tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68018016367021817432024-03-12T20:30:33.460-07:00The Next MovementThe Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-24776725956552179282017-02-15T13:34:00.001-08:002017-02-15T13:34:59.828-08:00Only YOU Can Prevent the Coming Police State...Family,<br />
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Over the past few years we have witnessed police abuse of power on a visceral level unknown throughout our history. The almost universality of the camera phone, the increased use of police dashboard cameras, and the early implementation of police body cameras, have brought the public right into the midst of police/public interaction.<br />
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The murder of Laquan McDonald, shot 16 times by a Chicago Police officer, and the attempted cover up, caused the resignation of Gerry McCarthy, the police chief of one of the largest departments in the country. And soon after, the defeat of powerful Cook County States Attorney, Anita Alvarez. Many suspect that Mayor Rahm Emanuel will also be unable to wipe the blood of Mr. McDonald off in time to save his next election bid.<br />
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Lest we sleep, police unions, and "law and order" politicians are, of course, fighting back. Oh, that they would be fighting back with better oversight, removal of criminal police officers from their rolls, renewed programs to build relationships with the communities they serve, or an end to racial profiling and "stop-and-frisk" citizen stops. What a blessing this would be!<br />
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But no, instead, they are digging in, as an occupying force would be expected to do.<br />
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One of the local efforts has been the so-called <b>Blue Lives Matter</b> ordinance, led by Alderman Ed Burke. Essentially, this is an example of overkill, and as University of Chicago Law Professor, Geoffrey Stony said, ". . . why do we need this new law? Other than the symbolic dumping on Black Lives Matter, which is ugly." #BlackLivesMatter and many other millennial infused justice organizations have proven effective in fighting for basic human rights in America, and as such are being targeted by our increasingly racist government administrations - it will only get worse.<br />
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Nationally, there are at least 10 states that are working to criminalize protests. For example:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>In North Dakota, where the DAPL protests have been taking place, they have introduced a bill, HB 1203, which provides for a legal exemption to motorists that "negligently [cause] injury or death to an individual obstructing vehicular traffic on a public road…” </li>
<li>In Indiana, SB 285 provides law enforcement to “use any means necessary to clear the roads of the persons unlawfully obstructing vehicular traffic” once a gathering is determined to be unlawful.</li>
<li>In Michigan, a bill was passed that provides for fines of $1,000 a day for individuals and $10,000 a day for organizations for picketing.</li>
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These actual, and prospective, laws are designed to limit our right to protest, to silence the people. </div>
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And now comes an executive order from #45 . . .</div>
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Instead of focusing his efforts on the causes of violence in our communities, this order calls on the Department of Justice (now led by ex-senator Jeff Sessions, a man viewed as too racist to serve as a judge) to work with other federal agencies (FBI, NSA, Homeland Security, etc.) to "develop an executive branch strategy to prevent violence against Federal, State, tribal, and local law enforcement officers." </div>
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From our local politicians to state politicians across the country, to president #45, there is a concerted effort to stifle free speech and our right to assemble in defense of our rights and the constitution. </div>
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<b>We must stay vigilant! We must stay engaged! We must stay woke!</b></div>
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Over the coming days, weeks and months you will hear of protests, petitions, boycotts, letter writing campaigns, etc. <b>Don't leave it up to your neighbor to respond!</b><br />
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A luta continua,<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Daryle Brown</b><br />
Trinity UCC Justice Watch Team<br />
The Next Movement committee<br />
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P.S. Thank you to the elected Community Police Accountability Council for continually sharing content relevant to the fight, much of it used in developing this note.<br />
<br />The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-31299392051088114212015-04-30T12:10:00.001-07:002015-04-30T12:10:22.821-07:00Action Taken on Excessive Police Powers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Kr5Iioef2q-f9SrRTZj_UU3d4CW9Me8q-RlSy8ZE71SpnUTT38mZLoCa2uHYvmN9tFXITbZuGM25JxWxtLOX3zG-6Q3p6RSYcjvRvpXK1BOJ1FTUoXYofOPbVF5lH8tkev9bpEWJsA/s1600/eric+Holder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6Kr5Iioef2q-f9SrRTZj_UU3d4CW9Me8q-RlSy8ZE71SpnUTT38mZLoCa2uHYvmN9tFXITbZuGM25JxWxtLOX3zG-6Q3p6RSYcjvRvpXK1BOJ1FTUoXYofOPbVF5lH8tkev9bpEWJsA/s1600/eric+Holder.jpg" height="178" width="320" /></a></div>
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Hmm, went to post a new blog today and discovered that this one was never published! Still, good thing that Eric Holder did. Now let's see what the new AG has in store for us . . .<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">From Jan 16th . . .</span></b><br />
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Few people realize that police departments across this country can confiscate property - homes, cars, cash - without a criminal conviction, plea bargain, or even evidence of a crime.<br />
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That's right! You could be driving from your home with cash collected to put a down payment on a home, and the police can stop you, search your car (if you give permission, which most people are afraid not to . . . even though it is YOUR RIGHT), and if they found your $5,000 in an envelope, could assume it was from criminal activity and confiscate it.<br />
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"Innocent until proven guilty" means nothing in these situations. It is your responsibility to prove to the police that your property was in your possession legally.<br />
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On Friday, January 16, 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder issued an order barring local and state police from using federal law to confiscate property without proving that a crime occurred (see entire article by <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/holder-ends-seized-asset-sharing-process-that-split-billions-with-local-state-police/2015/01/16/0e7ca058-99d4-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html?wpisrc=al_alert" target="_blank">clicking here</a>).<br />
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<b>Since 2008 state and local police departments have confiscated cash and property worth over $3 billion (THREE BILLION DOLLARS), in more than 55,000 seizures. </b><br />
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The federal program, called Equitable Sharing, allowed the local agencies to keep 80% of the proceeds, and balance going to federal agencies.<br />
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As we work to end mass incarceration in America, this type of program that provides incentives for police to behave inappropriately must be closed down!<br />
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This was a great decision by A.G. Holder and a victory to be celebrated.<br />
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A luta continua,<br />
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DaryleThe Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-46873626056857427382014-12-03T15:12:00.001-08:002014-12-03T15:12:30.528-08:00It is Darkest Before the Dawn . . .<div class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Family,</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me, the Ferguson grand jury decision not to charge police officer Darren Wilson with a crime in the shooting of Michael Brown, was not a surprise. I may have been surprised at the ineptitude of the prosecutor, or the clumsy way they announced it, or the attempt to explain away the racist overtones, but I never expected justice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The killing of Eric Garner was different. Here there was a video of the police choking this man to death . . . of Mr. Garner repeating over and over, <b>"I can't breath."</b> (<span style="color: red;"><b>CAUTION</b></span>, the video is painful to view. You can view by <a href="http://youtu.be/j1ka4oKu1jo" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.) How in the world can a grand jury not even think the case deserved to go to trial? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, in the midst of my revulsion, as I'm distracted and less productive than I should be, Asha Bandele (Director, Advocacy Grants Program at the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)) sends out a note to the many partners of DPA regarding the decision. She has graciously allowed me to reprint it here:</span><br />
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<blockquote>
Dearest Partners,<br />
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In May of 1857, having just heard of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dred Scott case (for those of us thinking of Travyon Martin today, ironically it was filed as Dred Scott v Sandford), which in effect validated the existence of slavery and seemed to ensure its continuance, the great abolitionist, orator and ex-slave, Frederick Douglass, said: </blockquote>
