The economy has never worked fairly for Black people. Why? Because we are the driving force behind it. Even world leaders believe this truth despite their contributions to the problem.
Our value to the system was once in our forced labor. Now we are manipulated by capitalism to be one of the driving consumer forces in this country. But there’s another more sinister way that America exploits us.
Mass incarceration is one of the biggest profits made as a result of Black bodies in this country. Sixty percent of the 2.3 million adults and children in US prisons, jails, and immigration detention facilities are Black people.
Oppression is big business for the economy. Prison workers in the United States produce at least $11 billion in goods and services each year and over 4,000 companies benefit from this system by using incarcerated people as a labor force.
Many activists and community groups are fighting against the oppression economy by pushing for demilitarizing, if not abolishing law enforcement entirely. It's important for us to find ways to support each other in this fight to end the profit of our suffering forever.