka or any of the acts spontaneously catapulted into stardom by synchronized mass media coverage despite seemingly universal indifference (at the very best) regarding their talent. Whose arrests, involvement in underaged pregnancies, concert shootouts, and facial tattoos, dominate conversation for weeks at a time, with their actual music a mere afterthought, if thought of at all.
My tirade was about marketing. It was about media powers seeking out the biggest pretend criminal kingpins they can find, (many of whom who shamelessly adopt the names of actual real life criminal kingpins like 50 Cent and Rick Ross), and exalting them as the poster children for a culture. It was about an art form reduced to product placement, the selling of a lifestyle, and ultimately, a huge ad for imprisonment.
This is not my opinion.
Last year Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the biggest name in the private prison industry, contacted 48 states offering to buy their prisons. One stipulation of eligibility for the deal was particularly bizarre: “an assurance by the agency partner that the agency has sufficient inmate population to maintain a minimum 90% occupancy rate over the term of the contract.
What kind of legitimate and ethical measures could possibly be taken to ensure the maintenance of a 90% prison occupancy rate?
Two months later an anonymous email was sent out to various members of the music and publishing industries giving an account of a meeting where it was determined that hip-hop music would be manipulated to drive up privatized prison profits. Its author, despite claiming to be a former industry insider, did not provide the names of anyone involved in the plot, nor did he specify by which company he himself was employed. As such, the letter was largely regarded as a fraud for lack of facts.
Here are facts:
Ninety percent of what Americans read, watch and listen to is controlled by only six media companies. PBS’s Frontline has described the conglomerates that determine what information is disseminated to the public as a “web of business relationships that now defines America’s media and culture.” Business relationships. Last year a mere 232 media executives were responsible for the intake of 277 million Americans, controlling all the avenues necessary to manufacture any celebrity and incite any trend. Time Warner, as owner of Warner Bros Records (among many other record labels), can not only sign an artist to a recording contract but, as the owner of Entertainment Weekly, can see to it that they get next week’s cover. Also the owner of New Line Cinemas, HBO and TNT, they can have their artist cast in a leading role in a film that, when pulled from theaters, will be put into rotation first on premium, then on basic, cable. Without any consideration to the music whatsoever, the artist will already be a star, though such monopolies also extend into radio stations and networks that air music videos. For consumers, choice is often illusory. Both BET and MTV belong to Viacom. While Hot 97, NYC’s top hip hop station, is owned by Emmis Communications, online streaming is controlled by Clear Channel, who also owns rival station Power 105.
None of this is exactly breaking news, but when ownership of these media conglomerates is cross checked with ownership of the biggest names in prison privatization, interesting new facts emerge.
According to public analysis from Bloomberg, the largest holder in Corrections Corporation of America is Vanguard Group Incorporated. Interestingly enough, Vanguard also holds considerable stake in the media giants determining this country’s culture. In fact, Vanguard is the third largest holder in both Viacom and Time Warner. Vanguard is also the third largest holder in the GEO Group, whose correctional, detention and community reentry services boast 101 facilities, approximately 73,000 beds and 18,000 employees. Second nationally only to Corrections Corporation of America, GEO’s facilities are located not only in the United States but in the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa.
You may be thinking, “Well, Vanguard is only the third largest holder in those media conglomerates, which is no guarantee that they’re calling any shots.” Well, the number-one holder of both Viacom and Time Warner is a company called Blackrock. Blackrock is the second largest holder in Corrections Corporation of America, second only to Vanguard, and the sixth largest holder in the GEO Group.
There are many other startling overlaps in private-prison/mass-media ownership, but two underlying facts become clear very quickly: The people who own the media are the same people who own private prisons, the EXACT same people, and using one to promote the other is (or “would be,” depending on your analysis) very lucrative.
Such a scheme would mean some very greedy, very racist people.
There are facts to back that up, too.
Prison industry lobbyists developing and encouraging criminal justice policies to advance financial interests has been well-documented. The most notorious example is the Washington-based American Legislative Council, a policy organization funded by CCA and GEO, which successfully championed the incarceration promoting “truth in sentencing” and “three-strikes” sentencing laws. If the motive of the private prison industry were the goodhearted desire to get hold of inmates as quickly as possible for the purpose of sooner successfully rehabilitating them, maintenance of a 90% occupancy rate would be considered a huge failure, not a functioning prerequisite.
Likewise, the largest rise in incarceration that this country has ever seen correlates precisely with early-80’s prison privatization. This despite the fact that crime rates actually declined since this time. This decreasing crime rate was pointed out enthusiastically by skeptics eager to debunk last year’s anonymous industry insider, who painted a picture of popularized hip-hop as a tool for imprisoning masses. What wasn’t pointed out was that despite crime rates going down, incarceration rates have skyrocketed. While the size of the prison population changed dramatically, so did its complexion. In “‘All Eyez on Me’: America’s War on Drugs and the Prison-Industrial Complex,” Andre Douglas Pond Cummings documents the obvious truth that “the vast majority of the prisoner increase in the United States has come from African-American and Latino citizen drug arrests.”
