You Can't Improve Schools or Reduce Poverty Without Dismantling the Prison Industrial Complex

There are a lot of people, including people I have spent the last few years fighting, who genuinely want to make schools in poor communities better. Their methods rarely work and those who oppose them say you have take measures to reduce poverty to make dramatic improvements in low performing schools. Were it that simple! Until you dismantle the prison industrial complex, change drug laws, and reduce the smothering presence of police in poor communities, you cannot reduce poverty or make dramatic improvements in schools. We have a legal system and law enforcement apparatus that assures that huge sections of our poor population remain in poverty; and puts huge burdens on poor families. While education policy is an important battleground, it is held hostage to other social policy arenas. I intend to make this argument, in season and out of season, until people stop looking to avoid taking on drug laws, policing and the prison industrial complex