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Page A4
August 8. 2007
O pinion
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
Our Criminal
Justice System
It’s time for change
b \
J i d g e G reg
M a i his
A ccording to a new
study released by prison
reform advocacy group
The Sentencing Project,
black A m ericans are in
carcerated at nearly six
tim es the rate o f w hites.
T h e n e w s is n ’t so
sh o c k in g :
A fric a n -
A m ericans have alw ays known that
ju stice is not blind. We know the
system sees skin color and pun
ishes black - and brown - skin
disproportionately.
W hat is shocking, how ever, is
the affect the current rates o f incar
ceration will eventually have on
our com m unity: If trends continue,
one in three black m ales bom today
will end up in prison.
We know the
system sees skin
color and
punishes black -
and brown - skin
disproportionately.
creates hopelessness. Drugs and
alcohol are used to falsely ease
burdens, and the addic
tion to drugs and alco
hol fuels crim inal activ
ity. G ranted, this is not
the case for all incarcer
ated people o f color. But.
for most, it’s not too far
from the truth.
If the co untry’s pen
c h a n t to in c a rc e ra te
people o f color on a m ass scale
persists we can expect to see fam i
lies weakened.
Children with parents in the crimi
nal justice system are at risk. A c
cording to the U.S. D epartm ent of
Justice, w ithout intervention, as
many as 70 percent o f these chil
dren will them selves end up in
prison.
Real reform is needed. W ithout
an acknow ledgem ent and analysis
o f the racial disparities in arrest,
sentencing and incarceration, the
crim inal justice system will be, in
effect, creating its next generation
o f prisoners.
In five M idw estern and N orth
eastern states - Iowa, Vermont, New
Jersey, Connecticut, and W iscon
sin - A frican Am ericans are incar
cerated at more than 10 tim es the
rate o f w hites. Change should be
gin here.
Perhaps a federal task force, one
that examines arrests and sentenc
ing in these five geographic areas,
using a racial and ethnic lens, should
be created. The lessons learned there
could be applied to other states.
Laws also need to be changed.
M andatory m inim um laws need to
be done away with and judicial dis
cretion needs to be restored. Judges
will then be able to hand down
sentences based on past crim inal
history and other factors, using
creative sentencing to ensure low-
level offenders get the rehabilita
tive support they need.
It took years to build our current
racially-biased criminal justice sys
tem. W e cannot repair it over night.
But we can take big steps in the
direction o f reform.
The crim inal justice system has
routinely sought out. institutional
ized and attem pted to break the
spirits o f our men and, increasingly,
our women. W hen it com es to black
folk, there is no justice in the sys
tem, it’sjust crim inal. And it's time
for a change.
More than 60 percent o f the two
m illion people in A m erica's jails
and prisons are racial and ethnic
minorities. One in every eight black
men in their 20s is in prison orjail on
any given day.
The racial disparities in incarcera
tion are not indicative o f some pre
disposition to crim e in people of
color. Rather, these inequalities are a
reflection of failed social policies and
economic and racial oppression.
The U.S. governm ent has, over
the years - intentionally or unin
tentionally-created asystem where
Judge Greg Mathis is national
people o f color struggle to find vice president o f Rainbow PUSH
decent jobs and affordable hous and a Rational board member of
ing, where they lack access to a the Southern Christian Leadership
quality education. Lack o f access Conference.
(Clir
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Promoting Blind and Fair Justice
Racial intolerance leaves
mark on the law
U.S. R ep .
C a r o l y n C. K il p a t r ic k
Children all across our nation,
stand and pledge their allegiance
toour flag which waves the prom
ises o f liberty and justice for all.
Yet in countless com m unities,
across A m erica, our judicial sys
tem is being prejudiced by racial
intolerance, leaving an indelible
m ark on the law.
The most recent m iscarriage
o f justice has occurred in Jena,
La. A fter a series o f schoolyard
brawls involving African A m eri
can and w hite students, six A fri
can A m erican m ale students at
Jena High School have been
charged with attem pted m urder
and conspiracy. H ow ever, the
w hite students have yet to be
charged, jailed, or expelled, d e
spite testim ony from w itnesses
by
Send address changes to Portland
w h o s a id
th e s e s tu
dents in iti
ated some of
th e
con
frontations.
The C on
g re s s io n a l
Black Caucus
does not co n
done violence
o f any kind.
H ow ever, we
must speak out
against injus
tic e a n d in
equality.
This tale o f
two standards
depicts a pattern o f gross viola
tions. First, it is unfair to punish
only the African Am erican students
when all the students involved must
be taught to take responsibility for
their actions.
Next, the charges o f attem pted
m urder and conspiracy against the
factors surrounding these events
during sentencing o f M ychal Bell,
the first o f the six students to be
tried. A dditionally, we appeal to
the Jena District A ttorney, Reed
W a lte rs , to d ro p th e c h a rg e s
against the rem aining five students.
The Congressional Black C au
cus, 42 M em bers from 21 states
representing Americans o f all racial
and ethnic backgrounds, believes
________
we must provide equal
access and opportu
nity for all. T his in
cludes equal ju stice
under the law.
If ju stice is truly
blind, the ju d g e and
will drop the charges
against all six young
men and pledge their
support to healing the
breach inthiscom m u-
nity.