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<i>In one view the slaveholders have a decided advantage over all opposition. It is well to notice this advantage…(but) This is one view….there is another, and a brighter view. David, you know, looked small and insignificant when going to meet Goliath, but looked larger when he had slain his foe….Thus hath it ever been. Oppression, organized as ours is, will appear invincible up to the very hour of its fall….Take this fact—for it is a fact—the anti-slavery movement has, from first to last, suffered no abatement. It has gone forth in all directions, and is now felt in the remotest extremities of the Republic.</i><i> </i></blockquote>
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<i>It started small, and was without capital either in men or money. The odds were all against it. It literally had nothing to lose, and everything to gain. There was ignorance to be enlightened, error to be combatted, conscience to be awakened, prejudice to be overcome, apathy to be aroused, the right of speech to be secured, mob violence to be subdued, and a deep, radical change to be inwrought in the mind and heart of the whole nation. This great work, under God, has gone on, and gone on gloriously…Our strength is in the growth of [our] conviction, and this has never halted.</i> </blockquote>
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In less than six years after he made that statement, of course, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.<br />
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And so as the progeny of people who traversed mountains higher and more rocky than ours, and with far fewer resources, we continue. And we do it with all the care, compassion and strategic brilliance that has defined us every day leading up to this day. We do it as allies, we do it as colleagues, we do it as organizers and friends. We do it as partners in this work.<br />
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The horrific decisions out of Ferguson and now, New York, have this moment. We acknowledge that. But knitting ourselves together I know this: <b>we will write the final and beautiful chapter in history.</b><br />
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With a powerful belief in justice and in each of you,<br />
<br />
asha</blockquote>
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We will indeed write the final AND beautiful chapter in history. The fight to end mass incarceration in America, to end this War on Drugs that is stripping resources from our education systems, our health care systems, our infrastructure (spelled JOBS), will be won! Because this is where justice resides. Every injustice like in Ferguson, or in New York, feeds fresh warriors into our campaigns.<br />
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For now, let's keep Galatians 6:9 in our thoughts:<br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."</i> </span></blockquote>
A luta Continua,<br />
<br />
DaryleThe Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-38162270275984786092014-11-09T13:27:00.000-08:002014-11-09T13:27:03.042-08:00Harry Belafonte: The Power of Film<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDfRRm07tiQh2ud3s1xSdgSaxwiJbrh-UiAaenF963NR_URL4TQ72xje8fMiMEM7N2IUhHSCLMPVWAU_W8aIYNHauTTJYLnpPTeKxN9i5VakHnPuVL7w42ke6i1bL_QE7as6F-OgfxFg/s1600/belafonte_article_story_large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDfRRm07tiQh2ud3s1xSdgSaxwiJbrh-UiAaenF963NR_URL4TQ72xje8fMiMEM7N2IUhHSCLMPVWAU_W8aIYNHauTTJYLnpPTeKxN9i5VakHnPuVL7w42ke6i1bL_QE7as6F-OgfxFg/s1600/belafonte_article_story_large.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harry Belafonte and Sidney Portier at the Governors Awards</td></tr>
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Harry Belafonte was the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Governors Awards (an honorary Oscar, Mr. Belafonte's first).<br />
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His acceptance speech was incredibly powerful, insightful, incriminating, and at the same time hopeful.<br />
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What a wonderful brother, artist, and of course humanitarian.<br />
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The power of film to change minds and hearts was never so eloquently stated. This is the reason that The Next Movement embarked on our <b>(In))Justice for All Film Festival</b> this year, and are committed to screen meaningful social justice focused films on a regular basis, and to hold our festival annually. <b>The 2015 festival will be held April 9-18.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGgzPwNvfNQ8sgLH92LIicQ20_KcQP_AOyKNx9SSHUiP5XIS4TOCa2cqi60fLyj0cSjYqZ0rya_ugillamO-pSZE8vc4KlD-7SpSOUpF4Hsa5sJ9Lwlte4051zYNHb_EPPZTAUI5ahRw/s1600/black&yellow-02.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGgzPwNvfNQ8sgLH92LIicQ20_KcQP_AOyKNx9SSHUiP5XIS4TOCa2cqi60fLyj0cSjYqZ0rya_ugillamO-pSZE8vc4KlD-7SpSOUpF4Hsa5sJ9Lwlte4051zYNHb_EPPZTAUI5ahRw/s1600/black&yellow-02.png" height="169" width="320" /></a></div>
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You can view this wonderful acceptance speech by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfj6Ja86lCs" target="_blank">CLICKING HERE</a>. Truly one of the giants of both entertainment and justice. An awesome example for us all.<br />
<br />
Daryle Brown<br />
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<br />The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-86824119859836037582014-10-22T15:53:00.002-07:002014-10-22T15:53:21.427-07:00From the Inside: Dre's Story<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGipZboDfzvOZ8IDw3prt3dejmybR-s51NMKyXYdrnUMs5tMr9BPJBsMLWOy-q838yuTEgnSQgkXBxUXALNaLtZ6vQ21zDhlZs9I_BHQKvOHo9ZlMg72ZCbuhq-vNKsyRkqW7ErzJ9Sw/s1600/Prison+Bars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGipZboDfzvOZ8IDw3prt3dejmybR-s51NMKyXYdrnUMs5tMr9BPJBsMLWOy-q838yuTEgnSQgkXBxUXALNaLtZ6vQ21zDhlZs9I_BHQKvOHo9ZlMg72ZCbuhq-vNKsyRkqW7ErzJ9Sw/s1600/Prison+Bars.jpg" height="206" width="320" /></a>He’s from a small northern suburb that doesn’t set off alarms in your head, like when you hear <br />
“Englewood.” It is home to the illustrious campus of Northwestern University, choice lake front real estate and one of the largest high schools in the country… even in the high crime areas, you can step out your front door in the morning and smell the life vibrating beneath the heavy mist of dew that has settled on the grass and trees. Dre trampled over this pulsating scenery like it was the desolate wild west. Because when he’s gone off the weed and alcohol, he thinks he’s an outlaw.<br />
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When Dre was four, he was walking down an alley with his seventeen year old uncle, Ty, when gun shots rang out nearby. “Stay here, Andre,” his uncle told him while pushing him between two garbage cans. </div>
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“Don’t move until I come back!”</div>
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Ty pulled a gun from his waist and disappeared between two buildings. He was caught in a gang-related murder and Dre wouldn’t see him again until twelve years later.</div>
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It would be like he never left though, because Dre would be confronted by his uncle’s reputation all through his childhood. He would constantly hear from family and people in the neighborhood about his uncle’s phenomenal attributes. </div>
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“He was so charismatic, all the ladies loved him.”… “He was so tough, all the guys respected him.”</div>
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Dre had none of these traits. As he got older and people found out he was Ty’s nephew, you couldn’t help but notice the shadow of disappointment move across their faces.</div>
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Dre was the shy, timid, soft-spoken type. </div>
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“Speak up boy!” His dad would snap at him. “You talk like you got rocks in your throat!” </div>
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Dre’s over-protective parents kept him isolated in the house most of the time, which made him socially awkward, but an avid reader. By the time he got to high school, he had already read the majority of the books on the English curriculum. They had to place him in honors class.</div>
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Despite his academic potential, Dre wanted nothing more than to shake this lame persona. The characters he looked to emulate were the cats, like Uncle Ty: the dudes standing across the street from the school with their hats broke off; proudly throwing their hands in the air with fingers twisted up in signs to their allies; and embracing each other with secret handshakes. A brotherhood. Everyone seemed to either love or fear them.</div>
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It was really this fear that kept him in check. But, when he was fifteen, he discovered a magic potion that would suppress that fear: weed and alcohol. He initially tried them when offered, because he didn’t want to be the square that said, “No.”</div>
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But, it was the effects that kept him coming back. The weed, by itself, was fun; but, it made him feel more nervous and more vulnerable than when he wasn’t high. The liquor was another story. He felt like he had been dipped in a vat of radioactive waste and emerged a superhero. He didn’t feel like the same timid, insecure, cowardly guy he was before. Instead, he felt bold, confident, fearless; he felt free.</div>
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Dre stumbled through the rest of high school in a drunken haze, and just barely graduated. The weed and alcohol took him down a dark road. Under the influence, he chose to be initiated into the “brotherhood.” He so much admired them that, while under the influence, he chose to pick up a gun and shoot at someone he had been convinced was his enemy. </div>
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When he woke up sober the next morning, his stomach dropped, as he remembered the things he had done. But, it was too late to think. He was nineteen years old, sitting in the county jail, facing attempted murder charges.</div>
