History of Mass Incarceration

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A DEEP INSIGHT TO LA HISTORY

HISTORY OF MASS INCARCERATION By Assem Sane, Dan Zhu


Introduction HELLO, MY FRIEND! WE ARE ASEEM AND DAN, AND WE ARE SO HAPPY TO HAVE YOU HERE. IN THIS BOOK, WE ARE GOING TO INTRODUCE A NEW FRIEND AND SHARE THEIR STORY WITH YOU ABOUT THE HISTORY OF MASS INCARCERATION IN LOS ANGELES. BEFORE WE START, WE WANT TO INTRODUCE A NEW CONCEPT TO YOU: SETTLER COLONIALISM. DON’T WORRY IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THIS TERM BECAUSE WE ARE GOING TO DEEPEN YOUR UNDERSTANDING AS THE STORY GOES ON. DIFFERENT FROM OTHER COLONISTS, SETTLER COLONISTS TAKE OVER OTHERS’ LAND AND TURN THE PLACE INTO THEIR HOME. NATIVE/INDIGENOUS PEOPLE WHO ARE ORIGINALLY FROM THIS LAND ARE REMOVED OR SLAVED BY THOSE SETTLERS. HOPEFULLY AFTER READING THIS BOOK, YOU WILL GET A BETTER IDEA OF THIS CONCEPT. NOW, ARE YOU READY? LET’S BEGIN OUR JOURNEY OF HISTORY WITH ASEEM AND DAN!


TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: SPANISH COLONIALISM until the 1820s

08

CHAPTER 2: MEXICAN ERA 1821 - 1910

CHAPTER 3: AMERICAN ERA

since 1910s

13

05

CHAPTER 4: CHINESE EXCLUSION 1890s - 1920s

10


15

CHAPTER 5: MEXICAN IMMIGRATION until the 1930s

CHAPTER 6: THE BLACK BELT until 1965

20

CHAPTER 7: WARS ON DRUGS since 1970s

CHAPTER 8: TODAY'S WORLD

24

18

CONCLUSION

22


chapter 1: Spanish Colonialism until the 1820s

Hello everyone! I am a member of the Tongva tribe, which has existed on this land for as long as history has existed for it. My ancestors settled around the Tongva Basin where I live, and the elders sang songs of how they have coexisted and thrived in this land. This area was full of life and joy - all sorts of tribes, with their different languages and different styles of living to learn about and learn from!


The tomyaars, our chiefs, were my idols they could speak all the tribes’ languages and they were responsible for keeping our society harmonious. However, life has changed in this area, and I fear it has changed permanently for the worse.

Lately, these people, who call themselves the “Spanish,” have established their own missions upon our land. Our fight to resist their invasion was not pretty - the Spanish ended up killing our tomyaar, as well as a great number of our soldiers and people. Ultimately, the Spanish successfully established their San Gabriel Mission in our basin. However, their invasion did not stop there - the Spanish were merciless in their attempt to erase our culture and replace it with theirs.


They created their own caste system, with us at the bottom - leaving us without any ability to work or resist the enforcement of their culture. I saw many of my companions being punished for petty issues, and I haven’t seen them for quite a while since they went to jail. I believe that the treaties that the Spanish signed with us were not lost, as they told us, but rather, were suppressed. As I look at the society that I have grown up with slowly becoming erased by the Spanish culture and social systems, I cannot help but feel disheartened. Despite this, I still fight to keep going. Fight so that, one day, I will be able to see the next generation of my society, with whom I can share the values and culture that I am thankful to have been a part of myself.


CHAPTER 2: MEXICAN ERA 1821-1910 Hi, my friend! I am a member of the Yaangavit tribe, and I’m here to tell you my story. For years, our Native people had been forced to work as labors for Spanish colonists. Although the War for Mexican Independence ended the Spanish Colonialism on this land, it didn’t give back our freedom. The Mexican government announced the secularization act, which turned LA’s Californios into rich rancheros with lots of granted land and forced my people to work on their land as labor. Yet one day, these rich people felt threatened by our existence.


Our people soon filled the jails for various reasons that didn’t even make sense. Public order, vagrancy, you name it. Even though our own territory was pushed farther and farther away from town, we were still trying to enjoy every day of our life. However, the worst thing was that the Mexicans signed a petition and tried to take away the last light in our life.

The U.S.-Mexican War came, Los Angeles was turned into an Anglo-American society, but these unfair treatments continued for decades. I hope that this oppression ends with us - nobody else should feel the pain of loss that we did.


