John, we need to talk about what's happening in Alabama.
The Alabama state legislature recently passed a set of bills that would establish a $1.3 billion plan for new prison construction -- with the money the state received for COVID-19 relief.
Yes, you read that right. Alabama plans to start spending COVID-19 relief money from the federal government to build more prisons. When it comes to COVID-19, Alabama was hit extremely hard. And due to systemic racism, we saw Black communities get hit hardest.
Alabama is already one of the poorest states in the nation, and we know that Black people suffer the brunt of it -- from the lack of access to quality health care to low wages, and little job security.
We also know that Black people are disproportionately impacted by systems of incarceration. The fact that the state legislature thinks they can use the funding to hurt Black people rather than help tells us one thing:
This is a blatant attempt by white supremacists to hurt Black communities in Alabama when they are already suffering the most.
The money from the American Rescue Plan Act allocated funding to state and local governments specifically for COVID-19 relief. The money should be going towards things like health care and housing,
not prison construction.
We all know what will happen with more prisons: More prisons = disproportionate incarceration rates of Black folks. We cannot allow this, and neither should the United States Treasury Department.
We're taking matters into our own hands here, John. Sign the petition to Treasury Secretary Yellen and demand the Treasury Department intervene to stop the misuse of COVID-19 relief funding >>
Health care workers in Alabama are beyond overwhelmed, and they required federal health care teams to intervene and assist this summer as the Delta variant overwhelmed their hospitals. Alabama health care centers and hospitals lacked necessary PPE and supplies, and they struggled to set up testing sites in predominantly Black counties throughout the pandemic.
Alabama has even maxed out of ICU beds multiple times throughout the pandemic. How does spending the majority of COVID-19 relief funding on prisons rather than health care make sense?
It
doesn't make sense. But it does make sense for white supremacists attempting to build something that has immense harm on Black folks, rather than use the funding to help the people impacted the most.
The thinking behind putting COVID-19 relief funding towards incarceration rather than using it to address racial health inequities that have worsened over the pandemic has to do with one thing: white supremacy.
Federal funding for COVID-19 relief should be used for exactly that -- not something that would have major impacts on the next generation of Black folks in Alabama. Take a quick moment to sign the petition to Treasury Department Secretary Yellen and demand she stop this misuse of funding immediately.
In love and solidarity,
Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation
