Senghor: Most non-violent drug offenders engage in violence to protect interests
Shaka Senghor · a16z Podcast | Your Worst Deeds Don’t Define You -- Life and Redemption in Prison · Jan 2, 2019 · at 54:13
Author and activist Shaka Senghor challenges superficial political distinctions made between violent and non-violent prison inmates during criminal justice reform debates.
0:00 / 0:08exact quote · 8.9s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“Most people who are non-violent offenders, if you sold drugs, you had to be violent at some point to protect your interests. You just didn't get caught for a violent crime.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Shaka Senghor
State estimated Senghor's 17-year incarceration cost at $1 million
“When I got sued, I had about 17 years in, they estimated the cost of my incarceration to be like a million dollars.”
Senghor: U.S. prison system operates at a 70% failure rate
“The prison system is the only big business that secedes with a 70% failure rate.”
Senghor ran a 100% profit loan operation inside Michigan Reformatory
“You know, I ran stores where, and I had a, I had like a floating economy, right? So I was in a cell block where, Michigan Reformatory has two cell blocks. It was J block and it was I block. And they get money on alternating weeks. And so the way that I made th…”
Senghor: Prison administrators must tolerate inmate economies to maintain control
“The way that those systems work is that the administration, they have to allow it to exist. Because otherwise they can't control the environment.”
Senghor: Mainstream depictions overlook how intelligent and well-read Malcolm X was
“But I ended up reading Malcolm multiple times, and what I found is that, you know, obviously, you know, the way that Malcolm is portrayed is, you know, the black nationalist, the angry black man, and what's often overlooked Is how profoundly intelligent he was…”