Retired FBI agent Frank Figliuzzi writes on the MSNBC website about the internal dangers to America. It’s not from immigrants, who are typically more law-abiding than the native-born, but from Neo-Nazi gangs.
He writes:
The federal indictment of 68 defendants accused of being members of (or being associated) with a criminal gang driven by race-based hate followed an investigation that led to the seizure of Nazi paraphernalia, including Adolf Hitler posters, and 97 pounds of fentanyl, federal officials said Wednesday. U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada, who announced the charges, called it one of the “largest takedowns in the history of the Department of Justice against a neo-Nazi, white supremacist, violent extremist organization.”
That announcement landing in the final weeks of a presidential election prompts us to contrast the facts of our crime problem with the fiction that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, would have us believe.
The dismantlement of the group that called itself the Peckerwoods, a San Fernando Valley arm of the notorious Aryan Brotherhood white supremacy organization, came in the form of charges for allegedracketeering, firearms trafficking, drug trafficking and financial fraud. If convicted as charged, some members, who adorn themselves with tattoos of swastikas and other hate symbols, could face life behind bars. The group was so heavily armed and so violent that the FBI deployed its elite Hostage Rescue Team from Quantico, Virginia, to support the arrests. According to the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, the Peckerwoods, a derogatory name historically used against white people, “has as its mission to plan attacks against racial, ethnic, religious minorities.”
Agents seized an arsenal of illegal guns, “bomb-making components” and dozens of kilograms of fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin, according to law enforcement officials.
The details of this multifaceted investigation reveal a significant component of America’s crime problem: hardened, U.S.-born criminals who traffic in the drugs, guns and violence plaguing our country. This contrasts with the fact-free fearmongering fabrications being sold to MAGA believers. It’s not that minorities don’t commit crimes; nor is that migrants never murder or rape. But Trump and Vance want voters to believe our gun, drug and violence problems are being driven by migrants when the opposite is true…
During the vice presidential debate, Vance claimed the vast majority of illegal guns used in crimes here come from Mexican cartels. The truth is quite different; it’s the U.S. that’s arming Mexican cartels. We have detailed data demonstrating the extent to which American weapons are fueling the violence in Mexico, right down to the make and model of the guns found at crime scenes across the border.
Please open the link to read more about crime statistics and Trump-Vance’s hateful and phony war against immigrants.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Trump’s phony war is against immigrants and any large city with a significant non-white population. It is all part of his divide and conquer strategy. The article cites the lies Trump has told about Detroit. The truth is Detroit is rebounding from its economic decline. Young families are moving into the city as it is one of the few places where there remains affordable housing. Crime is down in Detroit, and diverse families are moving back to the city. Trump simply wants to feed his narrative. That is why he blocked the border deal and lies about big cities.https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/trump-says-crime-up-fbi-numbers-say-crime-historic-lows-rcna173590
These neo-Nazi groups are no better than the cartels. They are a problem in Europe and anywhere there has been significant non-white immigration. Like the cartels they are a dangerous criminal enterprise.
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The unfortunate thing is that the Peckerwoods are a HUGE gang WITHIN the prison system (nationwide). While in prison, most people have to join a gang for protection which leads to more people being indoctrinated into “the culture”. Once these people are released, they need “support” on the outside……which leads them to the aid of Peckerwoods who have already been released from the system. It’s a symbiotic culture.
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While I am painfully aware of the shortcomings of anecdotal evidence, I have been listening, with great pain, to Trump’s scurrilous, indeed racist comments about immigrants. I have lived in New York City for twenty years, and for 13 of them, I have lived in essentially immigrant neighborhoods in The Bronx and Brooklyn. Given Trump’s amplification of the Neo-Nazi attack on Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, I am compelled to comment on this post from the vantage point of my new neighborhood in Brooklyn.
My block is one train stop down from Newkirk Avenue, which now bears the sobriquet “Little Haiti” (the 2 and 5 trains announce it as such). Because the predominant language spoken on the blocks surrounding me is Haitian-Creole, I know that my neighbors are mostly of Haitian descent.
