Marginal Thought

Apparently, government has learned nothing from the heartless, shameful response to Hurricane Katrina. Mayor Bloomberg, with all the sensitivity of a gnat (apologies to the noble gnat), responded when questioned about the inmates at Rikers Island, “Rikers Island, the land is up where they are and jails are secured. Don’t worry about anybody getting out.” My immediate response after reading that was a word so unladylike you’d be shocked to know it is in my vocabulary.

Rikers Island inmates have loved ones. There are likely a number of people, incarcerated there, who may be innocent but lack the funds to pay for a defense lawyer; no doubt there are people at Rikers awaiting trial for offenses that are trivial to society’s well being. We can all agree that no one from the Wall Street debacle that destroyed the economy is cooling his heels at Rikers. More than likely the majority of the Rikers population is not white.

From Wikipedia- The Rikers Island complex, which consists of ten jails, holds local offenders who are awaiting trial and cannot afford, obtain, or were not given bail from a judge, those serving sentences of one year or less and those temporarily placed there pending transfer to another facility.^{[citation needed]} Rikers Island is therefore a jail and not a prison, which typically holds offenders serving longer-term sentences.

Tragically, there are those who continue to be marginalized by the establishment. The establishment would do well to remember there are more of us than there are of them.