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Despite a slow session for Congress, both the House and Senate have spent the week working to pass legislation before the August recess. Here are some updates on significant events in the realm of Criminal Justice and Native American advocacy:
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Civil Rights, Crime and Justice, Issues, Legislative Updates, Native American | Tagged: crack cocaine, Crack Disparities, criminal justice, criminal justice system, drug laws, fair sentencing, Fair Sentencing Act, incarceration, National Criminal Justice Commission, Native Americans, NCJCA, powder cocaine, public safety, racism, treaties, Tribal Law and Order Act, trusts | 
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Posted by Christina Warner
Congressman John Lewis
On Saturday, while walking from office buildings to the Capitol to cast votes on health care,
members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Senator Barney Frank individually encountered Tea Party protestors expressing more than just their opposition to the bill. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO), for example, was spat on while passing by. The crowd tossed racial epithets at Reps. John Lewis (D-GA) and Andre Carson (D-IN) and hurled anti-gay rants at Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA).
Incidents like this remind us of our past because we see again racism and discrimination lived out publically in an encounter between individuals that is characterized by aggression, anger and politically linked behavior. For Congressman John Lewis, this is certainly the case. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Capital Quotes, Civil Rights, Issues, News Stories | Tagged: Carson, civil rights, Cleaver, Clyburn, dialogue, Lewis, nonviolence, prejudice, race, racism, Waters | Permalink
Posted by Christina Warner
Christina Warner discusses the Youth Promise Act in Third Way Cafe:
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When a crime is committed, the mistrust and broken faith that follow are all-encompassing, often affecting the entire community where the crime occurs. This can be seen in:
- the offender’s broken trust with their community and the victim
- the victim’s mistrust of the offender
- consequential mistrust within the community
This mistrust, however, is typically not addressed through prosecution and sentencing. Imagine yourself, for example, after having been the victim of a crime. For many of us who have been victims of crime, this is all too simple.
Click here to read more.
Leave a Comment » | Articles, Civil Rights, Crime and Justice | Tagged: Third Way Cafe, Youth Promise Act | Permalink
Posted by Mary Stata
Christina Warner writes in PeaceSigns about the economic recovery:
On November 19th the Congressional Black Caucus boycotted a vote in the House Financial Services Committee on a piece of legislation meant to regulate and, if needed, dissolve financial institutions deemed “too big to fail” (H.R. 4173). The boycott was not an attempt to stop the bill from passing but, rather, to bring awareness to the unique needs and concerns of African American communities during the foreclosure crisis which made such regulation necessary.
These concerns are based on the fact that African American and Latino borrowers are two to three times more likely to receive a high-cost subprime loan than similarly-situated white borrowers. Even when legitimate factors like credit are taken into account, African Americans are still more likely to be subject to greater prepayment penalties and Latinos to predatory loan types.
Click here to read more.
Leave a Comment » | Articles, Civil Rights, U.S. Economic Justice | Tagged: Congressional Black Caucus, financial regulation, US economic recovery | Permalink
Posted by Mary Stata
Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach notes in Third Way Cafe that the 2009 hurricane season is starting, which is a reminder that many residents of the Gulf Coast are still reeling from the effects of Katrina and Rita:
This week marked the start of hurricane season. Nearly four years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast, the human disaster brought on by those storms continues. Poverty and racism compounded the effects of the storm but are too often not taken into account in the process of rebuilding.
Mennonite Central Committee worked in New Orleans before the storms and re-established a presence there in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. MCC’s work in the region supports the movement for justice, based on the basic principle that everyone has the right to return home.
As hurricane season opens this week, please consider taking three actions:
- Pray for those along the Gulf Coast.
- Encourage your representative to co-sponsor H.R. 2269.
- Support MCC’s work in New Orleans.
The full article is available at thirdway.com.
Leave a Comment » | Articles, Civil Rights, Environment, Gulf Coast, U.S. Economic Justice | Permalink
Posted by Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach
Sen. Jim Webb (D-Virginia)
Gabe Schlabach writes in Third Way Cafe about developments in crime and justice policy, including Sen. Jim Webb’s push for system-wide criminal justice reform, which has generated bipartisan support:
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) has shown similar disregard for the typical political narratives on the issue. Webb seems at first glance an unlikely progressive reformer on crime and justice. A former marine, as well as Secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan, the senator does not come across as “soft” on anything, let alone crime.
“I think you can be a law-and-order leader and still understand that the criminal justice system as we understand it today is broken, unfair, locking up the wrong people in many cases and not locking up the right person in many cases,” Webb said in a December interview with the Washington Post.
In a March column in Parade Magazine entitled “Why We Must Fix Our Prisons,” he noted matter-of-factly that, “with 5% of the world’s population, our country now houses nearly 25% of the world’s reported prisoners… Either we are home to the most evil people on earth or we are doing something different – and vastly counterproductive. Obviously, the answer is the latter.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published the disturbing results of a poll they conducted a few weeks ago, which found that Christians of all stripes (though especially evangelical Protestants) supported torture at higher rates than people unaffiliated with religious denominations.
Leave a Comment » | Civil Rights, Crime and Justice, News Stories | Permalink
Posted by Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach
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