Add to this well-documented statistics proving that the so-called “war on drugs” has been waged almost entirely on low-income communities of color, where up until just two years ago, cocaine sold in crack form fetched sentences 100 times as lengthy as the exact same amount of cocaine sold in powdered form, which is much more common in cocaine arrests in affluent communities. (In July 2010 the oddly named Fair Sentencing Act was adopted, which, rather than reducing the crack/powder disparity from 100-to-1 to 1-to-1, reduced it to 18-to-1, which is still grossly unfair.) This is not to suggest that the crack/powder disparity represents the extent of the racism rampant within the incarceration industry. The U.S. Sentencing Commission reported in March 2010 that in the federal prison system, even where convicted for the exact same crimes, people of color received prison sentences 10% longer . Where convictions are identical, mandatory minimum sentences are also 21% more likely for people of color.
Finally, let us not forget the wealth of evidence to support the notion that crime-, drug- and prison-glorifying hip-hop only outsells other hip-hop because it receives so much more exposure and financial backing, and that when given equal exposure, talent is a much more reliable indicator of success than content.
Yasiin Bey aka Mos def
Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) put it best; “‘hip-hop” is just shorthand for ‘black people.'” Before our eyes and ears, a “web of business relationships that now defines America’s media and culture” has one particular business raking in billions of dollars while another defines the culture of a specific demographic as criminal. Both business are owned by the same people. Mainstream media continue to endorse hip-hop that glorifies criminality (most notably drug trafficking and violence), and private prison interests, long since proven to value profits over human rights, usher in inmates of color to meet capacity quotas. The same people disproportionately incarcerated when exposed to the criminal justice system are at every turn inundated with media normalizing incarceration to the point that wherever there is mainstream hip-hop music, reference to imprisonment as an ordinary, even expected, component of life is sure to follow.
Conspiracy theorists get a lot of flak for daring entertain the notion that people will do evil things for money. Historical atrocities like slavery and the Holocaust are universally acknowledged, yet simultaneously adopted is the contradictory position that there can’t possibly be any human beings around intelligent enough and immoral enough to perpetrate such things. Even in the midst of the Europe-wide beef that was actually horse-meat fiasco, and the release of real-life nightmare documenting films like “Sunshine and Oranges,” there is an abundance of people content to believe that the only conspiracies that ever exist are those that have successfully been exposed.
The information in this article was not difficult to find; it is all public.
This is not a conspiracy. This is a fact.
Private Prisons Public Functions
written by Homeboy Sandman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF5BddCHDfs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi-HwupJ0DA
Good read!
YOU GUYS ARE TRYING TO SHOW A LINK OF CAUSALITY WHEN ONE DOESN’T EXISTS. THESE FOLKS MUST HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT HOW THE BANKING INDUSTRY WORKS OR CONGLOMERATES. I READ THIS AND WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED IN THE CONFUSION BETWEEN A CORRELATION AND CAUSALITY SO I WROTE A PROPER RESPONSE. IF YOU TRULY WANT TO EDUCATE YOURSELVES READ IT:
The article says, “This is not my opinion, these are facts.” Yes, that is true. However, facts can be used to try to show a casual relationship that doesn’t really exist, which I believe is more so the case here.
Just because there is a correlation to the rise of privatized prisons and the rise of gangster rap, coupled with the fact that Media conglomerates are big investors into the private prison system through companies like CCA, does NOT mean that the media is trying to manipulate the african-american population into to become criminals so that they can incarcerate them in private prisons.
Groups like Vanguard and Blackrock are not morally righteousness corporations; they are in this to make money, plain and simple, that’s it.
Gangster rap is/was popular on its own right, the media did not make 2pac and NWA and others famous and did not encourage them to promote criminal behavior, the rappers did that on their own as a form of expression. The media conglomerators and others realized, “holy shit, this is going to be very profitable.” So they invest in it and use their media outlets to help facilitate its growth.
Remember, they do what they do to make money, that’s it. The rise of privatized prisons happens to occur in the mid 80s and has continued into present day. They also heavily invested in privatized prisons to make money. The two occurred at similar times and also at not-so-similar rates of progression showing a correlation and not a causation. They saw the inevitable rise of gangster raps popularity, and the inevitable rise of privatized prisons, but that does not mean that they are casually related.
It’s kind of like a medical group that invests in providing healthcare. It is inevitable that people are unhealthy and need care so they invest in their rehabilitation, but it does not mean that they are also purposefully trying to get people sick so that their industry is more profitable.
The media conglomerates are multi-hundred-billion dollar agencies, have you seen some of the other industries they are invested in? The media conglomerates are major investors in defense contractors, but I don’t hear you making the argument that they are also promoting world-wide wars because of it.
Simply because they are invested in gangster rap and privatized prisons and that both have happened to have risen simultaneously doesn’t mean they are causally related.
By that logic, you are suggesting that the thousands of industries/business that those media conglomerates are invested in that have also risen are casually related. Is it not possible that they were both just good investments?
Look, these are multi-hundred-billion dollar groups we’re talking about, they are BIG investors in just about everything, but that doesn’t mean that they are also responsible for the successes of those industries.
“The people who own the media are the same people who own private prisons, the EXACT same people, and using one to promote the other is (or “would be,” depending on your analysis) very lucrative”
Actually, this says that the people who own the media are some, not all, not half, not a third, just some of the people who also are the same people who own private prisons. But they are the same people that own a thousand other things as well.
Incarceration rates have gone up, but that is a function of the interpretation of laws and their enforcement, which is not something “the media” has control over. The media conglomerates are not arresting people, the government is.
