From our perspective on the outside, an inmate’s change of cell may not be a big deal, but the Marshall Project carried a first person article of a prisoner’s experience. And it’s anything but. Without warning or explanation, Arthur Longworth was told he was being moved to another cell at 6:30 am one morning. He’d been in this cell for 5 years and in his long incarceration this wasn’t the first time he was moved. He describes it as a piece of him being torn away. His cell was his world, his home, and without notice he and his few possessions, were told to move, in this case to a part of the prison that (more…)
Danielle Levy
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Blocking a Loophole
Anything that chips away at the use of child and forced labor is good news. A loophole allowing goods to enter the US even if they had been made with child or forced labor has been closed. The Tariff Act of 1930 said that if there was not enough supply to meet US demand, the goods could come in regardless. Since then the act was used a mere 39 times to block forced labor, the last time being in 2000. The language has now been changed, and goods will no longer be allowed in if (more…)
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Victims and Victimhood
A NYT essay by Arthur C. Brooks made a distinction between being a victim and what he calls the culture of victimhood, meaning anyone being slighted or hurt by others or the system feeling victimized whether or not in his eyes it was deserved. He sees the practice as being so frequent and prevalent and as not having much merit. As much as I find the concept evocative, I am not sure about the examples he cites, for example those of students feeling hurt by the use of micro-aggression. I am sure there are exaggerations, no one is perfect, but micro-aggression which I have heard and seen is a real issue, and even if one makes a distinction between a racial slur and violent rape, (more…)