Postcard Series: Greetings from Wasteland, USA! by Mallory Culbert

Greetings from

WASTELAND, US A !

by Mallory Culbert @mivcv, @culbert_mallory bit.ly/nevertoldus

123 Main Street #1, Wasteland, USA

America’s

underclass

of

undocumented

workers,

Native

peoples,

and

other

impoverished

peoples function as exploited outsiders contained by what is called “the Core.” The Core relies on functioning advanced technologies, so it designs systems to produce them. Though designed in the Core, these production systems are built in the ‘periphery.’ The periphery is called

that

because

it

is

considered

peripheral

–

minor,

beside

the

point,

irrelevant.

This

parasitic relationship further impoverishes and under-develops the periphery through coerced participation in the global capitalist economy. In the periphery, slavery is not a deviation from the norm, it is designated and regulated through the demands of the ‘Core.’

During 20th century united states, supervision of the growing Black and brown populations became

more

difficult

as

people

gained

more

legal

freedoms.

Other

forms

of

economic

control emerged: bail, fines, and other legal fees became the basis of what is now the PrisonIndustrial Complex (PIC). The core-periphery idea illustrates the relationship between lowincome areas within the united states & the u.s. PIC, itself: slavery and coerced labor exist as a means of social control. The State itself continues to produce a labor surplus by utilizing underpaid prison labor.

The strength of the core state is dependent upon the weakness of the periphery. So, the u.s.

Government

wages

a

War

on

Drugs

and

puts

hyper-militarized

police

in

Black

and

brown

communities to terrorize and crush all mutual aid efforts for community revitalization. The global Prison-Industrial Complex is supported by the us military. The us polices and punishes Black and brown people across the globe simply because that’s the only way to maintain carceral capitalism (the system that allows such cheap labor)–through maintenance of a Core and a Periphery.

NEXTdistro

123 Main Street #2, Wasteland, USA

The united states was built on policies to manage the location of non-white people.

Redlining,

which

restricted

Black

access

to

credit,

kept

property

ownership in white hands and to this day is responsible for much of the racial wealth gap. This practice isn’t historically suspended, though. It is one of the products

of

the

legacy

of

racialized

waste

and

racist

waste

distribution

practices in the united states. These practices pushed waste and pollution of developing

industry

communities.

These

into

immigrant

same

communities

and

Black

were

already

neighborhoods considered

and

socially

“dirty” in contrast to “pure whiteness.”

In

the

united

states,

proximity

to

‘trash’

(objects

and

people)

has

had

a

historically negative correlation with proximity to whiteness– the embodiment of

social

and

inseparable slavery,

economic

from

and

the

success.

prison

waste

The

system:

facility

us

waste-management

incarcerated

placement

is

labor

is

system

legalized

determined

is

racial

according

to

neighborhood racial and class makeup. White supremacy is enacted in part by regulatory non-compliance on the part of large-scale polluting enterprises– prisons, oil and gas industries, the united states military– who systematically choose to disregard laws in place as protections of human health and the environment.

“[Prisons]

function

monstrously-large,

like

a

small

city

unsustainable

packed

city

in

into

the

one

United

building” States,

[1].

Like

prisons

any

import

goods using fossil fuels and export waste and slave labor. In the US, many prisons

produce

Prisons

are

create

health

communities.

waste

and

overcrowded hazards In

2006,

pollution

hotbeds

for

the

the

of

far

beyond

easily

inmates,

staff,

Associated

local

and

transmittable

Press

local

federal

wildlife

reported

limits.

diseases— and

that

they

nearby

Alabama

correctional facilities were dumping human waste, toxic chemicals, and other raw sewage into state waterways at twice the legal limit.

NEXTdistro

1. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-30/how-mass-incarcerationtakes-a-toll-on-the-environment-nearby-communities-and-prisoners)

123 Main Street #3, Wasteland, USA

Prisons

across

the

country

are

built

close

to

toxic

incinerators or on top of toxic landfills. They are built upon and

corporate jobs

benefits

to

rarely

Californian

lies,

the

promising

nearby

come

towns,

to

economic

community. fruition.

researcher

At

Ruth

prosperity

However, least

in

Wilson

those rural

Gilmore

found that an average of less than a fifth of prison jobs

actually

go

to

current

residents

[1].

These

communities, burdened by poverty, unemployment, and a

lack

of

political

power

may

choose

to

accept

hazardous facilities—but only because they absolutely have to. Exploited people are expected to not fight back

against

the

concentration

of

military

power

in

the hands of their oppressors and commitment to the cause. being and

White is

americans

wrapped

cultural

up

in

dominance.

are the

taught

that

maintenance

That

is,

the

their of

well-

military

expansion

of

prisons and further separation from their own waste.

NEXTdistro

1. http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/building.html#_edn11

123 Main Street #4, Wasteland, USA

Since

2018,

world’s

the

recycled

year

China

waste,

stopped

local

accepting

governments

have

the

been

under fire for using prison labor to cut costs and corners in local recycling programs and other public services [1].

Before 2018, it was completely legal for corporations— including private prisons— to export waste to the Global South for much cheaper than disposing of it properly in the US. US companies once mixed one thousand tons of hazardous

waste

Bangladesh attempted

[2]. to

into In

a

shipment

another

convince

of

fertilizer

example,

the

US

Marshall

sold

to

companies

Islands

that

imported wastes “could be used to build up landmass” and

ensure

that

islands

wouldn’t

be

vulnerable

to

increases in sea level expedited by global warming (of which the US is heavily responsible).

As

for

policies products

“recycling,” still like

allow

international

for

the

batteries,

shipping

cell

trade of

phones,

deregulation

post-

heavy

consumer

metals,

e-

wastes, and lead to be shipped to southeast Asia for disposal.

NEXTdistro

1. https://e360.yale.edu/features/piling-up-how-chinas-ban-on-importing-wastehas-stalled-global-recycling 2. Faber, Daniel. 2008. Capitalizing on Environmental Injustice: The Polluter-Industrial Complex in the Age of Globalization. Lanham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.