They are religious, hardworking, and civic-minded–in other words exactly the kind of folks anyone in his or her right mind would hope to have as neighbors. Since Donald Trump has demonstrated repeatedly to my satisfaction that he is not in his right mind, I guess I should expect the raw sewage that comes out of his mouth.
But I don’t have to like it, and I certainly don’t need to miss an opportunity, while I have the time, to excoriate Trump as a dangerous, racist demagogue who is not fit to run a car rental agency.
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Mark,
I agree with you that Trump’s hatred for immigrants is despicable. He has never in his life worked as hard as your Haitian neighbors.
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Trump announced that when he is president, he will revoke the protected status of the Haitians in Springfield and deport them to Haiti. Spiteful man.
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Homeland Security released a report, commissioned by the Bush administration, that said the hard right/white militia movement was a threat. This in April 2009, in the early months of the Obama administration. Predictably, congressional Republicans howled about it, and the head of Homeland Security walked it back. It’s embarrassing to see newscasters giving airtime to the racist fearmongers. I guess they have to compete with X.
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Georgine, I know Trump spoke at a rally in Wisconsin. I am sure it was filled with lies. Here is a message forwarded by Ravitch who once in Washington.
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Hello Diane and all: I am posting the below (cross- or inter-field) note from Paul Jurmo who works in the field of Adult Foundational Education FYI. I thought it important to this present conversation, but also generally because the AFE suffers from a lack of awareness on the part of many Americans, and especially those who have children in schools across the nation. If any educator here is unaware of AFE, this note is an eye-opener.
BTW, AFE and other adult-education groups were sorely affected by subtle but purposeful “education for work” movement (and government funding) which claimed to do “double-duty” for other kinds of education, but where the funding tended to sideline broader-education efforts–it seems to me that the movement was similar to the last two+ decades of slowly and now increasingly killing public education for K-12.
There are “conspiracy theories,” and then there are real conspiracies . . . one might cite the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC.) And this is all gone if a “new constitution” of 2025 gets installed. CBK
(All copied below–this is long, but you “hear” the voices of those involved.)
Voices for Individuals and Communities Impacted by the Criminal Justice System
This is the seventh in a series of messages posted to the AAACE-NLA discussion group in September – November 2024 on the why’s and how’s of “Changing Our Minds about Adult Foundational Education.” This message #7 focuses on the theme of “Voices for Individuals Impacted by the Criminal Justice System.” This and related themes (e.g., correctional education, prisoner re-entry, criminal justice reform, public safety) has been articulated and put into practice by innovative AFE programs for decades – including now (Coalition on Adult Basic Education, 2024).
Drawing on years of experience in the AFE field, this and other messages in this series are offered as resources to those looking for new ways to strengthen and expand AFE opportunities for U.S. adult learners and communities, especially at this critical time in our nation and field. See references at the end for more resources related to this theme. These messages will be organized into a single collection that will be made available by the end of 2024.
Readers are welcomed to respond with constructive comments and questions to this discussion group or to me at the email below.
Paul Jurmo http://www.pauljurmo.info/pauljurmo@gmail.com
……………..
Voices for Individuals and Communities Impacted by the Criminal Justice System
Though “AFE for work” has been a major focus of much of AFE (adult foundational education) in the U.S. for decades, another very important purpose for adult foundational education (AFE) has been AFE for individuals with criminal records (i.e., people currently incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and never-incarcerated but nonetheless having a “criminal record.”) This message #7 describes diverse ways that this area of AFE has been interpreted in the U.S. AFE field. It is offered as a resource to those looking for new ways to strengthen and expand AFE opportunities for U.S. adult learners and communities.