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While he was on the inside, the thirst only grew. From what he could see around him, drugs and alcohol was the culture. Everyone did something. Even if they didn’t, he wore his addiction like a badge of honor. It was his identity. The only way he knew how to be. There was no reason to believe he had a problem, so despite the Narcotics Anonymous and Alcohol Anonymous programs that were offered on the inside, Dre looked at them as irrelevant to him. He eagerly awaited his parole date and that first drink…</div>
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Dre is now thirty-four, and serving a sixty-year sentence. He learned that putting on a mask doesn’t change who you are.</div>
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The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-6320972738114499832014-05-26T10:22:00.002-07:002014-05-26T10:27:53.234-07:00Evidence is one thing, Fighting is the right thing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi424xFSy4jA-JWL7TSYNaZVzSxsgg_osoW9ERuqlecxiqY3XZQ142bnvzdAV69a4GzlTX4fO9oUo61ifLr1NMSPWEKH3AXmQ_s8oXxsnAIJrJuUaKZrwT6AQWAxYpVWygfZ1TX1KlxdA/s1600/new-york-times-logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi424xFSy4jA-JWL7TSYNaZVzSxsgg_osoW9ERuqlecxiqY3XZQ142bnvzdAV69a4GzlTX4fO9oUo61ifLr1NMSPWEKH3AXmQ_s8oXxsnAIJrJuUaKZrwT6AQWAxYpVWygfZ1TX1KlxdA/s1600/new-york-times-logo.jpg" height="81" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A good friend and mentor, Howard Saffold (a founder of the Negro Patrolman's League and CEO of the Positive Anti-Crime Trust), once forwarded to me a wonderful report, <b><a href="http://www.modelsforchange.net/publications/199" target="_blank">The Adoration of the Question: Reflections on the Failure to Reduce Racial & Ethnic Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System</a>. </b>The actual report deals with challenges to move from theory to action, from minor tinkering to real transformation, in the obvious and clearly unjust racial and ethnic disparities in our juvenile justice system, but the first part of the title, "The Adoration of the Question," has stuck with me through the years as the reams of studies have been developed on the issue of mass incarceration, but the will of our politicians, and our people, seems unmotivated to act.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This editorial in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/opinion/sunday/end-mass-incarceration-now.html?_r=0" target="_blank">NYTimes</a> is another high profile call for an end to America's epidemic of mass incarceration. Motivated by a 444 page report from the National Academy of Sciences, <b>The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences -</b> yet another treatise on this issue - they quote the usual statistics (2.2 million incarcerated Americans, disproportional effects on black, brown and poor, nearly 160,000 people serving life sentences) and some new ones ($80 billion a year spent on direct corrections costs). They also mention a report by Human Rights Watch, <b><a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/2014_US_Nation_Behind_Bars_0.pdf" target="_blank">Nation Behind Bars: A Human Rights Solution</a></b>, and a particular quote:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 23px;">. . . while prison should generally be a last resort, in the United States “it has been treated as the medicine that cures all ills,” and that “in its embrace of incarceration, the country seems to have forgotten just how severe a punishment it is.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With Professor Angela Davis' book, <b>Are Prisons Obsolete?</b>, from 2002, and Professor Michelle Alexander's more recent book, <b>The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness</b>, and the many other books, research reports, editorials, documentary films, etc., that describe and inform on the subject of prison and mass incarceration, the depth and damage of this humanitarian nightmare is clear.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What is needed now is not more<i> Adoration of the Question</i>, but more action!</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are organizations spouting up in cities across America focused on ending the mass incarceration epidemic, ending the drug war, making sense of our sentencing laws, and reestablishing mental health treatment capacity in this country. If you are in Chicago, join us, The Next Movement. If you are anywhere else in the country, look for a <i>Campaign to End The New Jim Crow</i>, or contact us to help locate an organization in your area.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Stop adoring and start fighting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A luta continua,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Daryle Brown</span></div>
