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OPINION: Mass incarceration, like slavery, has led to family separation, denial of education and deprivation of basic human and civil rights. It’s time to reform America’s carceral system.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Imagine what it is like to wait for freedom. On June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, more than 250,000 people awaited their freedom. People who had been separated from their families. People who, despite the Emancipation Proclamation two and half years earlier, were still being held against their will, forced into labor. When Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, to read General Order No. 3, he delivered news of their freedom.
Today in America, nearly two million people await their freedom. America is a world leader when it comes to incarceration. People in jails and prisons cannot vote, run for office or serve on a jury; they cannot meaningfully participate in democracy. As we reflect on Juneteenth 158 years later, the reality is that not much has changed.
America’s current carceral system is similar to America’s slavery system in more ways than just numbers: the life sentences, family separation, denial of education, deprivation of basic human and civil rights and obstacles to re-entry once released. The rarity of parole — which is infrequent in state systems and non-existent at the federal level — has eviscerated the chance for some to ever be free. Despite the fact that we know that it is morally wrong to enslave people, America continues to do so under the exception clause of the 13th Amendment.
Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom. It is also a reminder that freedom is deferred for so many in America. In the race to be tough on crime, policymakers have continued the deferral of freedom felt by those in Galveston, Texas, in 1865.
A majority of Americans believe that we need to change our criminal legal system. Mass incarceration has not improved public safety, has not reduced crime, and it has only punished people for their poverty, for their disability and for being Black. Mass incarceration, like slavery, has created profitable businesses — through the privatization of services such as food and medical care in jails and prisons, and the unpaid labor that incarcerated people provide.
If we truly want to sever the unbroken chain between American slavery and the carceral system, we must — in each of our communities — invest in prevention over punishment. And we each have a responsibility to do so — it takes many hands to break this chain.
All politics are local, and we have powerful ways to engage with our democracy: voting in local elections, running for office and serving on juries.
Each of us has to hold elected officials accountable for investing in proven solutions that address the root causes of crime — like poverty and lack of opportunity — not just fearmongering about crime after it happens.
Tough-on-crime politics and politicians have failed us. We should vote them out and demand more from the people who represent us. Know the platform upon which elected officials are running and challenge them to serve community needs by employing preventative, evidence-based tools to enhance public safety. Hold them accountable when they violate their pledges.
And if you don’t think the candidates represent your values, run for office. My late friend Lewis Conway did, and he blazed a path for other formerly incarcerated people seeking elected office.
We should be engaged in jury duty — it is one of the most powerful tools of direct democracy we have. If those who want change do not serve, those who want the status quo will.
As a former trial lawyer, I can emphatically say the jury makes all the difference in criminal cases. The fight to get the right jury is tilted in favor of the prosecutor, with many judges having been former prosecutors, people with prior convictions excluded and people who express reservations about policing and prosecutions routinely dismissed from jury service. We need diverse perspectives in the jury box.
And jury service can be rewarding. I recall a case where jurors gave me a round of applause after a trial. They thanked me for bringing issues to light in the trial.
Voting in your community, holding elected officials accountable, running for office and serving on juries when you’re called — these are important homages to pay to those who were historically excluded from democracy and those who are excluded today.
Together, we can achieve the promise of freedom and justice that we celebrate on Juneteenth.
We are Juneteenth.
Cynthia W. Roseberry is the Acting Director of the ACLU’s Justice Division, where she leads the ACLU’s political advocacy to reform the criminal legal system. Ms. Roseberry is a former public defender and served as the executive director of the Federal Defenders of the Middle District of Georgia, Inc. She also managed Clemency Project 2014.
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