Family is Key: An Exploration of the Social, Cultural, and Economic impacts of Mass Incarceration & the Systematic Dismantling of the African American Family

Abstract

This thesis serves as an exploration of the mass incarceration of African Americans in the United States. The central theme of my work is to identify the important role that the family plays in the overall success of human beings. Therefore, in the fight for racial justice, the family must arise as a critical area of focus in order to uplift disadvantaged demographics. Within this thesis, I argue that throughout United States history, the systemic oppression of Black Americans has been made more severe through the intentional disruption of the Black family. Within this argument, I seek to explain the ways in which the U.S. prison system serves as a strategic tool for the generational oppression of African Americans through a continued social, cultural, and economic attack on the Black family.