{"id":1368,"date":"2016-04-08T13:35:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T13:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=1368"},"modified":"2016-11-05T21:21:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-06T01:21:00","slug":"tell-the-black-caucus-stop-taking-private-prison-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/tell-the-black-caucus-stop-taking-private-prison-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Tell the Black Caucus: Stop Taking Private Prison Money"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Rashad Robinson, ColorOfChange.org [info@colorofchange.org]<\/strong><\/p>\n

This week, Donald Trump suggested we reform our broken prison system by increasing privatization, saying ‘Private Prisons seems to work a lot better.’1<\/sup>\u00a0Private prison companies are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses targeting Black communities.2<\/sup>\u00a0 \u00a0 Companies like CCA and GEO Group are focused on one thing: profit. And in order to make the most money for their shareholders, they traffic in political influence, giving over $10 million to candidates and spending $25 million lobbying for laws that put more people in prison.3<\/sup><\/p>\n

It’s no surprise that someone as profit driven and anti-Black as Donald Trump would support Private Prisons but when an institution like the Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee (CBC PAC) accepts money from the industry, it is harder to understand.\u00a0<\/strong>Even though both Democratic Presidential candidates have shunned contributions from private prison lobbyists,4<\/sup>\u00a0the CBC PAC has taken thousands of dollars from Akin Gump, the lobbying firm that makes millions lobbying to protect their private prison client, Corrections Corporation of America, from increased regulation and transparency.5<\/sup><\/p>\n

Join us in calling on the CBC PAC to remake their board to reflect CBC leadership and cut ties with industries that harm Black people, including Private Prison lobbyists, Big Tobacco, and the anti-worker National Restaurant Association.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Congressional Black Caucus Political Action Committee6<\/sup>\u00a0claims to speak for Black people but is really a mouthpiece for corporate power with a board made up primarily of corporate lobbyists and funding from some of the worst industries for Black people, including Private Prison lobbyists.7\u00a0<\/sup>As The Intercept reported:<\/p>\n

Members of the CBC PAC board include\u00a0Daron Watts, a\u00a0lobbyist\u00a0for Purdue Pharma, the maker of the highly addictive opioid OxyContin; Mike Mckay and Chaka Burgess, both\u00a0lobbyists\u00a0for Navient, the student loan giant that was\u00a0spun off of Sallie Mae; former Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md., a lobbyist who\u00a0represents\u00a0a range of clients, including work last year\u00a0on behalf of Lorillard Tobacco, the maker of Newport cigarettes; and William A. Kirk, who\u00a0lobbies\u00a0for a cigar industry trade group on a range of tobacco regulations.<\/p>\n

And a significant percentage of the\u00a0$7,000\u00a0raised this cycle by the CBC PAC from individuals was donated by\u00a0white lobbyists, including\u00a0Vic Fazio, who\u00a0represents\u00a0Philip Morris and served for years as a lobbyist to Corrections Corporation of America, and\u00a0David Adams, a former Clinton aide who now\u00a0lobbies\u00a0for Wal-Mart, the largest gun distributor in America.8<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The lobbyists sitting on the CBC PAC’s board represent companies that are notorious in the mistreatment and exploitation of Black people.<\/strong>\u00a0This includes Wynn, the Congressman-turned-Big Tobacco lobbyist who reportedly used his position on the board to block the endorsement of current CBC member and progressive hero, Rep. Donna Edwards’, historic bid to become only the second Black woman to be elected to the Senate.9<\/sup>\u00a0Black voters ousted Wynn for his corporate ties back in 2008 but thanks to the corporate board of the\u00a0CBC PAC, he is still speaking for Black people. If corporate lobbyists on the CBC PAC’s board can decide to withhold support from someone like Rep. Edwards, why are they being allowed to operate under the banner of the Congressional Black Caucus?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rashad, Arisha, Scott, Brandi, Enchanta, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

References<\/p>\n

[1] “Why Trump\u2019s support for private prisons and mass incarceration should worry you” RawStory, 4-3-16\u00a0https:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/6133?t=6&akid=5630.278096.M1qJe2<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]\u00a0“Too Good to be True: Private Prisons in America,”(.pdf) Sentencing Project, 01-2012\u00a0http:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/4051?t=8&akid=5630.278096.M1qJe2<\/a><\/p>\n

[3]\u00a0How for-profit prisons have become the biggest lobby no one is talking about,” Washington Post 04-28-2015\u00a0https:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/5399?t=10&akid=5630.278096.M1qJe2<\/a><\/p>\n

[4]\u00a0\u201cHillary Clinton says she\u2019ll end private prisons, stop taking their money,\u201d Huffington Post, 10-23-15,\u00a0http:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/5883?t=12&akid=5630.278096.M1qJe2<\/a><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0https:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/5894?t=15&akid=5630.278096.M1qJe2<\/a><\/p>\n

[6]\u00a0Political Action Committees are organizations formed for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat electoral candidates. Read more here:\u00a0https:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/5878?t=17&akid=5630.278096.M1qJe2<\/a><\/p>\n

[7]\u00a0http:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/5879?t=19&akid=5630.278096.M1qJe2<\/a><\/p>\n

[8]\u00a0\u201cHillary Clinton\u2019s Congressional Black Caucus PAC Endorsement Approved by Board Awash in Lobbyists\u201d The Intercept, 2-11-16,\u00a0https:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/5880?t=21&akid=5630.278096.M1qJe2<\/a><\/p>\n

[9]\u00a0\u201cBlack Caucus PAC shuns endorsement of Donna Edwards,\u201d Politico, 2-12-16\u00a0http:\/\/act.colorofchange.org\/go\/5882?t=23&akid=5630.278096.M1qJe2<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Rashad Robinson, ColorOfChange.org [info@colorofchange.org] This week, Donald Trump suggested we reform our broken prison system by increasing privatization, saying ‘Private Prisons seems to work a lot better.’1\u00a0Private prison companies are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses targeting…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[106,105,107,104],"class_list":["post-1368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","tag-black-people","tag-congressional-black-caucus","tag-people-of-color","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1368"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4296,"href":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1368\/revisions\/4296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}