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The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-30605736018176823082014-05-18T09:39:00.000-07:002014-05-18T09:39:29.191-07:00Modern Day Torture Chambers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIy0SV9KaJq9dlBKTXnVcX1so_mP34SRzCP-gTwXVkKFLRZ1cYpxAJnFZnSAW5eLXRPSX1zJFUQ16aUjj87Qogd7i_i95Kn1LSIPx6t4mIyRb2ma22c9oo5B7BwrLzMyxcFfcSURzgxg/s1600/menard-cc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIy0SV9KaJq9dlBKTXnVcX1so_mP34SRzCP-gTwXVkKFLRZ1cYpxAJnFZnSAW5eLXRPSX1zJFUQ16aUjj87Qogd7i_i95Kn1LSIPx6t4mIyRb2ma22c9oo5B7BwrLzMyxcFfcSURzgxg/s1600/menard-cc.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a></div>
Even though I have been visiting prisons in Cook County, throughout the State of Illinois, and even Oxford Federal Prison in Wisconsin, for many years, the revelation of excessively poor treatment coming out of Menard Prison was shocking.<div>
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The preliminary report from Alan Mills, the Legal Director of The Law Center, is an indictment on our very humanity. <b>Our government would close down a puppy breeder for less negligent behavior</b>. Our prison officials, and elected representatives by extension, are so callous, cruel and indifferent to incarcerated citizens, leaving them to be subject to disease and suffering that is totally unnecessary. When these men return to their community, what will be left of their humanity!</div>
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Please check out this article by <a href="http://uplcchicago.org/blog/2014/05/16/bedsores-a-visit-to-illinois-menard-prison/" target="_blank">clicking here</a>.</div>
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As your anger rises, as your empathy kicks in, consider joining with your Prison Ministry or The Next Movement committee (of the Prison Ministry) to fight for justice, for humane treatment of prisoners, for an end to America's love affair with incarceration.</div>
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Daryle Brown</div>
The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-56779450094337229912014-05-07T12:12:00.002-07:002014-05-07T12:12:42.472-07:00Free Entrepreneurship Program Exclusively for Ex-Offenders<div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Sent to us by friend of the cause, Prof. Randolph Stone:</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #00457c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Free Entrepreneurship Program</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: #00457c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Exclusively for Ex-Offenders</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: #00457c; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Starts June 9, 2014</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Greetings!</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /><br />Greetings from the IL-SBDC/Duman Entrepreneurship Center at JVS Chicago. We are pleased to announce that the Basic Entrepreneurship Support and Training Program (B.E.S.T.) is accepting participants for its first session of 2014. B.E.S.T. is a six week course of entrepreneurial training exclusively for ex-offenders. The next session will start on<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>June 9th, 2014</b>.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In 2013, sixty seven (67) ex-offenders completed the B.E.S.T. Program achieving nine new business starts or expansions and 14 new jobs were created. In addition, five of these businesses were funded through our B.E.S.T. micro-loan program, which is earmarked exclusively for ex-offenders. We are looking to create many new success stories for 2014.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We are reaching out to all of our partners to assist us in identifying qualified individuals who would benefit from this program. Thank you for your continuing support of this program.</span></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: 'Arial Black', sans-serif;">We need 30 Ex-Offenders</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: 'Arial Black', sans-serif;">looking to start or expand a small business</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: 'Arial Black', sans-serif;">and to become one of our many success stories.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: 'Arial Black', sans-serif;">There have been many successful</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: white; font-family: 'Arial Black', sans-serif;">since the inception of the program.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Microloans are Available!</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Eligible program participants can receive microloans up to $5,000 to start or expand their business.</span></b><span style="color: #eeeeee;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">May be the last opportunity to participate in this program for 2014. Classes fill fast!