While there has been a long history of the policing and criminalization of marginalized populations – including minorities and immigrants – in the U.S., we have entered a new chapter with election of Trump and recent orders to defund sanctuary cities, build a wall along the U.S. and Mexican border, and block the entry of Syrian refugees and people from seven Muslim-majority countries. Such orders could be anticipated by the fiery rhetoric of his election campaign, when he cast African Americans as dwellers of poor “inner city” conflict zones and Mexicans as “rapists”. The outcomes of such orders are likely to be heightened surveillance, spatial confinement and racial targeting for those in the U.S. as well as the demonization of those individuals (particularly from Mexico and from Muslim-majority countries) seeking to enter to escape violence or poverty. The War on Drugs and the War on Terror will be given a new lease of life, and the privatization and expansion of the U.S. prison industrial complex – one of the fastest growing, for-profit industries in the country – will continue apace.
To provide a context for these developments, Progressive City: Radical Alternatives will be reprinting a series of articles from the Spring 2015 Progressive Planning Magazine issue entitled “Prisons, Policing and Planning“, which was edited by Planners Network member Sheryl-Ann Simpson and includes an introductory article by Planners Network member Jeffrey Lowe.
WE BEGIN WITH THE FOLLOWING TWO ARTICLES:
Silky Shah, “Immigration Policy and Planning in the Era of Mass Incarceration“
Sheryl Ann Simpson, “Prisons, Policing and Planning: Making the Connections Visible“
We welcome readers’ comments and responses, as well suggestions for concrete actions moving forward!