Evolving approaches to AFE for individuals and communities impacted by the criminal justice system
Prisons and other institututions (e.g., re-entry organizations serving formerly-incarcerated individuals) have historically provided various kinds of education and training programs to adults and youth who are incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, convicted of a crime but not imprisoned, or at risk of criminal behavior (Chlup, August 2005a). These programs have included various types of “basic skills” instruction, such as “GED classes,” “English for Speakers of Other Languages” (ESOL), and basic literacy, as well as technical training classes in which work-related math, reading, and writing are integrated with the teaching of other skills and knowledge required for particular jobs. (For the purposes of this article, I will refer to these various types of programs as “re-entry foundational education programs.”)
These re-entry foundational education programs are typically provided with the assumption that they will help learners develop skills, attitudes, credentials (e.g., a high school equivalency diploma), and other assets (e.g., support systems) they need to get a job, advance in their education, integrate back into their communities and families, and avoid returning to criminal behavior and incareration. Many of these programs have used standardized curricula taken from adult education or high school programs. Such standardized curricula often teach skills “out-of-context” (e.g., the memorizing of random vocabulary words, drilling in “times tables”) in ways that are not directly related to real-world applications of those skills that are meaningful and motivating to learners.
Drawing on experience in such progams and research in adult foundational education more generally, some education programs for individuals who are incarcerated, formerly-incarcerated, convicted of a crime but not imprisoned, or at risk of criminal behavior have tried to make basic skills activities relevant and engaging for learners by contextualizing instruction around themes and uses of literacy taken from learners’ lives. Writing classes might, for example, have learners write about personally-relevant themes like “my family,” “my goals,” life in prison, and strategies for dealing with challenges and opportunities they will face upon release. Reading activities might include reading of texts written by former inmates or on issues (e.g., health problems, civil rights of people with criminal records, how to help children of incarcerated individuals succeed in education and life more generally) that particularly impact incarcerated individuals and their communities and families.Digital literacy classes might help learners navigate various online systems that can help them deal with health, legal, transportation, or housing needs. Math activities might focus on how to manage one’s budget and make wise consumer decisions (financial literacy) or on occupational math needed for particular jobs.
As Sandra Kerka wrote for the ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education (1995, p. 1)
Successful prison literacy programs are learner-centered and participatory. They put literacy into meaningful contexts and motivate and sustain learner interest by providing engaging topics. Literacy programs should be tailored to the prison culture.
In addition to using the above kinds of contextualized curricula, some re-entry foundational education programs have recognized that “lack of basic skills” or “lack of a high school diploma” are just some of the obstacles that make it difficult for inmates to lead productive lives outside prison. Other obstacles might include employers reluctant to hire former inmates, landlords who don’t want to rent to “ex-cons,” health problems, learning disabilities, reliance on social networks that reinforce former inmates’ negative behaviors and attitudes, racial discrimination, lack of ability to vote or get a driver’s license, lack of the “social skills” and other tools (e.g., clothing, a car, digital access and devices) expected by mainstream society, and lack of positive moral and practical supports from former inmates’ families and communities. To help learners deal with those obstacles, some re-entry foundational education programs work – “integrate” — with other service providers (e.g., healthcare, legal, transportation, housing) to help learners access and benefit from those services while they also work on their basic skills and educational credentials.
Some re-entry-related programs also see education as a tool for “empowering” learners to be active, informed problem-solvers, critical thinkers, and leaders who can manage their lives effectively upon release. Learners thereby avoid being passive recipients of help from others, subject to obstacles that life puts in their way.
Advocates for re-entry foundational education programs argue that well-designed, well-supported programs can not only help the learners involved but have positive impacts on the various types of communities that learners interact with (Goebel, August 2005). Arguments include:
· Re-entry foundational education can strengthen learners’ families by:
o helping parents better support their children’s academic success, health, and overall well-being;
o building families’ economic security by helping parents secure family-sustaining employment and manage their financial and in-kind resources;
o helping parents serve as positive role models for all family members;
o helping adults provide positive home environments for older family members and members who have disabilities;
o helping parents access and use various kinds of support systems and tools (e.g., digital technologies) that they and other family members can benefit from.
