During your time at Washington University you’ll probably break the law: drinking under the age of 21, using an illegal drug, crossing Big Bend or Forsyth anywhere but at an intersection. For someone your age in Ferguson (or in Florissant, Calverton Park or countless other nearby towns) any of these infractions could and often do result in fines, court hearings, and/or imprisonment.[1] America has almost 5% of the world’s population, but about 25% of the world’s imprisoned population.[2] White people report using drugs just as much as black people, but black people are 2.6x more likely to be arrested. When white people are arrested for the same crime as people of color, Black and Latino/a folks are put in prison for longer periods of time.[3] As some of your peers will tell you ‘the whole damn system is guilty as hell.’ And odds are—for the majority of WUSTL students—you won’t be arrested, won’t be fined, and won’t be put in prison or jail, despite the fact you’ll probably commit a crime.
Find ways to challenge, resist, and dismantle the criminal punishment system and the logics that accompany it.[4] Push back against the idea that there are just some dangerous and violent people in the world that we need to be protected from—it’s a historically racist, ableist, and classist idea that there are some people who are just bad. Recognize that violence and harm do take place; they take place in interpersonal ways and systematic ways. So be actively involved in efforts to reduce systematic harms prevalent in the world (i.e. protesting police abuse) and harms prevalent on campus too (i.e. getting your student group trained by S.A.R.A.H).[5] Get involved with communities that consider other ways of holding people accountable.[6] Interrogate how the University is complicit in the prison-industrial-complex and do something about it.[7] Volunteer at a local public school: 1/9 black children have parent behind bars and it’s impacting their lives too.[8] Make an effort to question biases, stereotypes, and prejudices you might have about people who are behind bars and/or people who commit crimes. Use your time at WUSTL to grapple with the idea that people are more than the worst thing that they’ve ever done.
[1] Remember the next time you walk in the street that Michael Brown was originally approached by Darren Wilson because he was walking in the street as opposed to the sidewalk. St. Louis municipalities regularly arrest black folks for their ‘manner of walking along roadway.’ Hey, maybe read this article with your freshman floor and discuss.
[2] Screwed up, right? We haven’t always put people behind bars at this rate.
[3] White people are actually more likely to deal drugs and actually more likely to do drugs in their lifetime, but black people are more likely to be arrested and put inprison for doing so—largely because communities of color and poor communities are more likely to be policed. Regardless of what you think about the criminalization of drug use (or the legal drinking age for that matter), consider who actually gets punished for behaviors that are against the law.
[4] I use ‘criminal punishment system’ rather than ‘criminal justice’ to emphasize how prisons, jails, court systems, and law enforcement agencies have created laws, practices, procedures, policies that punish people rather than hold them accountable for their actions. It’s not just semantics: language is important. Michelle Alexander’s incredibly influential 2010 book made the term ‘mass incarceration’ so popular even Obama uses it.
[5] SARAH (the Sexual Assault and Rape Anonymous Hotline) is one organization that is committed to supporting survivors. Again, resisting the logic of prisons, jails, and criminal punishment does not mean dismiss, discounting, or minimizing harm or that we shouldn't hold people accountable.
[6] Shout out to restorative justice initiatives on campus.
[7] Check out this important article from a WUSTL alum on how a member of Board of Trustees has profited off the booming imprisonment industry.
[8] 1/28 children overall have a parent behind bars—that’s pretty much a kid in every classroom.