Social Justice Magazine
resident Obama is absolutely right about this: If the Supreme Court rules the healthcare bill unconstitutional, it would be an overreach that would be an extreme example of judicial activism that violates the most core principles of what is called conservatism. It would lead to a destructive historical break point in the history of the United States Supreme Court that would tarnish forever the … [Read more...]
lbert Florence was in the passenger seat of his BMW when a state trooper pulled his wife over for speeding. A records search revealed, incorrectly as it turned out, that he had an outstanding warrant based on an unpaid fine. Mr. Florence was handcuffed and taken into custody. Florence was held for a week at two separate New Jersey county jails, and strip-searched at each one.(Below, in … [Read more...]
he best news I heard about the ongoing Trayvon Martin case is, it turns out, before he was shot to death on February 26, 2012, he allegedly punched his assailant George Zimmerman in the nose, and pummeled him on the ground.Now I don't believe that for a second, and this likely fable is no doubt part of the scheme to torch the victim's character (and cover Zimmerman's ass), but if anybody … [Read more...]
rayvon Martin and Emmett Till never met each other. They never will either - or at least not in this world. When Trayvon on was born on February 5, 1995, Emmett had been dead for almost forty years. He would have turned seventy-one this July 25th.He was a native of Chicago, Illinois who was visiting relatives in the Mississippi Delta region in the summer of 1955. Early one afternoon he had … [Read more...]
ournalist Geraldo Rivera set off a national firestorm when he suggested the hoodie that Florida youth, Trayvon Martin, was wearing cost him his life. What Rivera was suggesting, in an offbeat way, was that Martin was profiled by the clothes he was wearing -- not such an outrageous assertion -- given that it applies to black and Latino youth more than white youth.White youth in hip hop gear -- … [Read more...]
The killing of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, is shocking. Another young man, another teenager, killed senselessly. I cannot imagine the grief of Trayvon’s family. How does a family deal with this? Another young American family subjected to a horrendous act.I believe that the President’s most personal message to the family - “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” … [Read more...]
etting the attention of the average American isn't easy but keeping it for more than 10 seconds requires real skill. Hence the popularity of Twitter, with it's 140-character limitation. Given the public's short attention span, it's no wonder juicy celebrity gossip and salacious headlines have come to dominate the "news".So it was surprising when California's prison system caught the attention … [Read more...]
Part 2 of a two-part series. See also "Seeking Unity Across Sex, Race & Class" ivil rights attorney Michelle Alexander reported in her book, The New Jim Crow, that largely as an intentional consequence of the war on drugs, there are more African American men under correctional control now than were enslaved in 1850. People of color have been rounded up en masse for relatively minor, … [Read more...]
hocked by the shooting of a black teenager in Florida and 17 villagers in Afghanistan, the nation busily tears into the psyches of the two shooters, debating what could possibly motivate such outrages.In the one case, an American soldier, Staff Sergeant Robert "Bobby" Bales, in Afghanistan for his fourth combat tour after having suffered a traumatic brain injury on an earlier tour, creeps into … [Read more...]
s the legislative process picks up in many states, one common lobbyist will again take their leadership position at the statehouses. The state Attorney General and local police chiefs will again move to the front of the line of “The People.” And once again, their participation will prove a problematic separation of powers. As most children learn in school: the Legislature, appointed by the … [Read more...]
indful that all good things roll downhill, California's 58 counties are scrambling to deal with a sudden influx of state prison inmates, which threatens to strain their current jails to the breaking point or, more optimistically, require them to individually devise innovative sentencing and supervisory programs for accused criminal defendants and released prisoners within their jurisdictions. A … [Read more...]
rayvon Martin may very well become this generation's Emmett Till.The February 26th shooting death of 17-year-old Martin by George Zimmerman -- a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida -- has captured national attention and garnered universal outrage.Martin was gunned down near his father's home, wearing a hoodie and armed with little more than an iced tea and … [Read more...]
Guantanamo Prisoner Abuses British journalist Andy Worthington, the author of, "The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison,"has been documenting the array of human rights abuses at Guantanamo for over six years now, after he personally became angry that the US government would not say who they were holding at Guantanamo.Worthington was recently a guest … [Read more...]
The recent article by Michelle Alexander appearing in the New York Times, “Crash the System,” has stirred up a great deal of interest among the activist community.Most of the people I have heard from, however, have been those who never faced imprisonment- including many lawyers and law students… i.e., people who actually read the New York Times or have it shared with them on their … [Read more...]
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Is California Reducing Prison Overcrowding Without Fixing Its Cause?
Since October 1st, many of us have been wondering how the Public Safety Realignment Act will impact local communities. What will happen with a sudden influx of newly released prisoners?For those unfamiliar with Realignment, it is the set of solutions California will use to reduce the number of inmates in the state’s 33 prisons.This issue was the topic of an ACLU Chapter forum and, no … [Read more...]