If A m erica is to serve as the
for over nine m onths in Jena, Loui
siana should have been contained global exam ple of racial sensitivity,
by school and elected officials. In we m ust w ork together to build a
stead, the students were left to battle united America.
Congresswoman Carolyn C.
this rage without institutional sup
Kilpatrick, D-Mich., serves as
port or resources.
Therefore, the CB C urges the chairwoman o f the Congressional
ju d g e in this case to consider all the Black Caucus.
A frican A m erican students carry
an 80-year sentence; such punish
ment farexceedstheoffen.se. A ddi
tionally, the ju d g e set outrageously
high bails, ranging from $70,000 to
$ 138,000, resulting in thejuveniles
being stuck in ja ils for months. The
district attorney and the judge are
abusing their pow er and rem oving
the blindfold o f justice.
The racial hotbed that burned
The racial hotbed that
burned for over nine months
in Jena, La. should have been
contained by school and
elected officials.
Observer, P 0 B o x 31 37 , Portland,
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THE
SPINACOLUMN
An ongoing series of questions and answers about Americas natural healing profession
Dr. Billy R. Flowers
Part 17. Understanding Pain:
Why do you have it? How can you get rid of it?
: My friend constantly takes and nervous system . W hen the health in other areas o f the body
pills. I'v e tried to convince body yells, “ Fire!" and you experi as well. O ur specialty is finding
ence pain; it is trying to get your the cause o f your problem and
her to see a Chiropractor. Can you
make any suggestions?
attention that it is being injured. taking care o f it. painlessly, w ith
: You might try asking your W hen there is stress in the nervous o ut d ru g s ...J u s t as nature in
tended. If you suffer from pain,
friend this: “ If you heard a system , this is a serious problem .
stop pulling the alarm w ires from
T
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controls
fire alarm going off in the middle of
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o
f
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body
the night, w ould you call the Fire
the
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o u t...fo r good!
and
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can
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D epartm ent or w ould you
Yank the w ires out o f the wall
and calm ly go back to sleep?”
You see, pain is your nervous
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system 's fire alarm. Pain pills may
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Q
A
Flowers' Chiropractic Office
Phone: (503) 287-5504
I.
Days of Infamy
by
W
allace
R yan K
u r o iw a
In the afterm ath o f the J a p a
nese attack on Pearl H arb o r on
D ec. 7, 1941, th e n -P re s id e n t
F ranklin D. R o o sev elt ca lled that
m om ent, “a day th at w ill live in
in fam y .” S in ce th en , the p h rase
day o f in fam y has b eco m e sy n
o n y m o u s w ith that attack.
S ch o la rs h av e sin c e arg u ed
about w h eth er the “sneak attack "
w as an ticip ate d o r not. W h a t
ev er the case m ay be, I w ould
su g g est th at the real day o f in
fam y cam e as one o f the final
stro k es o f the w ar S tuds T urkel
called "th e G ood W ar” : the d ro p
ping o f th e ato m ic b o m b s on
H iro sh im a and N agasaki on Aug.
6 and 9, 1945, resp ectiv ely .
A pproxim ately 140,000 people
died in the Hiroshima explosion and
another 40,(XX) at Nagasaki three
days later. M ost o f them w ere civil
ians.
This first w eek in A ugust, the
62nd anniversary o f those days,
provides a som ber m om ent o f re
flection on those tw o violent days.
I
I
I
I
I
A somber moment
of reflection
W e cannot pretend days such as
those will never happen again.
T he num ber o f nations that hold
n u c le a r te c h n o lo g y and retain
nuclear arsenals has continued to
increase since W orld W ar II. Iran
obviously w ants to jo in that club,
even though they protest that alle
gation. North Korea has m om en
tarily given up its threat to develop
its capabilities in that regard. And
we hold our breath lest som e terror
ist organizations attain that capa
bility.
O f course, the U.S. has enough
of an arsenal o f nuclear w eapons to
blow up the entire world many times
over. W e aim our w eapons at our
enem ies, real or perceived, hoping
the doctrine o f “ m utually assured
destruction,” aptly given the acro
nym M AD, will protect us. M AD is
the prom ise that if you do it to us,
it will be done to you. This all gives
me cause to wonder.
W e arc assured that if a nuclear
h o lo cau st should happen in our
m idst, our n a tio n 's leaders will be
sa fe ly e n sco n c ed in a b u n k er
so m ew h ere, so that the political
and m ilitary affairs o f o u r nation
w ill co n tin u e u n abated. T h at is
sm all com fort.
I wonder how the others who wi 11
not be so protected will feel, ju st as
I w onder how the com m on folk in
H iroshim a and Nagasaki felt when
fire rained down from the skies. I
wonder how those airm en who (lew
those m issions felt, know ing the
devastation and horror they would
unleash on the many innocents
below.
I know w e cannot put the genie
back in the bottle. W e cannot go
back to the days before nuclear
warfare. W e have taken a bite from
the apple on the nuclear tree, and
we are the worse for it.
But, on this anniversary o f the
one tim e the United States used the
bomb, I pray we will not succumb to
the tem ptation ever to use it again.
God forgive us if we ever do.
Wallace Ryan Kuroiwa is a
member o f Witnessfor Justice Min
istries in the United Church of
Christ.
n
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