Most go to prison not on account of their irreducible uniqueness as people but because they are part of a marginalized sector of the population who never had a chance, who were slated for it early on.
Interpretation
This quote highlights how systemic issues can lead to incarceration rather than individual faults.
Rachel Kushner's quote reflects on the societal and systemic factors that contribute to incarceration rates among marginalized communities. It suggests that many individuals are not imprisoned due to their unique actions or characteristics, but rather because they belong to groups that face historical disadvantages and lack opportunities. This perspective urges a deeper understanding of the root causes of crime and punishment, emphasizing the need for social change and support for those who are disadvantaged from the start.
In practice
During a talk on social justice, this quote can be cited to highlight the need for reform in the criminal justice system.
I am just getting into Zora Neale Hurston, who is possibly a much better writer than the critics and rivals who tried to erase her from history, resulting in a life in which she worked as a maid and died in a welfare nursing home. She's clever. She does something modern to the sentence.
Making art was really about the problem of the soul, of losing it. It was a technique for inhabiting the world. For not dissolving into it.
The church is like a swimming pool. Most of the noise comes from the shallow end.
Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. This is not a function of any other art.
A human being in perfection ought always to preserve a calm and peaceful mind and never to allow passion or a transitory desire to disturb his tranquility.
All things are manifestations of one thing only.
Every one speaks well of his own heart, but no one dares speak well of his own mind.
The merit of Marx is that he suddenly produces a qualitative change in the history of social thought. He interprets history, understands its dynamic, predicts the future, but in addition to predicting it (which would satisfy his scientific obligation), he expresses a revolutionary concept: the world must not only be interpreted, it must be transformed. Man ceases to be the slave and tool of his environment and converts himself into the architect of his own destiny.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.