So again, while all of this might seem dark and scary because the fact that media conglomerates are invested in two industries that happened to rise in size and value in similar time frames, does not mean that they are casually related by any means.
Correlation does not equal causality! They made good investments in two industries that happen to rise at similar times because that is what they do., make investments that they think will make them money.
Oh, some of the other MAJOR notable investors in private prisons include: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Northern Trust Corp, Morgan Stanely, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays Global Investors, and the list goes on.
SO are ALL of these corporations conspirators? No, just two of them, the two media conglomerates? Or maybe none of them are conspirators and it was just a good investment by some of the top financial minds in the world.
15 hours ago · Like
I hope someone out there reads this post.
So glad you said this. These “facts” represent confirmation bias at it’s worst.
so sorry in actual fact you are talking rubbish.. It is only a matter of time now before all is exposed
Indeed. The banksters crimes are so big and work on multiple levels its becoming obvious even to the sheep with one eye open. They use the MSM media (which they own outright) to social engineer the population to look left, to look right, blame this and blame that but never to look up and blame them.
Pizza!!!
Open Letter From the 2k14 human:
@LawBrat I’m truly saddened to read your response…I’m not going to write a rebuttal/dissertation, bc streaming a bunch of elaborate words is how you can easily distort the truth, It’s an ancient manipulation technique, just look at the whole of politics…But on the contrary I’m going to be BLUNT and speak to the overarching conceptual manipulation that has you, my pale-skin brother(bc you’re obviously white), & me your darker skinned brother on 2 sides of reality. And More-over this gulf in consciousness keeps humanity truly rapidly de-evolving to say the least:
White People scare me…Not all of you, but sadly at this time it seems to be the majority…I’m not speaking about being physically scared, never that my-dude…I mean scared like being sober & riding home with a drunk meth-head at the wheel…Scared for the future…The TRUTH is that we’ve all been manipulated in many different ways by a wealth of false concepts, which in-turn creates false thinking, which create physical false realities for people to live in(Like “freedom”)…Whites were taught superiority, bt never given a basis of why you’re superior other than “You just are bc you’re white”….Meanwhile your race with all of your “white privilege” have become the most gullible of all the creations on earth…This is why you’re placed on a pedestal. Bc the gullible white man is leading the surge in to the future, higher powers have been easily walking humanity to destruction, & your race loves it. Your race was/is purposely put above others bc your race is the only one gullible enough to watch the whole planet destroy itself, & not make the self-changes needed to stop it…History proves this…Violence & evil entertains you people…From the violence that is OBVIOUSLY been being forced into black peoples DNA from slavery to the 80’s, all the way to the wars that are being fought, & the millions of lives killed throughout time for these pieces of paper that we call money…It all entertains your race, meanwhile we are destroying the whole experience of life…The article that was written above can’t be argued with, but yet & still sumone with no individuality writes a dissertation of b/s bc their only identity is in the fake concept of race, so they must use more fake concepts to protect it… It doesn’t matter how much it’s obviously b/s, if it’s degrading another race, or feeding your false sense of superiority?…You’ll have other gullible white people feed the obvious b/s concepts…There is no such thing a racial superiority, bc their is no such thing as races. It’s all b/s concepts to divide us.(If you read tht last sentence & it made you feel some type of way?…It only proves what I’m saying) But it only really works perfectly with whites…But it not your fault, your race is literally thousands of years younger than other races, so there hasn’t been enough generational time for you to learn from your own time line, & your aggressive nature has prevented you from really evolving from learning from the history of your older brothers like the blacks, Asians, & middle easterners…I have no problem with white people in seats of power, but as long as you guys have so much trouble discerning between obvious right & wrong?(especially when this false concept of race is the reason for your infatuation with others suffering…False concept of race=False sense of security…struggle breeds character & personality) I truly think your race should tone their opinions down & have several seats(Preferably outside of congress-lol), All except those of you who’ve worked through the mental cancer of racism & perceived superiority through social classes, bc one of the most amazing things is a truly racially unbiased white person…You are all amazing!…But the majority of you who haven’t evolved to this level yet?…Shhhhh…Tht b/s only sounds coherent to other incoherent mentally blinded people like yourselves…
I’d say God help America, bt this doesn’t have shit to do with God…Just quit the bullshittin, bc deep down under your insecurities, I know your race knows better…
-Love = Understanding/Compassion/Gratitude/Humility/Appreciation/&Valor or “Speakin out against the fuqery”
P.S. Sorry I kept it as short as possible, but at least it will make you think, & not nod your head to the manipulation…
Mr. Ron, your rebuttal leaves a lot to be desired. “bc streaming a bunch of elaborate words is how you can easily distort the truth” and then you immediately begin doing that. If someone puts together a cogent response (I will not weigh in on the causality vs. correlation argument) going to the mattresses and pulling out race-cards is not the best argument.
Then you say “bc one of the most amazing things is a truly racially unbiased white person.” I would argue that a racially unbiased black person is FAR MORE DIFFICULT to find than a white one. In fact, some of the most vile racism i have endured has been at the hands of black folk. In my opinion, black folk (north american) are the most gullible when it comes to buying into false measures of success and/or achievement. I’m a mexican by the way, and we run a close second in that category, plus we have our own self-hating issues to work out too.
