Faith Barksdale

Behind barbed wire and closed doors, COVID-19 is spreading fast in jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers. As of this writing, at least 1,534 people have tested positive and 31 people have died of the virus while incarcerated in federal prisons and 449 people  have tested positive while in immigration detention.

It's hard to speak with your face pressed against concrete. Or when you can't breathe. Or with a broken neck. And even when you manage to speak, people in power seek to silence you. Just ask the San Francisco 49ers' Colin Kaepernick. The all-too-familiar voices of the status quo tried to quiet Kaepernick as soon as he began to protest. They want Americans of conscience to just sit down and shut up. Unfortunately for them, they didn't say anything about kneeling.

It’s hard to speak with your face pressed against concrete. Or when you can’t breathe. Or with a broken neck. And even when you manage to speak, people in power seek to silence you. Just ask the San Francisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick. The all-too-familiar voices of the status quo tried to quiet Kaepernick as soon as he began to protest. They want Americans of conscience to just sit down and shut up. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t say anything about kneeling.