Made With P.R.I.D.E. in the USA

Chain Gang - Sam Cooke (download/stream)

They need something to do in there. We can't just let 'em have weights and cable TV. Shit, they'll be livin' better then me. Can they do laundry? Sure, that makes sense. Why can't they make licence plates for the state? Sure, that sounds reasonable. Making license plates is a skill too. Rehabilitation of prisoners is important as well, you know. We can't find enough immigrants, so we'll get the prisoners to clean our highways as well.

How about private corporations hiring prisoners for less than immigrant wages? How about stretching the definition of "prisoner?" How about stretching the definition to include competing against outsourcing? How about allowing big business to stretch the value of a dollar, at the expense of the voiceless incarcerated population?

Slave - Temptations (download/stream)
Work Song - Nat Adderley (download/stream)

Don't believe the hype. That school your kid goes to? Furnished by prisoner-made furniture. That call you made to the DMV? Answered by a prisoner. Those dentures for grandma? Prisoners made those. The list goes on. The prison industrial complex is alive and well. Don't like jobs going overseas? Don't like foreigners gettin' paid pennies on the dollar? Get used to prisoners gettin' paid one to two dollars a day. "Made in the USA" takes on a whole new meaning.

Pick A Bale of Cotton - Leadbelly (download/stream)

Made with PRIDE in the USA takes on an even more ominous meaning. For those that don't know, the 2006 Merriam-Webster (ie Supremacy) definition is Prison Rehabilitative Industries and Diversified Enterprises. Translating into Biochemical Slang speak (ie the TRUTH): Cheap American labor with no unions = Big Corporation wet dream.

Peep this map of the California prison industry. There's 49 more states in our union. There's a lot of prisoners in our unions. Big corporations need cheap labor. Big corporations need "Made in the USA" tags. YOU do the math.

Walk with me. The prisoners can now become a part of a PRIVATE corporation's labor force. A labor force needs a steady supply of able bodies. These able bodies do not require an education, they can be "rehabilitated" later. They just need to be. Why wait for the public school system to fail, when we got prisoners now? Need more labor? Arrest more able-bodied inner city men. The vicious cycle continues. Who says America lost its "peculiar institution?" If we can USE these able-bodied inner city men, maybe cops would stop shooting.

Forget the Clipse. Private corporations can get it for cheap.