FROM THE DESK OF PASTOR WILL: Racisim in the Prison Industrial Complex

[Rev. William Griffith]

"For those who think racism is a thing of the past, we need only look at the multi-billion dollar business of the prison industrial complex and the disproportionate number of blacks behind bars as compared to white. We need only look at the record of the death penalty and how prison labor has become business in the United States. Call it what you will, It is racism. African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population.African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites.If African American and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates of whites, today's prison and jail populations would decline by approximately 50%. In the land of the free and the home of the brave, the United States imprisons more of its citizens than any other nation on earth. We have the highest incarceration rate in the world. The privatization of prisons in the United States made imprisoning our people profitable. It is greed at its worst. We have replaced McDonalds' slogan from "to over a billion served" to over "a million jailed". The land of the free and the home of the brave has become the land of the jailed and home of the slave. This is not only embarrassing as the purported leader of the 'free world', but should be a slap in the face to the institutional church for spending more time railing against the rights of LGBT people or our government trying to convince the world that Congress actually works for a living and cares about people. The only way to curb this silent form of human trafficking is by standing against it. Unless prison reform becomes the real topic of debate, along with the number of non-violent and addicted offenders behind bars rather than presented with alternative programs, we will be forced to just build one big fence around the country. Oh, I almost forgot, some politicians are already trying to do that in the name of "immigration reform". Just look at the number of young people behind bars for non-violent crimes and what happens to many of them when they get there. Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 140,000 or more inmates had been raped while incarcerated. If we are to blow our trumpet and claim to be followers of Christ, we need to voice our opposition to a system that herds human beings like cattle through the revolving doors of this multi-billion dollar franchise we call the prison system."

-Pastor William Griffith

 Evangel Pacific Ministries