</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;">Important Information and Registration</span></span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6801801636702181743" name="LETTER.BLOCK11"></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">All classes will be held at:</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">JVS Chicago</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">216 W. Jackson, 2nd Floor</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Chicago, IL 60606</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">To register, and for more information, contact:</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">JVS Chicago</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Duman Microenterprise Center</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="mailto:ShelbyParchman@JVSChicago.org" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><span style="color: purple;">info@JVSChicago.org</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">855-INFO-JVS</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">(855-463-6587)</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Register Today</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Space is Limited!</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></b><b style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #d52c2a; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">City of Chicago Residency Required</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6801801636702181743" name="LETTER.BLOCK18"></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">This program is funded by the City of Chicago</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Department of Family and Support Services</span></i></div>
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The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-87221921857984948262014-02-10T10:27:00.000-08:002014-02-10T10:27:14.790-08:00From the Inside: Chris' Story<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="color: #666666;">Previously we we introduced Andre "Dre" Patterson, a resident in Stateville Correctional Center, and a volunteer writer for The Next Movement's blog. His first series of articles will be focusing on various crossroads . . . intersection points where a better decision could have led to an entirely different future. This is the third installment . . .</span><br />
<br />
<b style="color: #9fc5e8; font-size: x-large;">Chris' Story</b><br />
<br />
The middle-class suburb of Mundelein (where the employment
rate is high, and violent crimes were minimal to non-existent) has a greasy
underbelly. This mostly White and Hispanic town is home to an affluent
drug culture. The notorious Mexican Mafia has a strong hold on the
cocaine trade, and kids can get ahold of any drug on the spectrum; from
prescription pills to acid. With such easy access, you can become an
addict, a dealer, or both early on--the user and the used.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was the breeding ground for Chris; a lanky,
pale-skinned, anti-social kid, with natural leadership skills. He stayed
in a one story, five-bedroom house with his mother, younger sister and older
brother, who was in and out of jail. His brother was deeply entrenched in
Mundelein’s drug scene, a user and one of the used. This is where Chris
took his example from; with a father in Tennessee, and mother that worked days
and went to school at night, he was left to figure things out on his own.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He was also left to deal with the memory of something
horrible he had done when he was ten. “It
jarred me awake every morning, like the annoying beep of an alarm clock.
The same nightmare from something that I did when I was too young to know
better. At least that’s what family told me. But I had a different
narrative of the events. What I did, chased my conscience, so I chased it
away with vodka and cocaine.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When he was eleven, Chris started down a dark road that he
mistook for an escape route, when he began smoking marijuana. At
thirteen, he added alcohol to an everyday weed habit. He began a rapid
plunge to the bottom when at fourteen, he was introduced to cocaine. This
would be the ultimate escape from his conscience that he was looking for.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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At fifteen, Chris checked into a thirty-day rehab to avoid
jail time for a series of under-age drinking and possession arrests.
While in the facility, he had a brief moment of clarity and attempted to get
clean. But the moment passed when he couldn’t envision the future
sober. Chris continued to get high in rehab.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Throughout all of this, Chris tried to stay in school, while
residing in his chemically altered universe. But, in his fourth year of high
school, totally disengaged with education, he dropped out. Around this
time, Chris and some friends started burglarizing known drug houses. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Usually, nobody was home. But one day, someone
surprised Chris and his crew and things got out of hand. Chris was only
eighteen when he came to jail charged with a home invasion & murder.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-50508807344940655712013-12-03T18:30:00.001-08:002013-12-03T18:32:36.215-08:00SB 1342 - A Small Victory . . . But the Fight Must ContinueFamily,<br />
<br />
