Decemeber 22, 2021
Page 9
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Kwanzaa
O piniOn
Continued from Front
Righting a Wrong from War on Drugs
Pass Equal Act
to fix a broken
justice system
In the aftermath of the 2020 election,
many Black and brown voters remained
hopeful that the Biden Administration and
the new congress would live up to prom-
ises made on the campaign trail to reform
our broken criminal justice system. Many
voters of color and progressive voters, in
particular, pressed presidential candidates
on everything from policing to sentenc-
ing.
Statistics show that for decades Black
and brown people have received harsher
sentences due to the differences in how
crack and powder cocaine offenses were
viewed in the eyes of the law. Now a ma-
jor piece of legislation is on the verge of
being passed, the EQUAL Act of 2021.
The EQUAL Act, also known as the
Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Ap-
plication of the Law Act, was passed by
the House at the end of September. On
the Senate side, it has yet to receive a fi-
nal vote but does have bipartisan support
with Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Dick
Durbin (D-IL), Rob Portman (R-OH),
Rand Paul (R-KY), Thom Tillis (R-NC),
and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) who are to-
gether co-sponsors of the legislation in
that chamber.
Senator Booker has said of the need to
pass the legislation, “this critical piece of
legislation that will help right the wrongs
of our nation’s failed War on Drugs and
reform our broken criminal justice sys-
tem.”
The 2020 election happened against
the backdrop of intense reflection on the
history of race, justice, and injustice in
America. Advocates for reform have en-
couraged legislators to consider the im-
By DeJarion Echols
pact of race on how this nation’s laws
have been applied.
“After the murder of George Floyd, it
was obvious that we as a country need-
ed to work harder to stamp out racial
discrimination in our justice system.
Eliminating the crack-powder disparity,
which has disproportionately and unfairly
harmed Black families, was an obvious
target ... We hope the Senate acts quickly
to remove this 35-year-old mistake from
the criminal code,” said Kevin Ring, pres-
ident of FAMM, a criminal justice reform
nonprofit.
The Supreme Court was recently asked
to weigh in on such sentencing disparities
in the case of Tarahrick Terry, who was
convicted of and pled guilty to posses-
sion of ‘crack cocaine’ and asked that his
prison sentence be reduced because of the
First Step Act retroactively applying the
Fair Sentencing Act. But the Court found
that Terry was convicted of something
that did not dictate a mandatory minimum
and therefore he could not be resentenced.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her con-
curring opinion that, “While the Fair Sen-
tencing Act of 2010 and First Step Act of
2018 brought us a long way toward erad-
icating the vestiges of the 100-to-1 crack-
to-powder disparity, some people have
been left behind.”
The American Bar Association also
makes a strong point about those left be-
hind and others who could be impacted
if the Senate doesn’t follow the House’s
lead, “legislators continue to back a harsh
opioid policy that has - and will contin-
ue to - produce similar racial disparities
as did the original sentencing scheme for
crack cocaine.”
If The EQUAL Act is ultimately passed
by the Senate and signed into law by
President Biden then Tarahrick Terry and
countless others like him could have an-
other shot at reducing their sentences.
That’s because the act makes it so that
a sentencing court could order a reduced
sentence for any defendant sentenced
for a crack cocaine offense retroactively.
As the Supreme Court often says, it's up
to Congress to change laws that people
think unfair. So it’s now up to the Senate
to make sure that crack cocaine offenses
— which tend to impact more people of
color — don’t have an unjust impact. That
goes a long way towards making the pos-
itive change people counted on.
I encourage everyone to reach out to
your U.S. Senators to urge them to pass
this important piece of legislation today.
Editor’s note: Dejarion Echols was
released from a Texas prison in June af-
ter receiving a 10-year mandatory min-
imum term for possession with intent to
distribute crack cocaine and an addition-
al 10-year mandatory minimum term for
possession of a firearm during the com-
mission of a drug trafficking crime. When
he was sentenced, the judge objected to
the mandatory requirements saying, “This
is one of those situations where I’d like to
see a congressman sitting before me.”
The Soul Restoration Project is a se-
ries of residences at the Albina Arts Sa-
lon overseen by jazz pianist, composer
and Portland State Unuversity professor
Darrell Grant. The project serves as a
laboratory to explore how art can acti-
vate and renew historically Black civic
spaces. Support comes from Vanport
Mosaic, the Oregon Community Founda-
tion and others.
Grant is scheduled to present A Space
for Black American Music: A Series of
Jazz Talks, beginning on Monday, Dec.
27, from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., continu-
ing for the same hour each day through
Wednesday, Dec. 29. Footage from pri-
or performances will be shared. Both
in-person and live-stream screening tick-
ets are available for $8-15 with proceeds
supporting future programming at the
Albina Arts Salon.
NAACP
Rejects Police
Meeting
Continued from Page 3
more than body cameras to be a first-person
witness to ongoing injustice with impunity.
We want investment in our communities.
We want an end to qualified immunity.
“We want real community influence,
not after the fact input, to police negoti-
ations, police accountability, and police
transparency. We do not see the Portland
Police Association in sync with the vi-
sion and priorities of the NAACP Port-
land 1120-B Branch and do not see what
a ‘conversation’ would accomplish at
this time,” the statement said.
NAACP representatives said they will
agree to a sit down with the union when
the police officers begin “to actively act
as vanguards of public safety rather than
the guardians of the status quo.”
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