Yes indeed, corporations’ control over all aspects of american life are well documented, what’s lacking is an awareness by all (black, brown, yellow, green blue, magenta) that they’re being MANIPULATED. I don’t believe it’s racism that’s driving the manipulation, I believe, like the guy who had the long rebuttal, their driving motivation is GREED. No more no less. The “racist” effect is incidental..
And as far as i know, the “white man” has only really had juice in recent history, before that the major players were what you’d consider non-whites nowadays (Persians, Mongols, Mauryans, Kerma, Shang, Xia, etc).
Good day to all and I’ll leave you with the phrase employed by my favorite black activist when answering the phone: “Ready for the revolution.”
My brother I feel your pain . The aforementioned response via , according to you ,a white brother is not offensive in my perspective . His intention appears to be an addition to the fight . Federalist , is a monumental house which devise the rules , as stated earlier Slavery was never abolished the” Criminal element kept it alive “. Allow me to introduce myself , I read ; because it empowers my fight , the “Federalist Papers “, which were written and revised by individuals classified as the forefathers of this once great nation, who’s entire foundation and intent was based upon their insatiable appetite for MORE . To add ,our ancestors were brought here for the purpose of building MORE , with affirmation of their ” physical stamina “. Now ; with that being said, does anyone believe that a man who deems another man physically capable of assisting the development of his wealth ( hardcore labor – sunup< sundown), built to endure , (breeder , photosynthetic , nemesis ;simply because he is the Slaves captor ; allow such a man to be FREE in what is perceived to be his land . Government is the corporate conglomerates , the rules devised by the federalist Never included the offspring of Slaves , yes there are a few who got away; in appearances only . Point and case , Oprah was rejected in Florida ; her billions mean little to other old money billionaires . Rockefeller ( THE BILDERBERG GROUP ) since the beginning of recorded history , governmental bodies of every nation have been involved with maintaining the status quo to defend the establishment against Minority Groups that sought to function as states within states or to oust the constituted authority and take over in its place . We are in a revolution which has no basic color code , WE ARE ONE Save your anger for when the government knocks on your door for your family .
White privilege is a hard thing to lose isn’t it?
The well written, vague non argument showing silly us how we don’t know the difference between causality and correlation is as naive as it is insulting. There will be a day when historians look at our current age, on the brink of more technical, spiritual and medical revolutions and sadly wonder why the great wealth makers, decision makers, influencers and powerful entities of our time did not see the long view. They will read a theme through this turbulent transition. We are being asked to live the illusion of separation and difference, and of the hypnotic allure of a growth economy in a make believe world of money backed by nothing but bravado and brute force.
What will it take to get humans to see themselves as a single race of people? Aliens?
Sustainable society, justice, peace and cooperation are the natural and successful behavior of the human race. See it for what it is. A few, a very few, are creating your environment, influencing your decisions and leading you to consume. Wake up.
Those industries are run by corupt jews for the banksters. They get away with posing as Whites when it suits them, then yell “anti-Semite” when you point out who they actually are and tell truth about them. It’s a trick they use. They hate to be exposed. They can’t hide so easily in Russia (anymore) Asia and the ME. They have managed to get the whole Western world under their thumb fighting their staged wars which they profit from. Whites and everyone else have also been victimized. The Federal Reserve Act allows them to print money out of thin air then charge interest. They are trillionaires many times over. Anyway I think Blacks have been more abused and victimized than probably any other group. Divide and Conquer. They’re good at it, they’ve been at it for 2,600 years.
Tell your children. Stop letting them dictate a ridiculous destructive culture thats been created in a bankster think tank. Point it out for exactly what it is.
We need to turn our back on MSM and avoid using their banks. Everytime we swipe a debit card they get us….
@lawbrat go to politics365 look under education and read the article about Prison Privatization. There you’ll find a correlation of not many. Aside from that, I am , and a critical thinker so I read your comment in it’s entirety. I will do my research, but you do yours on sentencing disparities between races and then you tell us racism does not exist. My brother was sentenced to 30 years for 9oz of cocaine. I have white friends that got 6 months in halfway house for 9oz of Meth both with similar backgrounds. A white man gets less time for raping kids than a black man gets for drugs. I know this is off topic, yet all of these scenarios play a part. Onelove
Pizza
Listen. Racism is never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never going away. It’s too profitable for both blacks and whites…and all this intellectual talk and comments we have is to fulfill a desire in our mind to be right, and to feel like we are educated and aware of what’s going on. NEWS FLASH!!!!! We don’t know shit! First, who decided we would be called black? Why is the word lack apart of what we say we are? I tell u why..cause we lack the understanding and awareness that we were conquered. We lack the memory of history. We honestly have no care about that. Why? Because we bought into the bullshit. We don’t have to buy gangsta rap, we don’t have buy entertainment weekly, we don’t have to have cable in our house watching images that portray us as thugs, whores,and clowns..and more importantly we don’t need to be validated by other races..that includes Mexicans, Asians, middle eastern, etc. The reality is everyone is being pimped and played it’s just so happen that “b-lack” people have lost strength by settling and the superior race can and will always take the advantage. Always. But instead of being steadfast and building we let that inner slave get in our subconscious. Don’t get mad at the billionaires and the billionaire conglomerates. They did a lot of blood work to get it here..we just slaved. They were willing to kill, rape and destroy, and they are now the poster child on the global stage as superior. Now, the poor white man is the biggest slave on the planet. Because the poor white man keeps this whole situation going. They work, work, work, and every 4 years they convince them to go republican, knowing damn well they couldn’t be the smartest decision. The prison system is a business, and so is racism.