Chapter 3: American Era since 1910s

I am someone that the general populace would refer to as a “tramp” and a “hobo,” and I am considered a plague upon an otherwise pure society. I came here to experience the healing effects of the California sun, but it seems as though I am trying to run up a slippery slope every time I try to make a living for myself in this society. I looked for work and got shouted out for not having work, I tried looking for a permanent place to live in, but the price range for all the available houses is completely out of reach.


It really is starting to look like most of society is becoming hidden from view too, to the point where I have lost count of how many of my friends have gone behind bars in the past few years. Ironically, it seems as though those who are in jail are performing the most work - I have seen the chain gangs that the jail puts them in, building so many different parts of the city, from the roads to the parks.

In fact, this society has become so reliant on this cheap form of labor, that the chain gangs are even working on building an even bigger jail, that will be a source of even bigger chain gangs, and will lead to even more cheap labor! I am quite amazed by how my people have been exploited, not because of some fault of our own, but due to the sheer power that the systems of the rich, such as their jails, hold over us. I hope to see a day where I can break out of this cycle, and this hope provides me with fuel to find the opportunity that allows me to do so.


It seems as though my financial status has determined my social status, and my social status has made me an irredeemable member of society, which has created a cycle that is very hard to break out of.

It seems that society’s response to me and all of my “hobo” friends trying to break out of this cycle is to make us powerless to resist, and their weapon of choice is incarceration. I think that their aim is to make society with a single type of person - rich, white, and not homeless. I am not sure why they thought this was a good idea - after all, everyone in the coal mines and farms becomes jobless in the winter, so how can they expect most of society to keep a stable job all the time?


CHAPTER 4: DEPORTATION AND CHINESE EXCLUSION 1890s - 1920s

Hello! My parents are Chinese immigrants who owns a restaurant in Chinatown. When I was little, my family moved to the U.S. for a better life. Even though it can be tough sometimes, we love our life here because my parents worked very hard for it. But such joyful life didn’t last long, and someone was trying to take this peaceful life away from us.

One day after school, my parents told me that we might leave the place we had lived for years because of 1892 Geary Act which was created to expel people like us out of the country. Many Chinese people who didn’t fit the requirements were locked up and deported out of the U.S.


Many Chinese people like us had been struggled so much to fight against this act. The Chinese Six Companies started the Civil Disobedience Campaign to fight against the Geary Act. The Fong Yue Ting v. United States case brought this problem to the public. Still we lost the case because the government believed that deportation was an “administrative process� but not a punishment.

Despite all the efforts, my parents and I still left the country with broken hearts at the end. It is heartbreaking to know that now not only Chinese immigrants, deportation and detention begin to target other minority groups. But still, I choose to believe that one day in the future, there will be no walls between us.


Chapter 5: Mexican Immigration until the 1930s Listen in, and let me tell you a story about Ricardo Magรณn. I consider him a hero of the Mexican people, as he spoke out against a regime that was heading towards the destruction of our people at the hands of foreign investors, looking to squeeze our Mexican land dry of its resources. This regime was naturally not interested in any opposition to their shady transactions, and so Magรณn and many of his followers (including myself) had to find refuge on U.S. soil.


I now fear that the expulsion that the Chinese faced is also starting to apply to the Mexican people, and the U.S. now seems to have authority to do so after the jailing of Magón. There are plenty of groups in the U.S. looking to get us out of the country - I have seen Ku Klux Klan rallies, Jim Crow in action, and nativists looking to “purify” the American race. Not only that - the U.S. government itself is looking to drive us out, by claiming that us Mexicans are always looking to go back to our country, and that deportation is not punishment, just administration.


I’ve read the U.S. newspapers in recent times, and more and more Mexicans are being deported every year. New federal prisons are also being created at an alarming rate, to exploit the labor of Mexicans jailed for petty public crimes. Los Angeles is now being hailed as a “white” city, which is putting even more fuel into the fire for deportation.

I fear that our group of rebels, with Magón in the lead, has allowed the U.S. to become involved in deporting not just the Chinese, but the Mexican people as well, and any other race that does not fit the “white” ideal. However, I suppose this was inevitable - it was only a matter of time before the increased Mexican immigration caused white people to push back. As to what I will do in these harsh times? I am a rebel at heart - I will find a way to resist the unfair demands of the U.S.


