A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Bruce Dixon
Is the Barack Obama campaign actually what it claims to be – the heir to and continuation of an historic and broad-based transformative movement for social change? What exactly are the differences between a social movement, a political candidacy, and a marketing campaign?
The growth in prison population is largely because of tougher state and federal sentencing imposed since the mid-1980s. Minorities have been particularly affected: One in nine black men ages 20 to 34 is behind bars. For black women ages 35 to 39, the figure is one in 100, compared with one in 355 for white women in the same age group.