Prison Guard Shortage, Police Violence Against Women Of Color, No More Summer Jobs For Teens?

Air Date:
Heard On Central Time

The recent death of Sandra Bland in a Texas jail is just one example from a report that says minority women disproportionately experience police violence. Our guest and author of the report gives us the details. We also explore whether the summer job for teens is disappearing, and look at the state’s prison guard shortage.

Featured in this Show

  • Staffing Situation At Portage Prison Shines Light On State's Prison Guard Shortage

    Wisconsin is having a harder time these days filling positions in the state’s prisons. A recent report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found the current vacancy rate for guards in the prison system is four times what it was in 2010. And at a prison in Portage, guards are being brought in from other institutions for overtime shifts. WPR’s criminal justice reporter talks more about the shortage and how the Department of Corrections and lawmakers are responding.

  • Report Strives To Shine Light On Police Violence Against Black Women

    The names Freddie Gray, Dontre Hamilton, and Tony Robinson are often at the fore of discussions about police violence against black people. However, the same can’t necessarily be said for the names of black women who have also been victims of violence or brutality.

    An updated report from the African American Policy Forum is now trying to change that.

    “Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women” calls attention to the police violence against African-American women that rarely gets the attention of police brutality against black men. The AAPF first released the report in May, but it has now put out an updated version to include the death of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old African-American woman who died in police custody after a traffic stop.

    “Our report is meant to both include black women in some of the frames that are familiar — like driving while black, which is what happened with Sandra Bland — and also frames that are unfamiliar,” said Kimberle Williams Crenshaw, one of the lead authors of this report.

    For example, said Crenshaw, episodes of police violence against black women often occur when police enter a home, either as part of an investigation or because they’ve come to help.

    Crenshaw said part of the problem is that while race and gender shapes U.S. society, it’s a struggle to get people to engage in conversations about those topics. She said that it’s especially difficultand especially importantto talk about the significance of gender as it relates to racism.

    “Black women, just like black men, live under stereotypes that were largely created a century ago. We have an understanding of that with respect to men. Now is the time to incorporate into that the way black women are also subject to racist stereotypes that undermine their safety,” Crenshaw said.

    The law professor said the AAPF report will hopefully play a role in coming up with solutions to address the problems of police violence against black women.

    “Once we start seeing the broad expanse of vulnerability, we’ll have a sense of the kinds of demands, structural and institutional, we need to make so that all bodies are safe,” she said.

    For more about the “Say Her Name” report, click here.

  • Are Teenagers Still Getting Summer Jobs?

    Snagging that summer job as a teenager used to be a way to make a little spending cash and get some real world experience, but our guest says summer jobs may be becoming a thing of the past.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Veronica Rueckert Host
  • Chris Malina Producer
  • Amanda Magnus Producer
  • Gilman Halsted Guest
  • Kimberle Williams Crenshaw Guest
  • Ron Lieber Guest