Summer Most Heat Moon
Started a new book last night, On the Run, by Alice Goffman, a recently graduated sociologist Ph.D. Her father was Erving Goffman, also a sociologist. You may be familiar with his work on social interactions. For example, in a work on human interaction he observed that the amount of space people need when conversing while standing differs by culture.
On the Run recounts Alice’s 7 years of living in a poor black neighborhood of Philadelphia, but recounts it from a sociological perspective. I’ll write more about this as I get into it, but I wanted to note two things I’ve learned already. Things that disturb me quite a bit.
First, in the introduction she cites devastating statistics about the incarceration of black males. This one really got me. 60% of black males who don’t finish high school end up in jail. 60%!
Second, she remarks on a coincidence that’s been staring us in the face for a long, long time, but is even more devastating. The rise of tough-against-crime legislation and the war on drugs-both of which are primary drivers in what one sociologist calls “mass incarceration”-began in the 1970’s. This is the period just after the passage in 1964 of the Civil Rights Act and the victories of the civil rights movement. Think about those two things together. They should give you pause.
More later.