How Runaway Economic Inequality and Racism Are Linked to Police Killings

[ellenrr]

It is not by accident that America has become both the most unequal developed nation in the world, and the nation with the largest prison population. We’re number one in police killings, incarceration and inequality—not Russia, not China. Our national self-image so steeped in the idea of freedom has not caught up with these ugly realities.

Racism is has been with us for centuries, but something very new happened in America around 1980 that set the stage for these police killings. Something very big is transforming us into the first democratic police state in human history...

http://empathyeducates.org/how-runaway-economic-inequality-and-racism-are-linked-to-police-killings/

[pampango]

1. "We need a vision that empties our prisons, and rebuilds our economy from the bottom up."

The vibrant public response to these police killings is heartening. We are taking to the streets, and rightly so. But where are our protests heading? What should we demand that adequately addresses this destruction of life and hope?

Yes, fairer courts, better policing, drug decriminalization, and the end of mandatory sentencing would be an excellent start. But that’s not nearly enough. We need a vision that empties our prisons, and rebuilds our economy from the bottom up. To get there from here runs through Wall Street. High finance is the driver of runaway inequality. We have to end its iron grip on our lives or nothing much will change, especially for those at the bottom of the income ladder. A mass movement for economic justice is badly needed, one that calls for public banks, free higher education, free healthcare, caps on CEO incomes, and steeply progressive income taxes.

There’s been a recent uptick in public demonstrations: We are in the streets protesting police brutality. We are in the streets demanding a living wage for fast food and Walmart workers. We are in the streets fighting for citizenship for recent immigrants. But we have not as yet figured out how to unite around runaway inequality, the issue that unites us all. Occupy Wall Street showed that the issue has resonance. It also showed that we were unprepared to sustain a long-term anti-Wall Street movement.

A movement that targets inequality and Wall Street is by definition multiracial. It can bring us together. And we must come together in order to stand the slightest chance of success.

Great OP. Thanks for finding and posting it, ellenrr.

[ellenrr]

2. U welcome, and thanks for your expansion,

I thot one of the most important points was to make the connections: inequality, mass incarceration, quality education, etc.
"A mass movement for economic justice is badly needed,"

[rock]

3. It's going to get worse before it gets better

A lot worse.