Could you image if the poor white man (the slave with privilege), and the poor black man (modern day slave) came together? Time Warner, vanguard, and whoever else wouldn’t be able to pull this off. But unfortunately we the 99% are under a spell. And if just wake up and stop be a consumer on auto pilot we can actually make differences. It bullshit in 2014 we still are primitive when comes to race. Shame on all of us. We are the biggest conspirators because we help them everyday. We buy that bullshit music knowing it’s destructive,we make the music with the word nigga in every song. And We still want love from a race who simply can’t love us cause THEY know we were conquered by THEM. We play into this shit ever moment of our life cause like I said in the beginning WE DON’T KNOW SHIT!!! And how could you….you born in the middle of it..whites, blacks, Asians, Indians, jews, Mexicans, etc. we were born in the middle of it.
Here is Mississippi in the past year alone we’ve had 2 (known) inmate deaths and 1 officer killed in private prisons owned by CCA yet no national media coverage of any of these. When you have everyone from Congressional members (example: Bennie Thompson, who serves on the Homeland Security committee, which oversees the Bureau of Prisons, has approved former high ranking private prison officials to positions in the BOP) to the local County supervisors controlled via money, you can see why hardly anyone knows how bad these prisons are operating if you are not in the know.
What facility, who are the inmates? I remember reading something a few years back where a Holmes County inmate died from refusal of medical care. Allegedly, he was beaten with a pad lock by another inmate and was thrown in a cell alone without any aid.
Believe it or not it’s connected to a lot of Criminal Campaigns http://mindcontrolblackassassins.com/category/eyes-wide-shut/ like U.S. Military / CIA Intelligence using music to control masses , keep them doped up and not focusing on Political Issues . Hence , it’s why the Grateful Dead Band was such a great tool for Establishment Social Engineers keep hippies / dead heads mind on LSD , pot not Activism and same thing is happening to Hip Hop and black Community for the last thing the puppet masters want is Independent , Informed , clear thinking individuals . That includes Blacks , whites or Brown .
They want you just smart enough to push buttons at the Factory …..
Right again brother David,. How many of us are proud to stay out of prison. It ain’t a country club…
A wonderful example fo educate to liberate. Thank you Davey!
Reblogged this on .
all the google docs listed at the end of the article are gone.
Good stuff as usual David.
What an awesome piece! We never think about those deep connections but we should. And be very concerned and act accordingly! Open our wyws and ears and READ MORE!!!! Thank you for your research and for sharing this!! PEACE!!!
Reblogged this on Stats and Facts Sports and commented:
This is a must read, and is very eye opening. A certain letter was circulated around the internet last year. Although it was widely believed to be a fraud, the information it contained can be linked to factual evidence. The main point of the letter was the strong connection between the music industry and private prisons. This connection is real and is looked at in this linked article on Davey D’s blog. Davey D is a hip hop historian, and is one of the most knowledgeable hip hop historians in the world. The article is definitely worth reading.
Well jelly fish fork on Monsanto destabiliZEN tha media blow stock on womyns rights. I prepare some good coins on Kingz’n Queens counter surgencialee tha lobby wall ahead the global movement on body political healin…stay ruff on gossips tha street visual com_Intern…
“and the Holocaust” we should be specific about which Holocaust we are speaking about. Native Americans, Africans, Jewish, Polynesians?
The sad thing is that our people only believe that something is true if,it is told to them by someone who consistently lies to them. Our people have a slave mentality that is worse than any case of PTSD ever recorded,and will more than likely not even be moved by the warning signs of their own demise. Our people will take two hours to discredit anyone in the same position as them, in order to get 2 seconds of praise from someone that despises them. This is not a natural behavior, it comes years of oppressive and repressive behavior that is the root cause of self hatred and the primary cause of failure in our communities. Our communities have been the primary source of exploitation for years because of these principles, and will continue to be until we again awaken a community that is not meant to thrive.
Brother, you could not be more correct! My Mother and Father have been saying this for years. Our need to please and be approved of is and will always be our demise. The undying desire to be loved by our Oppressors is so innate that we do not see that we as a people suffer from the worst case of “Stockholm Syndrome” ever recorded in history. This article is terribly true and horrific, and one we cannot afford to ignore! People like Davey D and others who have posted like yourself are trying to educate the masses, but sheep and lemurs will follow the masses right off the cliff!
Please read these informative article about what’s going on here in Mississippi (I’m featured in two of them) including the latest riot that resulted in one inmate death and 9 known injuries that required off-site medical treatment:
http://t.co/DTwxL1iteA
http://t.co/DTwxL1iteA
sunherald.com/2013/04/20/4608209/report-private-prisons-in-state.html
Kent County Black Caucus attends Prison Privatization Forum
On Saturday April 13, 2013, the Kent County Black Caucus members attended a statewide forum on Privatization of Prisons: Mass Incarceration and Prison Reform in Michigan held at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti , Michigan . The Forum was sponsored by the Washtenaw County Black Democratic Caucus (WCBDC) in collaboration with the Eastern Michigan University Department of Diversity and Community Involvement and the Division of Academic and Student Affairs. State Representative Fred Durhal, Jr. – District 5 was the Keynote speaker.
