Now having taken a closer look at two types of activism, monkeywrenching and civil disobedience, my personal notion and definition of what activism is and may look like is expanding. Off the bat the idea of civil disobedience, such as we saw in the documentary Bidder 701, stands out as a more personally appealing type of activism. The story of Bidder 70 follows Tim DeChristopher though a long legal battle as a result of bidding and winning leases in a BLM land auction without the intention to pay for the land. The documentary concluded with DeChristopher being sentenced to two years in prison.
What struck me the most about this documentary, and the outcome of this act of civil disobedience was the fact that he went to prison. Although I do not know as much as I would like to about America’s justice and prison system, to me, prison should be a last resort, and reserved for those who pose a threat to others. I see this documentary as a prime example of how America’s prison and justice system does not operate this way. Bidding in an auction, an act that neither harmed nor endangered anyone, should not result in a prison sentence. While I understand that technically DeChristopher’s actions were illegal, not all illegal acts need to be remedied with a stint in prison. According to the Population Reference Bureau, the United States has the world’s highest incarceration rate2. To me this suggests not that we have the most ‘bad’ people in our country, but that our system is too quick to send people to prison over some type of reform program or community service. To send someone who engaged in a harmless act of civil disobedience to prison is, in my opinion, a drastic and unnecessary punishment that does not fit the crime.
Prison should be a last resort and a way to protect people in society from harm, not for big corporations to make a point. Community service or some other way of repayment should be the go-to for such an act instead of jumping right to what should be the last resort. To me, it seemed as though sending DeChristopher to prison was aimed a making an example out of him. According to the Vera Institute of Justice, the average cost per-inmate in 2010 was $31,2863. Society is paying the cost of sending DeChrispher to prison for two years so that the government and large corporations can make a point. Bidder 70 told a story fraught with injustices against the American people, but the one that I see as the most unjust is jailing those who are not a danger to society at our expense.
Citations:
1. Gage, G. & Gage, B. (Directors). (2012). Bidder 70. USA.
2. Tsai, T., & Scommenga, P. (2012, August). U.S. Has Highest Incarceration Rate. Retrieved from: http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2012/us-incarceration.aspx
3. Henrichson, C., & Delaney, R. (2012, January). The Price of Prison: What Incarceration Costs Taxpayers. Retrieved from: https://www.vera.org/publications/price-of-prisons-what-incarceration-costs-taxpayers
