Black August, Hip-Hop and Political Symbolism

Prison has long been central to the maintenance of a racial, social and class structure in the United States. Prisons are used like society’s credit card. Societal contradictions which generate enormous wealth and inequality are masked by mass incarcerating those forcibly removed as a result just as credit cards mask the contradiction of stagnant wages for labor and enormous production of goods, services and wealth for bosses and owners. Thus, prisons, jails and their captives (both real and employed) are everywhere.

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