· Re-entry foundational education programs can help other communities that learners interact with including:
o workplaces that need qualified, reliable workers;
o providers of healthcare, legal, housing, transportation, recreation, digital access, consumer, banking, cultural, environmental, and other services that need well-equipped participants;
o labor unions who want to help their current or prospective members (who might include individuals with criminal records) succeed and recognize the negative social and economic impacts of incarceration and crime;
o libraries that want to welcome and serve community members who want to learn and improve their lives;
o K-12 schools that want to serve and involve parents and other care-givers of children and youth;
o public safety agencies that want to ensure the safety and security of all residents;
o economic development agencies that recognize that a positive local economy depends on a well-equipped workforce and consumer base, social cohesion, and public safety;
o public policy makers who recognize not only the negative social and economic implications of crime and incarceration but want to maximize the efficiency of uses of public dollars currently being invested in police and prisons.
Examples of re-entry foundational education services
Shown below are examples of various types of re-entry foundational education services, along with links to resources that readers can access for further ideas and information.
· The Bard Prison Initiative is a collaboration of Bard College and maximum- and minimum-security prisons in New York State. Inmates earn college degrees in a rigorous bachelor’s program taught by college faculty. See the four-hour PBC documentary titled “College Behind Bars” at https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/college-behind-bars
· Bunker Hill Community College and the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston have operated a re-entry education program for the jail’s inmates. In a Writing Workshop, learners developed writing skills by writing stories taken from their lives. One inmate, William, wrote and then read to the class his “My Own Prison” piece in which he . . .
. . . recounted his search for a place to live when he was homeless, with several students underlining sentences and scrawling notes on their copies. William finished and looked from his piece to the class. “That’s great, man,”(fellow student) Damon said. “I could really see what’s happenin’. Like when you describe the place your friend showed you.” Damon flipped the pages of his copy to find the exact part. He read it aloud. “’It was a drab looking building made of yellow brick and covered with dirt and grime. We walked up the stairs of this morbid looking building and we stepped inside. The hallways were dark and dank. The smell of urine bouncing off the walls made it hard to breathe.’ I could see that, man. I could smell that.” William smiled (Smith, August 2005, p. 1).
· The Fortune Society is a New York City non-profit founded in 1967 as an outgrowth of an Off-Broadway play. It provides multiple services to nearly 7000 incarcerated and formerly-incarcerated individuals per year. In addition to job development, healthcare, housing, nutrition, and family services, Fortune’s education program uses a participatory approach to help returnees achieve personal and professional goals. Topics include basic literacy and math, computer skills, preparation for the high school equivalency exam, transition to higher education, and job skills and career exploration. In one innovative example of project-based learning, learners in a computer animation class learned how to make short films around personally-relevant issues (and thereby meet several learning objectives at once). Classes are taught by dedicated professional teachers and volunteers (including for several years undergraduate students participating in a service learning course at nearby New York University.)
· In the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Stillwell, MN, the Critical Poetry Project (Geraci, August 2005) helped inmates “learn to study poetry critically and improve the writing and public speaking skills” (p. 15). A literacy instructor explained:
I hoped poetry would have value as a tool for creating community and unity among diverse groups of male offenders; I wanted it to enhance the social interaction between racial and ethnic populations in order to reduce conflict. I wanted poetry to help students learn how to attain and improve their academic skills and cultivate positive attitudes about themselves. . . During a planning workshop, the inmates submitted themes that interested them: manhood, fatherhood, American dreams and nightmares, and the value of a man or woman (p. 17).
Another instructor said:
We have a community providing for, nurturing for, and caring for one another. It’s not just about writing but caring for each other’s problems (p. 18).
The first instructor cited above added:
Students learn a broad array of writing skills. They learn to organize their thoughts and express them creatively. Not only do they improve on grammar and spelling but they also increase their vocabulary. The learn to use the rhyming dictionary, hip-hop dictionary, and thesaurus. Students can incorporate what they learn about history and political science into their poems (p. 19).
