Quote:
Originally Posted by flowerchild241
People of all races and economic (I have more than a few friends who have gotten picked up for something ridiculous) get arrested and then bailed out, especially in college.
|
Yes, but not in the same proportions. I could tell you countless stories about white friends in Cook County who were let off with a warning for minor possession, and countless stories about black friends in Cook County who were harassed while doing nothing wrong. But besides my anecdata, African Americans make up about a quarter of the population and about two-thirds of the prison population of Cook County. It is disingenuous to act as though all races are affected equally by the prison-industrial complex.
All that said, I think the appropriateness of this event comes down more to execution. Whether or not "jail and bail" is inherently offensive, obviously this would be a problem if those "arrested" start acting out negative stereotypes of "prison thugs" and the like. The fact that they are wearing orange jumpsuits makes me think they are already heading in that direction. This could go very wrong very quickly, and I could see why the sponsoring organizations would not want to go down that path.
It's like a Greek organization sponsoring an "Around the World" costume party...it's just asking for trouble.