The purpose of this forum was to bring together elected officials, community leaders and activist to: Educate our community about private prisons and the companies that build them; Examine legislation that governs and develops policy for our state prisons and judicial system; Explore best practices to address mass incarceration, the school-to-prison pipe line, prison reform and their impact on the local community.
Michael Scruggs, Chairman of the Kent County Black Caucus stated, whether the Plan is public or private it hurts our community. The Power’s to be is looking towards incarcerating instead of educating our community by building prisons instead of schools, and demanding guarantees in their contracts. That is why we joined the resolution with the Washtenaw County Democratic Party Black Caucus (WCDPBC) in educating the community about House Bill 5174; that allows private corporations, such as GEO and Correction Corporations of America and others, to take over the operation of our public prison system. Driven by profit motive, these corporations are demanding contractual clauses from the State guaranteeing them a 90% occupancy rate. We advocate that private prisons are bad public policy and could cost taxpayers more than state-run prisons and force communities to create criminals in order to meet these contractual obligations.
In the State of Michigan , there are 44,000 inmates, 58% of who are African Americans. The injustice Line has stated that Blacks are incarcerated at eight times the rate of whites. This has severe implications for the social, political and economic welfare of the African American community of Michigan and the United States of America . HB 5174 and similar legislation will threaten the Michigan economy by taking jobs from free citizens and undermining the union’s collective bargaining power and the Black communities’ quest to recover from the worst economic downturn since the great depression. It has been shown these private prison corporations has a history of perverting the judicial and legislative branches of the government to use Black People, racial minorities and the poor as pawns for their success.
Michael B. Scruggs, Chairman
Kent County Black Caucus
(616) 706-9200
mbscruggs@yahoo.com
I am outraged after reading this article. It is quite difficult to wrap your mind around a conspiracy so evil and so diabolical that it just leaves me speechless…and very angry. Our communities must fight back to save the next generation of black and brown men from this modern day slave trade. As of today, I am on a new mission to disseminate this information and create awareness to as many activists, community organizers and politicians in the Los Angeles area that will listen. Please continue your fight against prisons for profit!!!
Unfortunately for us here in Mississippi, a lot of the black state representatives are merely black faces that are puppets for the white powers that be (that want to open charter schools and allowing these private prisons to slave drive their employees (most of whom are black)). They know what’s going on but they have just give us the run around here. The Democratic party here is a joke and the NAACP is their watch dogs protecting their crooked ways
a brilliant brother lance williams of NEIU’s Center for Inner City Studies broke this down for my middle school students back in 2006 or 2007, and it’s gotten even worse. thank you for shedding light in a dark place. bless you
In an era when big banks like Wachovia and HBSC launder drug money and get off with slap on the wrist fines and no criminal prosecutions, it’s not a stretch at all to think big media would want to encourage music that funnels people into their private prisons.
Yup…
People are waking up. Sadly, the institutions that crave their imprisonment are concrete in their stance. Be careful, me mateys! Great read, Homeboy Sandman!!!
That’s what one of the TV reporters told me after I did an interview after a protest. You are dealing with billionaires, crooked heartless politicians (Bennie Thompson) and a lot of money.
Reblogged this on Mbeti's Blog.
“Well jelly fish fork on Monsanto destabiliZEN tha media blow stock on womyns rights. I prepare some good coins on Kingz’n Queens counter surgencialee tha lobby wall ahead the global movement on body political healin…stay ruff on gossips tha street visual com_Intern…”
Wow….I literally have never had such a strong urge to gouge my own eyes out, after trying to read an internet forum post (in what appears to be English, but I am really still not sure).
Anyways, so I see you guys have found yet another way to blame “the evil white man” for the massive amount of black criminals that are becoming a disproportionate drain on society? Hey….at least this is original and not just spewing the same slavery crap again.
So let me get this straight…..it’s not the gang bangers fault….it’s not the rappers fault….it’s not the reliance on gov entitlements….it’s not the horrible parenting or that having kids and welfare is basically a career choice now…..but rather a huge conspiracy by the 3rd largest owner in a private prison’s stock making the record company promote the gangsta rappers more than “normal” rappers? Oh and the source is anonymous, he can’t say where he used to work , wrote it himself, and is widely considered a fake?/ Bwahaha ok……
This is delusional and borderline insane behavior. There is always some excuse, it’s slavery, not enough welfare, too much welfare, racism, private prisons, record companies, rappers (but not their fault because they are black and are just being controlled by white people somewhere to promote prison), etc. When is the majority of the community going to stand up and say….hey we have a problem and it’s time to stop blaming everyone else we can possibly think of and take an introspective look into our current culture and try to fix these problems? Have some pride and hold the responsible causes accountable. Because this constant state of denial exudes ignorance and blatant racism to be honest.
You must be white.
“Economic and political control can never be complete or effective without mental control. To control a people’s culture is to control their tools of self-definition in relationship to others” – Ngugi, Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature
Reblogged this on Daily Discourse.
You gotta love conspiracy theorists. Apparently, hiphop music hypnotizes black people to commit crime, which causes us to fall in the hands of the prison industrial complex, all according to Dr. Evil’s plan. So, the problem isn’t that black people commit crime at a disproportionate rate or that single mother homes are the primary manufacturing center for these criminals; the problem is that record labels want to see blacks in jail, which fills their coffers and scores a point for good old white supremacy — killing two birds with one stone.
