America Has Jailed More Of Its Population Per Capita Than China Or Iran!
By Dr. Sawraj Singh
For the last few years, when the trends of the rise of the East and decline of the West became obvious, America has started projecting itself as the champion of human rights. It has started criticizing other countries, particularly its rivals, for violation of human rights. However, the Americans’ own record on human rights is very dismal. This is clear that America is not sincere in promoting human rights. Its main reason for using the human rights card is to weaken its adversaries.
One of the most fundamental human rights is the right to move freely. When people are incarcerated, then they lose the most fundamental human right and the talk of human rights has no meaning for them. America incarcerates more percent of its population than any other country in the world. For every 100,000 people, 730 are in jails in America, compared to 122 in China and 333 in Iran. From 1982 to 2011, there has been an increase of 272% in the number of Americans in the jails.
If we include the people detained in the correctional facilities, then the number goes up dramatically. The only significant difference between prisons and correctional facilities is that security is higher in prisons. However, both curtail basic freedoms of detainees. Therefore, all of these people have lost their most basic human rights. One out of 31 Americans is detained in these institutions. In 1982, 21 million Americans were detained in these facilities; in 2011, this number has gone up to 73 million. If we see the racial breakdown of the people detained, then it becomes obvious that racism is not only well and alive in America, but is flourishing. One out of 45 whites, one out of 27 Hispanics, and one out of 11 blacks are detained.
I have always made the point that many Indians support the extreme rightist, racist, and most reactionary policies in America. Many Indians were overjoyed when Bobby Jindal became the Governor of Louisiana. However, Louisiana has become the prison capitol of the world. Out of 100,000 people in the state, 1,619 are in the prisons. This is not only the highest ratio in the world, but is also more than two times the American national average. One in 86 people in Louisiana are in the jails. However, in New Orleans, the largest city in the state, one in 14 blacks is in one of three circumstances: prison, parole, or on probation. In 1971, the prison population was 6,731; in 2011, it became 39,709 and is expected to rise to 42,126 in 2014. The main reason for this dubious distinction is the privatization of the jails, which are run by Sheriffs. The Sheriffs treat the prisoners as a commodity similar to horse traders trading their animals. These Sheriffs gave their full support to Bobby Jindal. This is why Jindal has continued to covertly oppose prison reform.
America often blames Stalin and Mao for the massacre of millions of Russians and Chinese, respectively. However, there are very few concrete historical evidences of these so-called massacres. There are clear historical evidences of massacres committed or abetted by Americans. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, hundreds of thousands of people died in the atomic attacks. Not only millions of people died in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, but even the vegetation was not spared by the Napalm bombs and extremely hazardous chemicals such as Agent Orange. Tragically, land mines left by American troops are still going off in Vietnam to this day and have killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the attacks by the cluster bombs in Iraq. In Indonesia and Chile, hundreds of thousands were massacred by the CIA collaborators.
An Indian fishing boat very recently got a sample of American human rights. This was a completely unprovoked attack on the boat in the Persian Gulf. One Indian fisherman died and two were injured, without any fault of theirs. Domestically, American human rights can be seen from the recently discovered Jerry Sandusky molestation incident at Pennsylvania State University. It is now coming to light that Joe Paterno as well as other Football coaches, staff, janitors, and even the President and his cabinet of Pennsylvania State University were well aware of Jerry Sandusky raping and molesting young boys. Some coordinators and janitors have even come out and said that they actually witnessed Mr. Sandusky raping the boys, but feared retaliation from Pennsylvania State University for reporting Sandusky. It is also beginning to come to light that Sandusky raped and molested many other young male victims as early as the 1970s, even his adopted son was not spared. We must demand to know why this man was allowed to victimize boys for over 14 years at Pennsylvania State University and absolutely nothing was done to stop him; it is obvious that the Pennsylvania State University cared much more about their reputation and their funding than the lives of these innocent children. The fact that Sandusky is a white man does not look well either as he most likely received preferential treatment and a cover-up and defense for his actions from Pennsylvania State University due to being white. The basic issue is that is America a Champion of human rights, or is it the policeman of the world? The highest incarceration rate points more to the direction of the world’s policeman.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
