In theory this is an investigation about McPherson’s Unit.
I say in theory because it is becoming increasingly apparent that even a simple investigation into just this one particular building might well be beyond my skill or ability as an investigator. The limits of my abilities, as the illusory and complete entity undertaking this investigation, will become a painfully prescient point in this debate soon enough, but it is not the purpose of this interruption.
The purpose of stopping here, now, is to provide you, a reader more than an audience member, with a moment to consider your own position as a human being that lives in community with various and diverse groups of other human beings.
- What are your stakes in how the State of Arkansas incarcerates women at McPherson’s Unit in Newport Arkansas?
- What are your stakes in how the rules of society are established and enforced in your own communities? What privileges are afforded you by the way that communities you participate in enforce their rules and expectations?
- How voluntary is your participation in the various communities you are a part of?
- How much power do you have to change the rules of those communities?
- How does your relationship to power within these communities influence the feelings you have about the value and security of those communities?
- Do you sleep easier at night as a result of places like McPherson’s Unit or, for you, are they a source of nightmares?