Hunger Games "Kern County" here we come?
The largest private prison corporation in America, GEO, wants to expand in the Central Valley of California. In a few words, a private company that profits off of misery and the incarceration of our undocumented population wants to expand its facilities into the Kern County city of McFarland, an impoverished community where 95.6% are Hispanic and 87% speak Spanish.
For those of you who aren't from California, Kern County lies about 2 hours northeast of Los Angeles and, politically speaking, wouldn't skip a beat if you dropped it in the middle of Texas. It's conservative and very Republican.
In effect, GEO wants to help create an American dystopia in California's Central Valley, where poverty is not only a daily reality, but where the incarceration of the region's poor and powerless is going to stare McFarland's citizens right in the face. With a per capita income of $10,139 (2017), over 35% of McFarland's residents live in poverty, with many being the undocumented targets that GEO wants to incarcerate.
Meanwhile, GEO's institutional investors profit off of helping to create a culture of fear, and have even started - according to one reliable source - offering McFarland citizens $20 an hour to knock on doors to "share the good news" about GEO's economic presence in the community.
GEO is trying to capitalize on these conditions by claiming that it will bring jobs (the pay makes GEO guards effectively rent-a-cops), but GEO says little about how they ultimately profit off of the incarceration of people who are the neighbors and families of the McFarland community.
It's as if we're heading for Hunger Games America, where we don't think twice about sacrificing a portion of our neighbors for the profit and entertainment of a group of investors who could care less about what their "product" (incarceration and fear) brings to the communities they tear apart.
For those of you in the Kern County region, who are interested in voicing your concerns, McFarland's second planning commission public hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at 6 pm.
Let the games begin ...
- Mark
If you're wondering, yes, we're talking about the city of McFarland, of Disney fame.
The largest private prison corporation in America, GEO, wants to expand in the Central Valley of California. In a few words, a private company that profits off of misery and the incarceration of our undocumented population wants to expand its facilities into the Kern County city of McFarland, an impoverished community where 95.6% are Hispanic and 87% speak Spanish.
______________________
______________________
In effect, GEO wants to help create an American dystopia in California's Central Valley, where poverty is not only a daily reality, but where the incarceration of the region's poor and powerless is going to stare McFarland's citizens right in the face. With a per capita income of $10,139 (2017), over 35% of McFarland's residents live in poverty, with many being the undocumented targets that GEO wants to incarcerate.
Meanwhile, GEO's institutional investors profit off of helping to create a culture of fear, and have even started - according to one reliable source - offering McFarland citizens $20 an hour to knock on doors to "share the good news" about GEO's economic presence in the community.
____________________
GEO is trying to capitalize on these conditions by claiming that it will bring jobs (the pay makes GEO guards effectively rent-a-cops), but GEO says little about how they ultimately profit off of the incarceration of people who are the neighbors and families of the McFarland community.
It's as if we're heading for Hunger Games America, where we don't think twice about sacrificing a portion of our neighbors for the profit and entertainment of a group of investors who could care less about what their "product" (incarceration and fear) brings to the communities they tear apart.
For those of you in the Kern County region, who are interested in voicing your concerns, McFarland's second planning commission public hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at 6 pm.
Let the games begin ...
- Mark
If you're wondering, yes, we're talking about the city of McFarland, of Disney fame.
No comments:
Post a Comment