2012 "PRISON NATION" the other AMERICA... If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention!

Rebuild the City Inc. dares to ask...Is there not a cause?" (I Samuel 17:29) David asked that same question as he listened to the threats of Goliath and as he witnessed the fear of Israel's army. The same question can be asked of America's New Jim Crow/Prison Nation Policy. It has an obvious answer... Yes, there is a cause! "To proclaim freedom for the prisoners... To release the oppressed." (Luke 4:18) If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. 2012 is our year to go much deeper. It's time to delve into the places that supply our better values & instincts, to the practices that renew our faith traditions & ethical priorities. A new generation has risen up to focus our attention on the core issue of inequality, which is a fundamental biblical matter of prophetic justice. (scroll down & read more about this social crisis)




TOO IMPORTANT TO FAIL - Rebuild the City Mission: Saving America's Inner City Men: Why Now Is The Time For a New 21st Century Abolitionist Movement? THERE ARE MORE AFRICAN-AMERICAN ADULTS UNDER CORRECTIONAL CONTROL TODAY THAN WERE ENSLAVED IN 1850.
CRUEL AND UNEQUAL: How our Penal System Mass-Produces Second-Class Citizens.
People of all colors use and sell drugs at similar rates, yet African-American adults are 10 times more likely than whites to go to prison on drug charges. A look at the social effects of mass incarceration by the numbers:

20%
Decrease in violent crime, 1980 to 2007

1.8 million
People under U.S. correctional supervision in 1980

7.2 million
People under U.S. correctional supervision in 2007
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13
Percentage of illicit drug users that are African Americans

35
Percentage of drug-related arrests that are of African Americans
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17,000
Annual deaths from illicit drug use

103,350
Annual deaths attributable to alcohol
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256.2
Per 100,000
Rate at which black adults are imprisoned for drug offenses

25.3
Per 100,000
Rate at which white adults are imprisoned for drug offenses

LESS THAN 1%
Difference in illicit drug use rates between whites and blacks
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"The New Jim Crow" inner city community primarily comprised of the black, brown and white poor currently is facing a crisis of catastrophic "neo-slavery" type proportions. Inner cities across our nation will go from critical to unresponsive if we as a "Holy Nation" do not move quickly to secure additional resources and fundamentally change how we minister.
Unfortunately, due to the unique complexity and deep-rooted issues surrounding the most threatened, our contemporary church model has become (except as "Houses of Mercy") almost completely irrelevant against our generational curse of fatherlessness and powerlessness.
Today, we who advocate for the poor and for justice must once again become spiritually relevant. Our platitudes do not mean much if we are not transforming into a modern day abolitionist movement.
Consequently, we are turning the traditional Church model on its head innovationally by launching and building-- if you will-- a modern day "Tuskegee type" multifaceted discipleship complex , that will intentionally be for the empowerment of our inner city underclass.
Much like Booker T Washington did yesterday for his "Everyday People" in the heart of a Jim Crow south, we too in the heart of an Urban Wasteland must build practical and spiritual life skills institutions as "Cities of Refuge", that will feed, clothe, house and train our working poor and underclass with morals, discipline and a sense of purpose.
We desperately need your help to fight against the neo-slavery of the poor urban dwellers to spark a flame of justice into a 21st Century Abolitionist Movement.


Mark Anthony Mitchell Sr.
Adjunct Professor
Humanities & Fine Arts
Atlanta Metropolitan College
Executive Director
Rebuild the City Inc. 501©3
P.O. Box 6853
Atlanta, Georgia 30315
Phone 770 256 3899
markanthonyx7@yahoo.com
http://tinyurl.com/TheAtlantaUrbanChurch
www.youtube.com/markanthonymitchell

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Prison Reform
• racism
• classism
• sexism
• discipleship
• fatherhood
• urban missions
• The NewJim Crow
• Genocide Rebuild the City Inc.
• Social Gospel
• W.W.J.D.

[rubymcfadden]

TRUTH!