mekka okereke :verified:
The US is less than 5% of the world's population. But it has more than 20% of the world's prisoners. Most of those prisoners are objectively innocent. They're disproportionately Black. They were specifically put there by racist and unfair policing policy and sentencing laws, written by... Joe Biden.
Other than Reagan, there is no modern politician on planet earth more responsible for mass incarceration than Joe Biden.
Every year in US prison drops your life expectancy by 2 years
klausfiend
@mekkaokereke @bumblebeedc The wild thing is that the US is the global leader in both total number of people incarcerated AND highest per capita rate of incarceration. Number one, baby! USA! USA!
The fact that both electoral politics and private industry rely on keeping these numbers high is I'm sure just a coincidence.
mekka okereke :verified:
Look. I'm not handing out free history lessons to white people today.
Go read up on the various crime bills that Biden wrote and pushed over the decades, and how many millions of people that put in jail. Then go read up on civil asset forfeiture, and how the poverty it caused lead to more jail time. Then go read up on how Biden used federal power to require states to increase mandatory sentencing guidelines, and to get cops and DAs to use these laws.
CartyBoston
"there is no modern politician on planet earth more responsible for mass incarceration than Joe Biden"
I don't give a flying fuck about Joe Biden and I think I can see your point maybe, but that's a patently ridiculous troll.
How were his positions different from e.g. Bill Clinton?
mekka okereke :verified:
"How were his views different than Clinton's?"🤦🏿♂️
1. Biden *wrote* the crime bill! Clinton just LGTM'd
2. Biden's been doing this nonsense for 40 years Clinton's career is shorter. Biden has many of these horrifically racist bills on his record.
Don't argue with me. Argue with Biden himself. Here's Biden proudly taking credit for all the horror. Listen to the whole thing especially where he calls young Black men "predators born out of wedlock"
Philip Cardella
@CartyBoston @mekkaokereke @bumblebeedc Attorney General Kamala Harris made her whole administration about fair sentencing particularly towards low level drug users.
Might she behave different as president? Of course. But we don't know. We do know while elected to serve the people of California as their top lawyer she prioritized drug sentencing reform.
For actual users. And some dealers. Mekka was talking about actual innocent people or people in there for things that are no longer crimes.
CartyBoston
@philip_cardella @mekkaokereke @bumblebeedc
"I'm talking about commuting 40 death sentences to life in prison, not pardoning"
That's an important point, thanks. I still fear (more than I am confident) I am right.
Philip Cardella
@CartyBoston @mekkaokereke @bumblebeedc you just named not presidents. And given Kamala Harris' track record as AG in California I'm certain she would in fact pardon the people Mekka is talking about.
Mekka said "innocent" people and meant it.
I'm talking about commuting 40 death sentences to life in prison, not pardoning.
While most prisoners in America are NOT in Federal prison so Biden can do nothing for them the Federal prisons are filled disproportionately with drug offenders.
CartyBoston
@philip_cardella @mekkaokereke @bumblebeedc
Sure. But no other pretend Democratic President (name them, it's fun: Hillary Clinton? Kamala Harris? Pete Buttigieg?) would pardon them either.
It's not just Biden, it's the (my) party.
Philip Cardella
@CartyBoston @mekkaokereke @bumblebeedc let's focus on Biden doing just about the only thing he can during the lame duck session and commute the 40 Federal death sentences to life in prison.
He really can't do much else before January 20.
He absolutely can and should do that.
And no, Biden wasn't just running with the crowd. He was elbowing his way to the front of the prison industrial complex --especially while Clinton was president (but long before that too).
CartyBoston
@philip_cardella @mekkaokereke @bumblebeedc
Yes, he hurt people, and he was part of a much larger movement that still exists and includes may seated Democrats and all Republicans, let's focus.
Philip Cardella
@CartyBoston @mekkaokereke @bumblebeedc when Bill Clinton was still governor of Arkansas Senator Joe Biden was trying to win the race to the mantle of "toughest on crime".
I've been blocked for saying this. I've been accused of lying. I've been accused of being a Republican.
Joe Biden has been the furthest left President in history and he's still a right of center, tough on crime, neoliberal.
History is complicated and uncomfortable.
Joe Biden is an architect of the prison industrial complex
mekka okereke :verified:
1. Bill used Biden's talking points. Hillary had no political position at the time. She didn't write the bill, she didn't sign it, she didn't vote for it. She just parroted Biden's racist talking points to the press.
2. When it comes to racism, white folk are very concerned about who said the n-word, who wore blackface, and who called who a predator in the press. Black folk are more concerned about who created the law that generated millions of years of incarceration
CartyBoston
Remember *both* Clintons and "superpredators"? I do.
mekka okereke :verified:
Yup.
But even if you give Biden 100% full credit for the crime bill, and for sentencing, and for asset forfeiture... Reagan still comes out ahead. That man was so busy!
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/113583132321452453
For example, even in 2024, the US has so many unhoused people with untreated mental health issues. Many of those people wind up in jail, for short or long stints. Reagan closed the mental health facilities.
Sheeb
@mekkaokereke @bumblebeedc important to note that Reagan shouldn't get all the "credit" for the ramped up incarceration that occurred during his administration since Biden was mostly behind that, too -
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