“Measuring Salvation in Chains and Corpses” - Andrew Krinks on the Religious Function of Mass Criminalization

This is the conclusion of our two part interview with Andrew Krinks on his recently published book White Property, Black Trespass: Racial Capitalism and the Religious Function of Mass Criminalization.  Today we explore the religious functions police play for Christian societies, in particular the US, and their relationship to theological concepts of redemption and salvation. We also talk about religious discipline, labor discipline and regimes of prison labor, which is obviously topical with renewed discussions of incarcerated fire fighters with the recent wildfires in Southern California. Krinks also explains why the dehumanization of prisons should not be understood as a violation of their mandate, but a fundamental aspect of it, one that also serves a function within the religious ideologies from which the prison emerges. Definitely check out part one of this conversation if you missed it and if you are inclined to up a copy of the book, which is a fascinating read, check out our friends at Massive Bookshop who use the proceeds from their book sales to bail people out of jail.  I also just want to plug that we have an ongoing video series on our YouTube channel with Mtume Gant who is a filmmaker, media critic, and professor of film, where we are reading and discussing Cedric Robinson’s book Forgeries of Memory and Meaning. And if you like this conversation I think you’ll find a lot of resonance with those discussions as well as they really go into how and when race-making processes are instrumentalized in the media, using historical examples. We aim to bring you content multiple times per week, sometimes it’s in video from, sometimes it’s in audio form, so make sure that you subscribe to our podcast feed as well as to our YouTube channel. In order to release this much work, requires a great deal of support from our listeners and viewers. We will have another study group starting up in late February and that will be open to all of our patrons as well. Thank you so much for all of your support, and if you would like to join the wonderful community of folks who make this show possible, become a patron of the show for as little as $1 a month at Patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism.   Links: Billy Graham and the caskets made at Angola Prison. Recent video episode on the California Wildfires with Mel Lopez and Alejandro Villalpando Forgeries of Memory and Meaning with Mtume Gant White Property, Black Trespass: Racial Capitalism and the Religious Function of Mass Criminalization through Massive Bookshop       .