The Black Liberation Movement

Study the assigned materials and ask yourself: What could have been the role of behavioral modification programs in black prisoners during the years of fierce state repression against the black liberation movement (first half of the 70s)?

1. Center your answer exclusively on the proposed question. Base your ideas on assigned materials: remember to demonstrate critical reading and understanding. Quotes are encouraged. Justify your arguments in evidence.
2. Review the Blogs Rubric before drafting your answer.
3. Going back to Howard Zinn, if there is a hidden chapter in US history, it is the story of behavior experimentation in Black and Latin American prisoners during the 70s. Take this opportunity to know this reality; begin to understand the reasons why prominent Black scholars have argued that the hyper-expansion of the prison system in the country since the 70s, is unrelated to crime: prisons expand when crime is going down. If not crime, what explains the beginning of mass incarceration?
4. If you are not familiar with this topic, study the materials in the following order: The Black Power Mixtape (take notes in chronological order, include years and the names of the interviewed Black leaders), Davis, Griffin, Gómez (optional). If you are unfamiliar with the leaders of the Black Liberation Movement, google their names (do not include that information in your main post). Learn who these leaders are/were. If you never heard about them, you will be amazed (and left wondering: why I never heard about them?).
5. Although Gómez is optional, the author does a great job at contextualizing the topic of behavior experimentation in prisons. Try to at least take a quick look at the article. In fact, even when this assignment focuses on Black prisoners and the Black Liberation Movement, prisoners from the Chicano Movement (Mexican Americans) & the Puerto Rican Independentista Movement were also targeted by behavior modification programs. If you are interested in knowing more about experimentations in Latin American prisoners, see Gómez.
6. Keep in mind the role of the State: these experimentations amount to State sanctioned torture (against its own citizens).

The movie link is below. This is another source for the Blog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bryh0IFMhg

(((Grade will depend on whether you demonstrate deep knowledge of (all) assigned materials. Base your ideas exclusively on assigned materials.:-)))