If this were true, wouldn’t the greater problem be our susceptibility to such tricks? Actually, a better case could be made for seducing white people to crime, since they are the buying majority of hiphop music. If a record company owner was invested in Charmin tissue paper, what implication would that have for black people? In other words, you cannot draw a straight line from a securities investment to one’s own personal feelings about race. We, as black people, have to stop finding a new way to play the victim.
Your argument is lame and truly elementary. If you separate the evidence, then you may have ground to stand on. However, when you connect the dots, the picture becomes crystal clear and this picture isn’t pretty. The right wing has been trying to privatize everything over the past 30 years for a reason – PROFIT. Maybe you should educate yourself on how our laws are written and what lobbyist do for their clients. ALEC wrote our 3 strikes law in California and it doubled the size of our private prison population. The public didn’t even know ALEC existed until a few years ago. Thankfully, the voters of California amended this law because the taxpayers are footing the bill and can no longer afford an exploding prison population.. Yes, whites buy the music and consume more drugs and alcohol than we do. However, there aren’t fifty patrol cars roaming their neighborhoods 24/7. So give me a break with the “hiphop music hypnotizes black people” crap. Transnational corporations have the money and the power to do what they want and as long as we deny we are being targeted then we will continue to lose future generations of black and brown boys to private prisons.
Can any of you nay sayers actually prove this article wrong? with some facts to back it up? Or are you still going to push out some anecdotal bullshit and believe you are right? you gotta love people with their heads up their ass,and even when information is put right in front of them that they can research for themselves. the still continue to bury their heads up their ass`s even deeper..yes this article sure is trying to get a new way to play victim..but then again how is it a new way to play victim when the same atrocities still occur?
great article you keep doing it man i love these reads
To say “can any of you nay sayers actually prove this article wrong” assumes that he proved his case. The only thing he did was mention two disparate “facts” and drew a conspiratorial conclusion.
I have been browsing online more than three hours nowadays, but I never found any fascinating article like yours.
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interesting point of view…-purple
Deep
very interesting
The links don’t work at the bottom anymore
Excellent article. As Killer Mike says on his track ‘Reagan,’ “free labour is the corner-stone of U.S. economics.” Thus the political freeing of people (not only getting rid of slavery, but share-cropping and segregation too) has to be compensated for by some extra measure. Capitalism will have to invent a new form of super-exploitation. Hence the insane growth of US prison industries since Reagan’s “neoliberal” regime took power, and have yet to give it back (insofar as Bushes, Clinton, and Obama are all continuing the tradition he inaugurated).
Also if you liked this article, you have to check out “Cops exploit Toronto tragedy: How the State Seized Onto the Eaton Centre Shooting” for more info on a similar tip. http://civilizeddiscontent.blogspot.ca/2012/07/cops-exploit-toronto-tragedy-how-state.html
Blackatcha and many others you can read my full resonse on my page here; https://www.facebook.com/QldDjBaz?ref=tn_tnmn
Did anyone notice Sandman released an album on Stones Throw records and then within days started throwing stones? LOL If we blame labels for promoting gangsta rap, who can we blame for writing it?!!!
The same labels…
It is hard to believe that people in such powerful positions (gov) would do this but it is true.
We are entering new times and we are now on a different blueprint for one world order or should i say a more advanced path.
Is this all just a joke? Did anyone notice Sandman signed up to Stones Throw Records, and curiously enough starts throwing stones within days of his album release! That’s classic marketing!
Is this how it works? – Say we have person A, ends up in jail in late 2013 and blames it on the record label that released Chief Keef…..Cheif Keef blames his influence on the record label that released Lil Wayne…….Lil Wayne blames his influence on the label that put out 50 Cent……50 Cent blames his influences on the label that released Notorious BIG……Biggie blames the label that put out Junior Mafia……Junior Mafia blames the label that put out Ice T………Ice T blames it on the record label that put out Schoolly D……..Schoolly D blames it on the the realities of living in a tough urban environment……….
“Oh yeah and another thing
For all ya n***** that don’t do gangsta rap
Don’t get on TV talking about gangsta rap
Cause 9 times at a 10 you don’t know the f*** you talk about
Talk about that bulls*** rap you do
Stay the f*** out of mine ”
ICE CUBE
(Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It)
If Schoolly D invented Gangsta Rap, is he responsible for person A going to jail in
2013?
The intro of this video illustrates my point; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzeZhCt5PVA
Not completely but if you are a public figure you should act accordingly …. we all know what influence media has on the public and if it is directed at a certain class/ group of individuals then over a period of time that group will act accordingly to what is the normal in their society/ community.
music has changed and not for the better it is on a plan to destroy with crime and sex
they use music more now to this because religion is now too unreliable.
Why users still make use of to read news papers when in this technological globe everything is accessible on net?
I heard the author on Davey D’s show today and was extremely interested. His article laid it out clearly. Thank you Homeboy Sandman for stimulating real thought about this monumental subject.