CHAPTER 6: THE BLACK BELT until 1965

Hello! I am a member from one of the Black communities on the Central Avenue. To escape from slavery, my friends and I had come a long way from the South to find the “Black Paradise� in Los Angeles. We built houses and developed our own communities where everybody was treated equally.

This was the best time of my life, and more black people like us came to LA and start a new life. However, the rapid growth of our communities led to increasing opposition from white settlers. With their power, white people restricted our housing options to only Central Avenue.


Along with this restriction, white settlers also turned Central Avenue into a “white spot” where gambling, drinking, and prostitution were provided to entertain white people. The Black Belt had then become the most chaotic place in the city. Supported by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in secret, these illicit businesses grew fast like a tree, and those who didn’t follow the police’s rule would end up in prison. Many of our people were locked up or shot to death by the corrupt LAPD. With these unfair treatments, we had no intention to stay silent.

Black people formed organizations to speak up and fight for our rights, and one of the most famous organizations was the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Despite our efforts, things didn’t work out well. Inequity continued in the city until 1965, when our anger exploded into an uprising that I now know as the Watts Rebellion. We clearly have a long way to go to mend the impoverished condition of people in Black LA, and I hope that we can come together as a society and fight for the good of us all.


Chapter 7: Wars on Drugs since 1970s Hi! I am a boy from one of the Hispanic neighborhoods. Recently President Reagan carried out the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act to target the increasing drug problems around the local communities. In fact, after President Nixon coined the phrase war on drugs, things became serious, and the police presence grew.

At first, my parents thought this was a great idea because as parents, they wanted their children to grow up in a drug-free neighborhood. It was not until two of my older brothers got caught did they realize that something went wrong.


Warned by my parents, none of us got involved in drug business. Yet, the police officers imprisoned my brothers because they “seemed� to participate in a drug deal. They were later labeled as gang members. Similar things happened to my friend once when we were in middle school - he was walking out at night, and was quickly apprehended.

As I grew up, I understood the meaning behind all these arrests. I used to think that my brothers might actually get involved in dirty business but they were ashamed to admit it. But really they had nothing to admit- they were just blind targets of the militarized war on drugs and gangs. Luckily, I feel that society has become more aware of this racial injustice. I just hope that my children won’t suffer from these problems in the future.


CHAPTER 8: TODAY’S WORLD Hello! I have lived in LA all my life, but I have lived in so many different parts of LA that I have lost count. I have lost many homes to gentrification this is the name given to the process of “renovating” a neighborhood to become more suited to the whims of the wealthy. It sounds great to the rich, but to those who already live in these neighborhoods, gentrification is a nightmare - you never know when you may have to move out yourself or be driven out by force.

This was the best time of my life, and more black people like us came to LA and start a new life. However, the rapid growth of our communities led to increasing opposition from white settlers. With their power, white people restricted our housing options to only Central Avenue.


I feel like all of us are being targeted and erased police roam our streets like hawks, scavenging for someone to send to prison for possessing an ounce of drugs, petty theft, or even just looking suspicious.

No one is safe from being a target - men, women, and children all have a place to go to. Schools are a gateway to jail. Women are sent to their own facilities, such as the nearby Mira Loma. I have seen police with guns chase kids down the street. Despite all this, I am starting to see the light at the end of the long tunnel of oppression in Los Angeles, when we who live in these underprivileged communities can see the day when we are free from the clutches of the jail.

Recent bills, such as the 2013 school rights bill, led to fewer arrests and citations in schools. Movements such as Chant Down the Walls have brought widespread attention to the plight of those in police-ridden communities. We are showing that our voices matter, and we will not stop until our schools, homes, and streets are no longer prisons with a different name.


To conclude... HI! WE HOPE THAT YOU ENJOYED READING OUR STORIES OF DIFFERENT PEOPLE ACROSS TIME. IF YOU WANT TO CHECK OUT SOME REALLY GROUND-BREAKING RESEARCH BEING DONE ON POLICING AND INCARCERATION IN LOS ANGELES, WE WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU CHECK OUT THE WORK OF MILLION DOLLAR HOODS, AN ORGANIZATION WHOSE MEMBERS ARE WORKING TO BRING GREATER TRANSPARENCY TO POLICING DATA, AND WHOSE WORK WE WERE INSPIRED BY WHEN WRITING OUR STORIES. TILL NEXT TIME, DEAR READER - WE HOPE YOU LEARNED FROM THE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES OUR CHARACTERS HAD TO OFFER ON THE HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES! - ASEEM AND DAN


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