For many black and Hispanic youth living in urban communities, going to jail has become a badge of honor. This is a very puzzling phenomenon. The stigma of going “juvenile” used to be embarrassing, now it’s a sign of being “tough” or “down.” Why have so many “minority” youth become so willing to “make an offer”?
Many blame hip-hop culture for this phenomenon, due to its glorifying perception of violence, criminal behavior, and “thug” lifestyle. However, this seems to be putting the cart before the horse. Black and Hispanic youth have been disproportionately incarcerated in the United States long before there were things like recordings of hip-hop music or associated movies that tell their story. Therefore, hip hop culture is just a platform for young people to give their version of the narrative, not the cause of the problem.
According to a 2002 study conducted by the Journal of Labor Studies, “Over the past two decades, the US prison population has quadrupled.” In response to this fact, the study concludes that “corporations are looking for opportunities to profit from this prison population” and there are “two main areas through which corporations are capitalizing on prison work: prison privatization and creation of prison-based industries. despite strong evidence such as that of a 2012 study by the Justice Policy Institute, an organization located in the nation’s capital, which concluded: “Given that education is correlated with crime rates and incarceration, addressing the deficiencies in the [D.C.] education system must be part of a comprehensive strategy for citizen security”
However, instead of figuring out how to invest in transformative education reform, the business community has positioned itself to capitalize on the robust incarcerated population as a source of cheap labor. The public sector has chosen to promote “tough on crime” rhetoric instead of educational policy. While businessmen and politicians vilify rappers for profiting by glorifying fantasized criminal acts on wax, they are actually conspiring and planning to profit from the rising prison population.
As noted in a report in the July/August 2006 issue of the Associated Oregon Industries Business Point of View, “Although it is adults who go to prison, you can predict the probability that a child will eventually end up there before he can tie his shoes. Some prison systems have noticed a correlation: They have begun projecting the number of beds needed in the future based on current 3rd grade reading scores” A progressive nation simply should not accommodate such a cynical point of view. Working to create and implement policies that reduce dropout rates and institute relevant curricula that prepare students for today’s and tomorrow’s economic realities are better solutions.
Maybe if the leaders of society would look to the “Hip-Hop Generation” for answers instead of blame, we would all be better off. Black and Hispanic youth seem to be seeking jail of all places for a sense of structure, family, and community that is missing from their homes, schools, and neighborhoods. The goal of government policy in America’s urban communities should be to alleviate the pressures of drugs, crime, and poverty in the community. Instead, they aspire to demonize, imprison, and ruin the lives of young people living in difficult circumstances. Paraphrasing the lyrics of a song by the controversial rap duo Dead Prez, politicians and businessmen need to realize that the real problems plaguing our society are “…bigger than hip-hop.”