I have been saying this for years “you are what you eat” and if you decide to and gorge yourself on violent behavior and all other things that leads to imprisonment, that’s where you’ll be. I truly believe that the media does output such disdain and lack of knowledge for black people it bothers me that more people doesn’t recognize it. The media promotes the ideals of sex before love crime before hard work and money above all else. It’s a shame that we don’t see things for what they truly are. I am flabbergasted by the lack of morals that our society has idealized. The rate of teen pregnancy, broken homes,and lack of education will eventually lead to our demise. And I am very sad to say, that I don’t see a way out of it.
What’s up everybody, here every one is sharing these kinds of experience, therefore it’s good to read this website, and I used to go to see this
web site daily.
I am a historian. I study the history of hip hop, the history of New York and the history of prisons in America. The above article makes so much sense, it has become obvious that the first rapid rise of incarcerations in the 1830’s was definitely caused by the marketing of negative hip hop.
good info #18
We know better but won’t do better! Keep being you for us that struggle staying tru!
http://www.examiner.com/article/rap-music-manifesto
Zayd Malik, Skipp Coon, Sa-Roc, Ife Jie, Luca Brazi, Shada Mansour, Logic, Lowkey, Outlawz, Treble Army, Dead Prez, Bone Thugs N Harmony
Of course Homeboy Sandman!
Wells Fargo Bank / Wachovia is also a chief investor in the prison-for-profit industry. I closed my account there after reading about that.
http://www.salon.com/2012/04/11/wells_fargos_prison_cash_cow/
This is nonsense. I take offense to the author’s assumption that black people can be easily manipulated by mass media. That somehow if I listen to hip-hop containing violent/criminal themes I will suddenly feel an impulse to commit similar acts of crime. This is simply idiotic.
When was the last time you liked something simply because it received more media coverage or exposure? The author assumes we lack personal taste in music or the ability to think critically about our musical preferences. Of course, he is so enlightened that ONLY he can see past media gimmicks. But alas we are forced to like the music that is forced down our throat, and we commit crime because of this. This line of reasoning perpetuates a victim mentality. “It’s not my fault that I raped someone…..its because I listened to Rick Ross and he raps about that….” There is no room for personal accountability in the author’s mind.
The reasoning in this article is laughable. I have listened to hip-hop my entire life (including the kind with violent themes) and have never felt an impulse to commit a violent crime because of it. Homeboy sandman, please stop perpetuating this garbage. Surely, you can apply your “investigative journalism” skills to something more productive.
i think you’re missing a lot here and that becomes evident not only when you said you’re offended that the author said black people are easily manipulated by mass media (hello white guilt) but especially when you said you’ve listened to hip-hop your entire life and have never gotten an impulse to act violently. uhhhh congratulations? hip-hop is not just music it is way of life and for the communities where hip-hop is the dominant culture, it doesn’t just serve as a something to listen to. what you wear, what you say, how you at, what you do, is what makes hip-hop. so get on with your basic thinking and understand that it is not just lyrics in a song that has effects on people. you may feel like you’re immune to the media, but you’ve got a looooong way to go until you’ll be able to attempt to critique and question media culture productively. and unfortunately something tells me you’ll never get there after reading a response like yours.
the reason that HIP-HOP (Black music altogether, really…) is being snatched, manipulated, and profitable for OTHER people is because the PEOPLE (Black/African) are weak, powerless to control the destiny of the work created BY Black/African people. Black group economics is the answer; if WE are not talking about this…crying bitch complaining about continuous oppression, racism, and exploitation is pointless.
Doing research and none of the links of corporate holdings are still working. do you have an actual link you could forward me? Thanks
I thought I was the only person who believed these things and wants change.
I think it’s time more articles like these are written and hit the mainstream. I think its time we embarrass all those share holders who are involved with ALEC, CCA, GEO, and the distribution of violence education, and stereotype product placement.
It’s a scary fight fighting the goliath, we can’t do this alone. But this is the beginning.
I would love to see an Article or a study on Microsoft’s involvement with operation PRISM and finding connections to the latter.
I disagree with you disagreeing with the writer.
He made some very shocking connections with facts and it makes you wonder why these groups have their pockets involved with the entertainment industry in the first place.
You personally might have not been influenced and there were probably larger roles in your life that you looked up too, and good parenting hopefully. There are people that don’t have those graces in life and look for models to look up to.
In poor neighborhoods parents aren’t as involved, and kids are easily influenced by other factors stronger than them. I’m talking about gang influences in schools, and gangster music glorifying it.
I went to public school and I tell you for a fact that there are kids who mimic rap artists to the core. They purposely speak broken english, ignore cultural thought and conversation, and have homophobic tendencies that increase violence.
If we want to make America better, we need to look at Poor neighborhoods and start giving them correct influences, and good models to look up to for brighter future. South East DC doesn’t have to be so dangerous, but when you’re there you definitely feel like you’re in a 50 Cent song.
I agree!
If Martin Luther King were alive today he would not like what he sees and hears. He would probably ask “why did we stop half way? We still haven’t met my dreams!!!”
It is a most plausible theory. And its not just people of color…its all lower classes that accept these conditions as the norm. The guy who wrote that the same media companies that invest in prisons also invest in defense contractors gave us even more to add to the deception by showing those connections also. Google ‘gang stalking’ and ‘mind control technologies’. The prison system and military developed and utilize these horrible technologies the public are largely unaware of.
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This scholarly research is a CLASSIC!!!!!
It should be POSTED everywhere. Homeboy Sandman you the Shit!