A student commented:
We built a community of guys who otherwise would never have talked to each other (p. 20).
· The Bedford Hills (NY) Correctional Facility offers college-prep (writing and math) and degree programs to women inmates, through a partnership with Marymount Manhattan College. Students have access to books, supplies, a computer lab, library, and study area. Reflecting the College’s commitment to providing a rich college experience, Bedford students are offered multiple academic and extracurricular activities, including guest speakers, skills enhancement workshops, Read Arounds (where they share their creative work), poetry slams, exhibits of students’ art, and a student-written newsletter distributed to all inmates.
· The Learning Center in the Halawa Correctional Facility in Aiea, Hawaii integrated traditional and current cultural practices and values with basic skills. Learners read stories about Hawaii written by a Hawai’ian author and learned traditional dances. They discussed how they used math in their current lives “on the streets” and could serve as better role models for their children. One teacher described how useful it was for her to have grown up in the same public housing that many of her students did, as it helped her understand where the learners were coming from and enhanced her credibility with them. She described how involving inmates in hula classes forced them to stretch themselves—their bodies and their minds —in new ways. “In my class I have the gangs. Knock on wood, I’ve never had a problem. When you’re in my class you’re a dancer, nobody but a dancer.” She added: “Any culture can do what we do here. It’s important for you to know who you are, so that others can understand you” (Garner, August 2005, pp. 13-15).
· A Vermont Law created an independent school – known as the Community High School of Vermont (CHSVT) within the Department of Corrections and approved by the state Department of Education that can award secondary school credits and high school diplomas. The state legislature was concerned that incarcerated individuals – especially the large numbers of youth 17 to 22 years old – did not have access to the free public education guaranteed as a basic civil right in Vermont’s constitution. Features of CHSVT include: 47 full-time and 350 part-time teachers across nine correctional facilities . . . additional educational services provided in probation and parole sites to learners after they are released from prison . . . a requirement to complete 20 credits in a full high school curriculum . . . individual graduation plans customized to the interests, needs, and schedules of students to guide them through the learning process . . . learner involvement in choosing courses to take . . . options for learner to “earn a GED” (seen as a limited though useful outcome) and to “earn (the more desirable) high school diploma” . . . use of various strategies (respect, ongoing feedback, confidentiality, building on learners’ prior knowledge) to build student motivation . . . rewarding learners for demonstrated achievements rather than for mere attendance . . . and an open entry/open exit approach which allows learners to participate in various short modules without having to do them in a rigid, standardized sequence (Woods, August 2005) .
· In 2007, inspired by the Fortune Society model (described above), staff of Union County College in New Jersey secured a foundation grant to create a prisoner re-entry initiative. Called “RISE” (for “Return, Improve, Serve, Excel”), the project was a collaboration of UCC, the Nicholson Foundation, local partners (e.g., a non-profit re-entry service provider, a state-funded day-reporting center, country human services), and state-level organizations (e.g., parole board, a community college network). UCC took the lead in (a) a county re-entry task force (where stakeholders met monthly to share information and strategies); (b) job-related basic skills and computer classes and job development for clients of the day-reporting center; (c) enrolling returnees in GED and credit courses; (d) training partner staff in re-entry issues; (e) awareness-raising activities (e.g., a day-long re-entry conference, a video, pamphlets); and (f) writing of funding proposals for re-entry services. College staff also participated in state-level meetings where re-entry strategies were shared, with special emphasis on community college roles. RISE was later re-named (to “Reconnections”) and transferred to the local United Way and then to the county workforce office. It continued providing re-entry services in the county’s two employment centers, with county funding.
