Not much goes on in Wampum, Pennsylvania. Located about 50 miles outside of Pittsburgh, the Lawrence County borough is home to less than 1,000 people, over 17% of which live below poverty level. In 2009, 11 year old resident Jordan Brown (pictured here, in a photo provided by Lawrence County Prison) was described as a normal “all-American boy”. He enjoyed local leisure activities such as football, riding bikes, reading Harry Potter books and hunting. A year later, Jordan, now 12, faces grown up charges with a possibility of life in prison without parole.
On February 20, 2009, 26-year-old Kenzie Houk was found lifeless in bed with a bullet from a 20-gauge shotgun through her head. She was eight months pregnant with a baby boy and a mother to two girls. Her boyfriend’s son, 11-year-old Jordan, was identified as the murder suspect and faces two counts of homicide, one including the unborn child.
Because the state of Pennsylvania offers no reprieve in convictions due to age, it’s no surprise that it has the highest total number of juvenile lifers. This means that Jordan could very well spend the rest of his life behind bars for a crime committed when he was a child. According to the University of Pittsburgh, if kept in criminal court and convicted, Jordan will be the youngest person in the world serving a life sentence.
This video is based on the writings of Massachusetts inmate Darrell Jones. Since his incarceration, Mr. Jones has maintained his innocence and spent the last 23 years fighting to stop the devastating cycle of violence and incarceration he is witnessing. This video is about hope and responsibility on an individual and government level . If the men and women behind bars think that no one expects more of them, if they believe that this great “change” Obama spoke of meant everyone else but them, the results are disastrous. Without hope, the prisons are currently breeding violence, racism and anger to be released back into our streets (97% of men come back out) fueling this endless cycle of violence and incarceration. If Obama is able to address terrorists and school children alike, then why not this prison system when it is holding so many of our people?
Here’s one excerpt from Darrell’s letter, to show its resonance and unique perspective:
Mr. President, I once read in a news article that listed the top music artists you had on your iPod. Among them, it listed Jay Z. Well, with 24 years in prison, I’ve never seen an iPod, and neither have many of the men around me, but I do know that daily I see many very young males walking around me with “Spiritual iPods” that are playing in their ears, the songs of Notorious B.I.G. singing the words “You’re nobody unless somebody kills you”. Yet two things are clear, sadly, Biggie did become bigger in death, and that many of these kids who have never seen their families together during a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner meet them for the first time in a casket with their eyes closed at a funeral. So, what troubles me is not so much that they’re willing to die, but that they don’t even want to leave here (prison) and get back to living.
For more information and to read the full letter or to contact Darrell directly, please go to www.obamaanswerthis.com.
Having a baby is a wonderful, beautiful act—but there is a time and a place for it. When a teenager gives birth, the odds of her or her baby having a fulfilling life are significantly lower than if she had waited until she was in her twenties. Teen moms are more likely to drop out of school, receive welfare, and have more children within a couple of years. In turn, the children of teen moms will statistically have poorer health and inferior results in school than their peers who had parents who gave birth later on. Children from teen pregnancies are also more likely to end up in prison (if they’re sons) or giving birth while still teenagers (if they’re daughters).
Which is why Santelli’s study is so disturbing. It shows that teenagers are having kids at a higher rate, not necessarily because they desire children at that stage in life but because they are not taking simple precautions to prevent it. The use of contraceptives is going down, leaving health educators wondering where the f*%# they went wrong. Because, instead of using a condom, youth are trying the “withdrawal method,” and even the “let’s not use anything” approach—otherwise known as the “I’m playing Russian Roulette with my girlfriend’s future” approach. Hell, the guys should be worried too, because STIs tend to spread a lot faster when there’s no condom to stop them (and by “tend to” I mean DO).
Read the full story
I’m going to tell you all a secret: Reality TV makes me really angry.
Ever since the first season of The Real World in 1992, more and more television has been composed of reality programs because they are cheap to produce, draw in a good audience and.. well, let’s face it.. the old adage goes, real life is stranger than fiction. And it bores me. I don’t care about Jon and Kate or Survivor and frankly, as much as I love P.E., thinking about Flavor Flav getting down with any of the girls on Flavor of Love gives me nightmares.
There are a number of images that permeate our collective psyche. Some are tragic, others hopeful. Every now and then, there is an image that embodies a state of mind so well that it can’t be described or explained. You just have to see it.
The recession has had drastic effects on families nationwide. Personally, I know it is having a drastic effect in my household, and I have not seen anyone profiting from this economic downturn. So, every now and then, it is fantastic to see something good happening as a result of such a terrible economic climate. A rose that grows from concrete, if you will.
We have to expect our government to take on the real problems in our neighborhoods. We’re not used to counting on them for change, but we should be able work with them and make something important happen.
There are over 80 cosponsors of the Youth PROMISE Act right now; we’re trying to get up to 150, but that’ll take all of us working together, contacting our representatives and telling them personally that we want their support for this pivotal piece of legislation.
Go to 99problems.org/youth-promise to send a message to your representative. It only takes a few minutes but will mean a world of change.
When Isaac started his voter registration campaign, he quickly came to realize there were many more issues to tackle in Colorado. Like the struggle of single mothers to hold jobs and raise their kids. Or ex cons who can’t find a job, anywhere.
