Show 25
South Carolina imposes DNA database at prisoner expense

Mumia Abu Jamal speaks on the framing of atomic scientist Wen Ho 
Lee.
and
Court TV cancels its reality program: Confessions


In June 1999 the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division 
began a DNA database. The supply came from "sex offender" 
prisoners who were required to submit blood.

But this summer people complained that the database only had 1,829 
samples from sex offenders, and most of those were still in 
prison, so the database wasn't helping to solve any crimes. Many 
prisoners were released before having samples taken from them 
before the database got off the ground. Meanwhile, in Florida, a 
DNA database has been used in hundreds of investigations.

In response, in August Gov. Jim Hodges signed into a law a bill 
that will expand the database to cover violent offenders, juvenile 
offenders, and burglars. The federal government contributed 4 
million dollars, and the state legislature budgeted 370 thousand 
dollars. But somehow this isn't enough money. Governor Hodges' new 
law requires prisoners to pay $250 each to cover the cost of 
drawing and analyzing their own blood samples.

The bourgeois Amerikan state doesn't address the most serious 
crimes against the people -- which include foreign wars, corporate 
misdeeds, police abuses and environmental devastation. Instead it 
looks for more ways to spend millions of dollars on technological 
fixes aimed at persecuting the same oppressed nationals that have 
already had their lives and the lives of their families and 
communities uprooted by the prison system. The injustice system 
thrives on imprisonment, not crime prevention or public safety.

This database, like the "sex-offender" registries, mean that from 
now on, prisoners in the database will be considered suspects for 
all crimes, and subject to biological search even if there is no 
reason to associate them with any misdeed. This DNA database is 
part of the process of demonizing prisoners -- just like the laws 
in many states banning former prisoners from ever voting.

MIM has received numerous reports from South Carolina prisoners 
who have had their meager accounts raided or frozen to cover these 
costs. When prisoners were originally sentenced the charge was not 
part of the sentence.

Once again, the bourgeois state has penalized prisoners' families 
for the prisoners' alleged crimes. Much of the prisoners' money 
comes from their families. The legality of the state forcing 
prisoners to pay for the program has been challenged and is 
pending in Federal court.

Notes: Associated Press State & Local Wire, 20 August 2000, BC 
cycle.

--

In a few moments we will bring you a commentary by Mumia Abu 
Jamal. Mumia is a Black Nation revolutionary fighting for his life 
on Pennsylvania's death row. Mumia was framed for the murder of a 
police officer because 
he is an outspoken opponent of Amerikan imperialism.  This Mumia 
Abu Jamal commentary was recorded by Bruderhof Radio. Bruderhof 
Radio can be contacted at www.freespeech.org SLASH bruderhof, or 
via the phone numbers 1 800 778 8361 or area code 914 658-8351.

[Judi Bari, Track 33 all things censored]

[When Wen Ho Lee Went Free 3:29]


--

Two weeks into the airing of "Confessions", Court TV cancelled its 
version of so-called reality TV. Court TV had vied for a slot in 
Amerika's voyeuristic, violence-ogling and decadent culture, 
tailing programs like "Survivor" and "Big Brother." "Confessions" 
ran real taped "confessions" of those found guilty in Amerika's 
kangaroo courts. Some negative response to the show led Court TV 
chairpersyn Henry Schleiff to drop "Confessions". Critics' 
concerns centered on the show's affect on victims or possible 
"copy-cat" crimes.

Despite conservatives' criticisms, the show increased Court TV's 
ratings by 57% over the same period last year. Schleiff apologized 
and stated that he had not intended to offend. He said the 
cancellation shows that Court TV is not only concerned with 
ratings, but with quality programming. Court TV gets to benefit 
from its plunge into one of the more overt forms of Amerika's 
violent culture and at the same time gets to play one of the good 
guys, backing away from violent programming. Yet Court TV, like 
other entertainment businesses, continues to benefit from the pro- 
prison craze in Amerika through its talk-show style programs 
centered on Amerika's kangaroo courts.

Bourgeois culture reflects the economic relations in society and 
serves to bolster the foundations of the economic structure. 
Within the current imperialist system, Amerika attaches itself 
like a violent leech to the majority of the world and survives 
only as a parasite. Amerika's automaton drooling over parasite 
entertainment mimics the way Amerikans live. Instead of 
productive, educational programming, Amerikans get voyeurism -- 
just as they are largely paper-pushers rather than productive 
workers.

"Confessions" raised ratings because Amerika has become entrenched 
in its prison-crazed culture. Shows like "Cops" and four-hour 
police car chases are typical. Amerikan prisons serve as a tool of 
national oppression and social control. To bolster support for 
these fascistic tools, culture must downplay the significance of 
the humyns under lock and key. The more animalistic the prisoners 
are portrayed, the more violence against them is justified. 
Amerikans need little convincing of the importance of prisons to 
their way of life. The Amerikan prison system provides white 
settler nation members with jobs and continues the political and 
economic advantage of the white settler nation over oppressed 
nations. But continued police brutality and extreme violence 
against prisoners must be justified within Amerikan "art".

We do not single out Court TV for capitalizing on the pro-prison 
culture. But just as Court TV used the opportunity to increase its 
ratings, we use the opportunity to explain why Amerikan culture is 
fucked up. Beyond the fact that Amerikan culture trivializes 
violence against the people and is training future generations to 
do so, Amerikan culture lacks science. They call it "reality TV", 
but there is little reality to a show that depicts horrific murder 
and rape stories when the majority of prisoners are incarcerated 
for non-violent crime convictions -- whether or not they committed 
the crime.

A "reality TV" program about prisoners would have to include white 
pigs having leeway to target oppressed nationals for searches and 
arrests. Such a program would have to follow the oppressed 
national into the court room where they have little defense 
resources and courts that are run in the white nation's interests. 
The program would also have to follow prisoners into their cells 
where they are beaten and denied medical treatment. The reality 
show would then close showing the conditions of released prisoners 
after years of denied education and training.

The conservative critics' problem with the show was that it 
infringed upon the rights of so-called victims. Where is the 
science? If one is truly concerned with the people against whom 
crimes are committed, then you'd need to start with the real 
victims. The majority of crimes are committed against oppressed 
nations. To genuinely be concerned with victims of crimes, you'd 
have to aim your fire against imperialist governments, their 
lackeys and imperialist corporations. And to address crimes 
against individuals in Amerika, you'd need to start with the 
victims of crimes committed by the state. These crimes include 
everything from police brutality to exploitation of undocumented 
workers to ignoring the solutions to street crime.

We live under a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie in which 
capitalists make a profit off of violence. Defense contractors 
profit from making war; the entertainment industry profits from 
glorifying imperialist war. Under the dictatorship of the 
proletariat, profit will not be made off of humyn suffering. 
Pornography and the denigration of the masses for profit will be 
banned under socialism. Culture should serve the needs of the 
people. The needs of the people include genuine education to take 
part in society as productive members. Whether it is "Confessions" 
or "Law and Order" Amerikan culture fails to meet the needs of the 
oppressed.