Appearing on the RT network, Talib Kweli answered questions about his stance on voting and why he prefers to spend his political energy on grassroots activism initiatives. Speaking specifically about the United States’ prison-industrial complex, Kweli also touched on the perils of a for-profit prison system and his work with political prisoners.
When asked about his aversion to “you should always vote” type messaging, Kweli described the possibility that he’ll return to the voting booth himself.
“I don’t believe that the vote is what they tell us it is,” Kweli said. “Yes, I’ve come out against the idea of voting without knowing the facts, without having a grasp on what the candidates represent. I have voted in the past and I may vote in the future but I’m not one of these people who thinks you should vote all the time and just because people died for the right to vote. I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to cast your vote.”
Opening up about the value of political activism, the Gravitas emcee explained his focus on working with prison inmates.
“I was taught in the household I grew up in that the community that you come out of, you should give back to,” he said. “That’s something that’s valued in my household. Just from my perception being a young Black man growing up in Brooklyn, prison and the prison industrial complex seems to be one of the biggest drains on our society. It seems to be a problem that you can have a direct effect on with activism, grassroots activism, and even possibly voting if there’s some sort of block vote or some sort of activist candidate who makes it to the top. So just focusing on political prisoners, people who have been wrongly imprisoned or people who have been imprisoned when the evidence suggested maybe they’re innocent. Stuff like that is stuff that remains close to my heart.”
Addressing the prison industrial complex in the United States more generally, Talib Kweli connected the abolishment of slavery to the continually disproportionate rates of people of color behind bars.
“Prison is for profit,” he said of the current system. “America, a small group of people get rich off of imprisoning people and the labor and the jobs it creates in these towns. This is a country that was built on slave labor. Sort of like of the backbone of this country, we have an intrinsic value system that celebrates giving people nothing and extracting everything from them. Because of it, we’ve become the greatest country in the world. When slavery was ended, America naturally formed a replacement for slavery. The fact that it’s mostly people of color who are dealing with the prison industrial complex is not at all a coincidence. It is a new Jim Crow. When Michelle Alexander wrote that book she was saying things in an academic way that people in the streets or people in the hoods have been knowing and feeling in their bones and their hearts. She just expressed in a way that people could read it and be like, ‘Okay, I see the connection clearly.’”
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Word. People don’t realize how unfair the judicial system is until they’re caught up in it and their life is just being toyed with by all these rich people who don’t give a fuck. Then they’re shocked at how disgusting the system and the people in the system can be. They literally will laugh at your misery and ruin your life for fun. Your guilt or innocence doesn’t even really matter at that point, you’re just a cheap commodity that can be moved around however they see fit to satisfy their wrath. If they decide because of some technicality that you need to do 4 more years for no reason, then you’ll do 4 more years, and there’s nobody you can go to about it. It’s wild. Don’t ever put yourself in the hands of the law ’cause you might never get out of it. If you’re hustlin’, make sure your goal is to turn it into something legit. If you’re on the run, I don’t care if you have to run to the end of the Earth, keep running, or you’ll regret it. Peace.
the irony of this interview being given on RT is probably lost on most people
probably on Kweli as well
rt is actually a great source of news (for everything that isn’t about Russia of course..).. they actually go into topics that would never find a voice on our MSM here in the United States..
everybody works in jail, you’re 40 years old, grow the fuck up
that wasn’t the point jackass
that was his point, move to China or Russia and whine about their prison systems, best of luck
I’m going to have to get her book.
Ranting ass nigga acting like this shit is something new
Niggas been knowing about prison son fuck outta here
and what do rappers do about..fuck that what do black ppl do about it..fuck that what the fuck are YUO doing about..ya silly azz nigga..show respect
i live by the old motto you do the crime you do the time.. sure there are SOME innocent people in prision but mainly if your in prision its bc you deserve to be there, and its not a coincidence mostly black people in in prision as a whole they are more violent and tend to do dumb shit.
read up on places like pennsylvania that were railroading teenagers to serve time in prison, all for the dollar
maybe then you’ll wake up from that face value lifestyle you abide by
but most likely you won’t
Your ignorance is tantamount to you r existence your founding fathers were exiled as criminals they always have been criminals and create death and destruction wherever they go Caucasians authored the book on violence and crime idiot
until I looked at the check of $8170 , I did not believe that my father in law had been actualey taking home money parttime from their laptop. . there moms best frend has done this 4 less than 9 months and just paid the mortgage on there house and purchased McLaren F1 . original site……..-=
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You are tripping if you think people are incarcerated for profit. Incarcerating criminals takes millions of dollars of tax payer money. The private prison companies only exist because the different state or federal governments figures its cheaper for them to pay someone else to house prisoners, than it is for them to use government owned prisons
Private prisons make money off of prison labor, they sign BILLION DOLLAR CONTRACTS with companies that want the labor AND THE STIPULATION OF THE CONTRACTS IS THAT THEY MUST MAINTAIN A 93%-97% OCCUPANCY RATE. SO WHAT HAPPENS THEN? THEY LOBBY AND PAY OFF PROSECUTORS JUDGES AND COPS TO THROW MORE PEOPLE IN JAIL TO KEEP THE NUMBERS UP TO KEEP THE MONEY FLOWING IN. WAKE UP SHEEP. PRISON IS NOT FOR REHABILITATION ITS FOR SLAVERY. AND WE ARE POWERLESS TO STOP IT. EVEN MICHAEL JORDAN INVESTS IN PRIVATE PRISONS. AND EVEN PUBLIC PRISONS ARE PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES YOU FUCKIN FOOL
ty anon.. you saved me from having to write to that idiot..
you’re an idiot and don’t know a goddamn thing. They make money off the labor, you dumb shit. read a book.
It’s very important to you fact find before putting misinformation out in the world.
Then tell me why private prisons are suing states because the prison aren’t at least 95% full?
Chris, The number one thing for the local , Law/legal profession is to keep the population at or above the break even percentage Then the returns on investments are robust.
Enough talk. Change.org reparations. Sign the petitions!!!!!!!