Combating Racism – Reforming Cash Bail
In November 2020, I wrote a newsletter focused on the issue of cash bail and ways to reform pretrial justice. But until I read Emily Brazelon’s Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration I didn’t know about the role of prosecutors in pretrial detention for those who cannot afford cash bail.…
Read MoreCombating Racism – Combating Mass Incarceration
The number of people incarcerated in the U.S. has quintupled since the 1980’s to a total of almost 2.2 million people. Our level of imprisonment is five to ten times higher than that of other liberal democracies—nine times Germany’s and seven times France’s. Our justice system has begun to operate as a system of injustice,…
Read MoreCombating Racism – Take A Stand
Darnella Frazier, the 18-year-old teen whose video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck contributed to Chauvin’s conviction, taught us all an important lesson: it isn’t enough to be an innocent bystander. We are witnessing a spike in acts of disrespect, harassment and hate violence in this country. As citizens, we need to take…
Read MoreCombating Racism – Teaching American History
Last week I wrote about Critical Race Theory (CRT)—what it is, how it developed, the current debate about CRT, and the way teachers are being caught in the middle of a culture war. Following the killing of George Floyd last year, schools across the country have worked to address systemic racism and the systemic barriers…
Read MoreCombating Racism – Critical Race Theory
Image by Katty Huertas for The Washington Post Newspapers, news shows, and the internet have been inundated with comments about critical race theory (CRT for short) in recent months. Detractors have claimed that the academic movement is “planting hatred of America in the minds of the next generation” and that it teaches children “to be…
Read MoreCombating Racism – In Sports
With the 2021 Olympic Games wrapping up today, I’ve watched more sports in the last two weeks than I have in the last two years. I revel at the mastery, courage, stamina, dedication, and determination of these international athletes, rooting primarily for the Americans. For decades, Black parents have told their children that in order…
Read MoreCombating Racism – Combating Homelessness
On June 29th the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the eviction moratorium could be extended only to July 31st to give the Treasury Department and the states time to disburse cash to landlords to cover back rent owed by tenants during the pandemic. The Court ruled that future extension of the moratorium would…
Read MoreCombating Racism – Injustice in Criminal Justice
BACKGROUND – THE RIGHT TO COUNSEL In June, 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon was charged with a felony for allegedly burglarizing a pool hall in Panama City, Florida. At his first trial, he was denied his request for a court-appointed attorney. Prosecutors produced witnesses who saw Gideon outside the pool hall near the time of the…
Read MoreCombating Racism – Understanding History – Fugitive Slave Laws
An 1851 poster warning of police acting as slave catchers I’ve continued to read The New York Times magazine of August 18, 2019—The 1619 Project. One of the poems contained in the project is a redacted version of the first Fugitive Slave Act, signed into law on February 12, 1793 by George Washington. Below is a replication…
Read MoreCombating Racism – Even In Poetry
I’ve just returned from a two-week writing retreat conducted by one of my favorite authors, Natalie Goldberg, who is most well-known for her book, Writing Down the Bones, but has also authored many other incredible books about writing practice. During the retreat, she shared this poem, “The Blue-Green Stream” by Wang Wei (699–759), a Chinese poet, musician, painter, and politician…
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