Absence of Light is a project created in collaboration with incarcerated people at Auburn Correctional Facility in Auburn, New York. This is an account from Absence of Light Columnist Clifford Graham, who recently transferred to Mohawk Correctional Facility in Rome, New York.

Racial segregation is still a constant problem in the United States. It is evident throughout the education, business and political systems. Even with laws created to combat segregation, it is economically ingrained in our society.

Sixty-seven years after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools, supposedly in the interest of providing Black Americans with equal education through racial integration, many Black students in the U.S. find themselves hypersegregated in urban schools, entrapped in the education system in severe crisis and in imminent danger of total collapse.

Sixty-five years after segregation on buses was declared unconstitutional, a higher percentage of Black people in urban areas take buses and other public transportation daily or weekly compared to white residents in urban areas, according to data from the Pew Research Center. Fifty-six years after the passage of the great Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed racial discrimination in voting, Black people in urban and rural America can vote for Black politicians, but due to voter suppression, these politicians may not be able to take office and implement the changes voters want.

Black people can vote for president of the United States, only problem being that urban votes are manipulated by those in power through voter suppression tactics and gerrymandering, which crucially influence who will be elected president. Therefore, the major part of gaining political power is running hard against Black images and Black interests.

Fifty-three years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, Black people are hypersegregated in urban areas and suburban neighborhoods, where still, many are experiencing homelessness, sleeping on the sidewalks, under bridges and in abandoned buildings. After 60 years of affirmative action, Black people find themselves with the highest unemployment rates, blocked out of corporate America, many drifting into poverty evermore rapidly and begging for handouts on the streets of America.

About 55 years after the initiation of Black capitalism, many Black people find their community markets dominated by people who do not live in the community. Black business people find that they can do little business in America or with America. After years of being America’s moral conscience, Black people find their communities being devastated by immorality. After preaching brotherly, race-transcending love, they find themselves the most hated of races.

For Black people in America, 58 years after hearing the words, “free at last, free at last, thank God almighty I’m free at last,” America has become even more of a prison. Stealing their bodies, hopes and aspirations, in dungeons of despair.

I would like to send my acknowledgment of the contributions that the late great Amos N. Wilson made through his research and published works like “Blueprint for Black Power.” May his soul travel forever.

They cry for new leadership … United Society!!!

Cliff Graham, # 15-B-2973
Syracuse, New York.
Mohawk Correctional Facility in Rome, New York.
I can be reached at JPay-Inmate Tablet Program via email for any opinions, comments or wise counsel.

Published on December 6, 2021 at 9:38 pm