I did not have experience as an adult educator on the outside to compare this against until I later taught courses in more “traditional” adult education settings. And while the similarities are great, the differences are indeed striking. My inmate learners were not allowed to know my last name or any other personal information about me. I had to monitor the amount of paper that I distributed. (Students are permitted only a certain area of square footage in their cells to be occupied by paper. When they exceed this amount, they must either mail the excess to an individual on the outside for safekeeping or risk having it destroyed should it be found during an unannounced inspection.) I was never allowed to leave pens with my students, making it nearly impossible to assign written homework. All of the supplies I brought into the jail had to be accounted for before I left. The corrections officers once kept my students an extra 20 minutes as the class searched for a missing pen. It had simply rolled away from the table at which we had been working and another student inmate had picked it up, thinking it belonged to her group . . .
. . . I held class alongside five other teachers in the jail’s gymnasium. A less than ideal working space: a chair was always being scraped across the floor, and when one group was writing it seemed as if another was always reading aloud. It was never quiet, but it was also never dull. Spanish and English flew through the air from woman to woman and the energy was something palpable. That first job was the one that called me into teaching. It is the continual thrill, joy, and reward of working with inmates that helps keep me there.
These diverse re-entry foundational education programs demonstrate both the importance of serving individuals impacted by the criminal justice system, as well as various strategies (partnerships, curricula, funding) for doing so. Such education can have important benefits for learners and their families and communities. Given the huge numbers of individuals in the U.S. who have criminal records, this form of education should be a key component of high-quality U.S. adult foundational education systems.
Paul Jurmo
http://www.pauljurmo.info
October 2024
REFERENCES CITED
Chlup, D.T. (August 2005a). The pendulum swings: 65 years of corrections education. Focus on Basics. Vol. 7, Issue D. https://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2005/fob_7d.pdf
Chlupp, D.T. (Agust 2005b). Teaching on the inside. Focus on Basics. Vol. 7, Issue D. https://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2005/fob_7d.pdf
Coalition on Adult Basic Education (Spring 2019). Prison education: The key that opens doors to opportunities. COABE Journal. Volume 8, Issue 1. https://hgs864.p3cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2019SpringPrisonEditionELECTRONIC.pdf
Garner, B. (August 2005). Culturally relevant education. Focus on Basics. Vol. 7, Issue D. https://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2005/fob_7d.pdf
Geraci, P. (August 2005). The critical poetry project. Focus on Basics. Vol. 7, Issue D. https://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2005/fob_7d.pdf
Goebel, K. (August 2005). Re-entry and corrections education. Focus on Basics. Vol. 7, Issue D. https://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2005/fob_7d.pdf
Kerka, S. (1995). Prison literacy programs. ERIC Digest No. 159. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED383859
Flynn, B. (August 2005). Writing at the house, Focus on Basics. Vol. 7, Issue D. https://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2005/fob_7d.pdf
Woods, T. (August 2005). The Community High School of Vermont, Focus on Basics. Vol. 7, Issue D. https://www.ncsall.net/fileadmin/resources/fob/2005/fob_7d.pdf .
OTHER RESOURCES
JFF (Jobs for the Future) webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvWVNw2siK0
LINCS Collection and Discussion Group on Correctional and Re-Entry Education: https://lincs.ed.gov/resource-collection?keys=&field_topic_target_id%5B7537%5D=7537
Open Door Collective publications
· “What Re-Entry Services Can Do to Strengthen the Basic Skills of Former Inmates”: https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/4b259097-f77f-4c70-813c-4cff11dc6161/downloads/ODC%20Re-Entry%20Services%20Can-Do%2012-10-18.pdf?ver=1723056520601
· “Foundational Skills Education as a Fundamental Right of Incarcerated and Reentering Adults”: https://www.literacymn.org/odc/Foundational-Skills-Education-Foundational-Right-Incarcerated
“College Behind Bars” documentary by Ken Burns aired on PBS: https://www.pbs.org/video/extended-trailer-college-behind-bars-tgcpfu/?utm_source=bestofpbsnewsletter&utm_medium=emai
“Last Week Tonight” episode in which John Oliver talks about prisoner re-entry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=gJtYRxH5G2k—
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IN MODERATION: Diane, this is long, but I hope you will post it. CBK
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