By Yuriy Andriyashchuk
Hip-HopVibe.com Staff Writer
In America, our criminal justice system has always been extremely flawed. We see judges hand down harsh sentences to black men for non-violent crimes such as having small amounts of weed. Hip-HopVibe was at the A3C Festival and Conference in Atlanta today as T.I., Charlamagne Tha God and Shaka Senghor sat down for a panel to discuss these issues.
For these three men, the justice system has affected all of them. Charlamagne can’t do pre-check at airports with his family at airports because of a felony from back in the 90s, T.I. was arrested for having firearms, and Shaka Senghor was charged with murder in court. Charlamagne is now part of a successful radio show at The Breakfast Club, T.I. is a Grammy-award winning artist with seven platinum albums.
T.I. says that the way these prisons treat black men and other inmates resemble to that of plantation and they’re an “extension of slavery.” The Atlanta rapper added that there’s many steps to take to end poverty and crime but none of them are being taken. He views the prison system’s plans as to keep cheap labor and slavery going.
Senghor says that being in prison shows the psychological trauma that inmates go through. He took the pain that he went through and when he was released from prison in 2010, he teaches a class at the University of Michigan and also has a New York Times best-selling book with “Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison.” He also went on to be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey regarding prison reform and his book.
All three panelists also emphasized how difficult is for inmates in regards to their mental health post-incarceration. Charlamagne added that the right people need to be provided to them to help recover from that trauma. We are still very far from the reform we need when it comes to fixing the system. America continues to use prisons as huge profits and has no regards for who they put in prison or how the state of their health is mentally after their incarceration. We also see the system continue to utilize other issues that constantly plague America to their advantage such as racism and police brutality.
Check out T.I., Charlamagne Tha God and Shaka Senghor speaking at A3C below.
.@Tip speaking on criminal justice reform with Charlamagne Tha God and Shaka Senghor here at #A3C19! All facts spoken by T.I. as usual about this topic. Our criminal justice system has always been backwards and has a negative bias against black men. pic.twitter.com/ooiBBccWbD
— Yuriy Andriyashchuk🇺🇦 (@YuriyATL) October 11, 2019
More on @Tip speaking on our broken criminal justice system earlier at #A3C here in Atlanta!✊ pic.twitter.com/qp81u8bhsp
— Yuriy Andriyashchuk🇺🇦 (@YuriyATL) October 12, 2019
.@ShakaSenghor earlier at #A3C19 here in Atlanta discussing his 19-year prison sentence and criminal justice reform. This was a really good panel to see with him, @Tip, and @cthagod. pic.twitter.com/uZPCKaijzw
— Yuriy Andriyashchuk🇺🇦 (@YuriyATL) October 12, 2019
— Yuriy Andriyashchuk🇺🇦 (@YuriyATL) October 12, 2019
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