I wrote yesterday about watching the TV reality series 60 Days In. While watching several more episodes, I witnessed a new dynamic in race relations develop among the male inmates.
Generally, the different races in
the facility get along fairly well within the pods. They interact with one another
peacefully. But for this peace to be
maintained, three rules must be observed.
First, any inmate entering the pod must choose his gang (White,
Hispanic, Native, or Black). When
eating, inmates are expected to sit with “their own kind.” Finally, each gang is expected to police its
own ranks.
I see the gangs as a primarily conservative construct (in the social sense).
This brand matters considering what happens within the pods next.
In a recent episode, two young men are injected into the pods. One of the
young men is of mixed race and does not wish to choose a race gang. Another young white man wants to hang with
the blacks because he doesn’t appreciate the white supremist tendencies of the
white gang.
This liberal (again, in the
social sense) attitude upsets the balance.
The gangs broil almost at once.
They don’t appreciate what they consider as “multicultural” relations. Tensions rise markedly within the pods.
Violence is the controlling
measure for most problems within the pods.
To force balance again, the multicultural inmates are, essentially,
roughed-up and squashed into compliance.
Ugly stuff, this.
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