What is it that sometimes turns us against the needs of our neighbors? We must look past the superficial, past our varied histories or roads taken, and see that we need each other to get where we want to go: a healthier community, with equal rights, and neighbors who help you get what you need.
In D.C. for the Youth PROMISE Day of Action, I was invited to watch the documentary “Crips and Bloods: Made in America”, (directed by Stacy Peralta and produced by actor Cash Warren and NBA superstar Baron Davis) at a special screening hosted by Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA) on Capitol Hill. The screening was held to kickoff a series of events in support of the Youth Promise Act national day of actio.
As I watched the film, I couldn’t help but think about my favorite line from the seminal 70s gang movie, The Warriors. It was the unforgettable line Cyrus delivered during his legendary speech: “Miracles are the way things ought to be.”
California is first in prison spending and 41st in spending on education. Therein lies the the root cause of the problems we see in our communities. Let us silence the violence and invest in education.
Update 11:00am PACIFIC:
MK and Sandy Take on Prop 13
Two of our organizers from San Francisco, MK and Sandy, sent us a video they recorded last Friday about the need to repeal Prop 13, a piece of California legislation that was passed in 1978. Prop 13 created a cap on property tax rates in the state, reducing them by an average of 57% and totally bankrupting our funding for schools. We need to repeal Prop 13 so we can get funding back to our broken schools!
Crips and Bloods: Made in America is a chilling documentary cataloging the role of the L.A. Police department in the creation of the Crips and the Bloods. This piece of history is important.
We must educate ourselves about the history of our countries and people in order to understand who we are today and the systematic choices that have been made that have influenced our situations. Violence and poverty have been affecting the black community disproportionately since the inception of this country. If we don’t know understand the causes that have got us to where we are in this country we can’t solve it.
You got people in jail? I do. Ever since I can remember my friends, family and neighbors have been spending time locked up. I am not alone. Today, there are nearly 7 million Americans behind bars.
And while bad people definitely need to be in prison, the truth is that for the last 30 years young people and people of color have suffered disproportionately in the American judicial system. People don’t like to talk about it, but the War on Drugs and the over policing of inner city communities has created a generation of incarcerated scar-faces.
One of the sad realities of prison life is that you are disconnected from your people. And it doesn’t matter how many letters you write or how many times you visit, the distance is most times unbearable. That’s why AppalShop, a media justice organization in Whitesburg Ky, came up with a project called Thousand Kites. Every week this unique radio program brings the voices of prisoners’ families to the airwaves and gives them an opportunity to communicate to their loved ones via FM radio waves.
Check out today’s action video, I bet you’ll be inspired to do something for your people behind bars.
Got a story to tell? Drop it on our wall to the right, or email us at 99problems.org@gmail.com
Today’s Artist: Johnny Cash
We’re bringing ya back a few decades on this one. Johnny Cash was a revolutionary, rebellious figure who famously empathized with the imprisoned population when it was considered extremely taboo to do so. Prison destroys men and women, and in this song, San Quentin, Cash defines the disdain that men have for that famous prison.
Our prisons are crowded with first time offenders, kids whose lives have been destroyed, derailed by what was sometimes just a few bad mistakes.
1% of America’s entire adult population is behind bars, but don’t let that statistic fool you; a lot of those adults were first introduced to orange jumpsuits and steel cells before they were old enough to vote.
The American prison system is cyclical, and once you’re in, it’s hard to stay out. We lock our kids into a pattern of crime and punishment because our crime prevention, rehabilitation, and foster care facilities are so overburdened and underfunded.
Juvenile justice reform is an issue of integrity, of honor. No child should be born in our country without a social promise of good health, a supportive community, and opportunity to succeed in a positive way. Huge numbers of our children are left out of the American dream, but rather than fix that, we simply wait for them to screw up and lock them up. Seriously, who expects that to work?
Today’s Artist: Regresa El Guru
Ghetto Youths Entertainment is a record label, but if you want to check out their HQ you’ll have to hop a plane to Panama’s Federal Jail. Inside that prison, a professional recording studio puts out songs of defiance and social change, recorded and created by inmates.
The Ghetto Youths have worked from the inside to change their situation from one of imprisonment to social empowerment. Check out their story.
BlanQ: Getting this new job! It's gonna happen tho..
angela: Police abuse and misconduct is rampant. Yet, our courts do not hold them accountable. Red tape discourages ligitimate complaints of police violence. I recently filed [...]
Ryan: Im starting to believe that all customer service calls for various companys (Wal-Mart WTF) are overseas or offshore calls!!!!!!!! Why cant we open more [...]
Jen: My problem is all the families that hurt their children.
lil mommi: my one issue i think this world has #1 in ny we have the rockafeller law and all these men who are caught or [...]
Not much goes on in Wampum, Pennsylvania. Located about 50 miles outside of Pittsburgh, the Lawrence County borough is home to less than 1,000 people, over 17% of which live below poverty level. In 2009, 11 year old resident Jordan Brown (pictured here, in a photo provided by Lawrence County Prison) was described as a normal “all-American boy”. He enjoyed local leisure activities such as football, riding bikes, reading Harry Potter books and hunting. A year later, Jordan, now 12, faces grown up charges with a possibility of life in prison without parole.
Being a teen is hard enough. Being a teenage mother is infinitely harder—and according to a study by John Santelli of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, there are 
WTF) are overseas or offshore calls!!!!!!!! Why cant we open more [...]
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