Thanks to the hard work of many organizations and individuals we have won a small victory, as SB1342 will not be introduced during the winter veto session. The political forces behind this inhumane legislation have retreated back into their smoke filled rooms to negotiate with, pressure and cajole our legislators into some future form of a bill next year.<br />
<br />
<b>Our job is to continue to reach out to our state representatives and senators and urge them to</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikvD4WyQN6fwGENlYGfr-_EyGWzVuPpECbDZsZ5fXJUQLZjBZf7mQhCuNc_Hd6cgc12ZfNcEqUrEOSM6D2nFSRYcbCCbfYFADCdtZUQ3vKcwliOXTv0jGPqMUq92P7pT3Iift8svCqrA/s1600/Mandatory+Minimums.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikvD4WyQN6fwGENlYGfr-_EyGWzVuPpECbDZsZ5fXJUQLZjBZf7mQhCuNc_Hd6cgc12ZfNcEqUrEOSM6D2nFSRYcbCCbfYFADCdtZUQ3vKcwliOXTv0jGPqMUq92P7pT3Iift8svCqrA/s1600/Mandatory+Minimums.jpg" /></a></b></div>
<b> vote against whatever future form SB 1342 takes.</b><br />
<br />
Until every human (that means you) is mistake-proof, mandatory minimum sentencing makes no sense.<br />
<br />
<b>Consider this</b>: In a roomful of teen-aged boys, who may or may not have been listening, he carried himself with such dignity and self-control that he seemed like a king. Since I don’t remember his name, let’s just call him King.<br />
<br />
He’d come to share his experience in hopes that they would learn from it. In his sixty years he’d had many experiences. He was a Vietnam veteran who served his country and returned home to diligently work and provide for his family until his recent retirement. And now he was a convicted felon, serving eighteen months in prison.<br />
<br />
His crime? While driving his car, King made a left hand turn without signaling. After being stopped by the police, he agreed to let them search his car. Why not? He’d never broken the law and wasn’t breaking one now. Why not cooperate with their request? He had nothing to hide. Unless you count that unregistered gun his brother had left in the car without King’s knowledge.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>In Illinois an unregistered gun in a car owned and driven by King was considered HIS gun. The prosecutor decided to pursue the case. In the U.S. criminal justice system, the prosecuting attorney has the power to choose which cases to pursue - almost absolute power. The only thing that comes close to offsetting that power is the discretion left to judges in the sentences they give.</i></blockquote>
<br />
<b>King received eighteen months in prison for his “crime.”</b> He could have received more. He possibly could have received less. Personally, I don’t think he should have gone to prison at all. But still, the judge made the choice to give less time than what he could have received. <i>The judge made the choice</i>. <b>Let me repeat, the JUDGE made the choice</b>.<br />
<br />
In the legislation proposed by SB 1342, judges will have absolutely no choice in the sentences given for illegal gun possession. First-time offenders would receive a mandatory three-year sentence, regardless of the circumstances. Judges would have no choice.<br />
<br />
Mandatory sentencing has been shown to be ineffective in deterring crime. It has been proven to result in a disproportionate number of people of color being incarcerated. You may believe the hype that mandatory sentencing is necessary to stop gun violence. You may choose to support the next version of SB 1342, or to fail to voice your opinion at all.<br />
<br />
Just remember your choice the next time you forget to use your turn signal.<br />
<br />
To continue the fight against mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Please keep calling, emailing, writing to your elected officials and get others to do the same. Find out how by <a href="http://www.communityrenewalsociety.org/node/591" target="_blank">clicking here</a>. </li>
<li>Grow your personal knowledge of the issue using the resources below:</li>
<ul>
<li>See to outstanding articles at <a href="http://thecommongood.org/blogs/detail/1295">http://thecommongood.org/blogs/detail/1295</a> and <a href="http://www.thecommongood.org/blogs/detail/1297">http://www.thecommongood.org/blogs/detail/1297</a> for </li>
</ul>
<li>The bill's sponsor, Rep. Mike Zalewski’s, editorial about SB 1342 has had highlights included (click on them to see the comments) to show some of the key areas of disagreement. <a href="http://news.rapgenius.com/Mike-zalewski-bill-to-curb-gun-violence-needs-a-vote-not-delays-lyrics" target="_blank">Click here</a> to view and of course, feel free to share with others. </li>
<li>Lastly, this <a href="http://www.theshriverbrief.org/2013/11/articles/community-justice/mandatory-minimums-too-costly-and-too-ineffective/" target="_blank">click here</a> for an excellent brief from the Shriver Center on the effectiveness of mandatory minimums. </li>
</ul>
<div>
The fight is not yet won. We must remain diligent. Thank you all for your help in defeating this bad legislation thus far, and keep up the good work!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Michelle Day, Esq.</div>
<div>
The Next Movement, Project Nehemiah &</div>
<div>
Trinity UCC Justice Watch Team</div>
<br />The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-52399203832072427082013-11-19T10:45:00.000-08:002013-11-19T10:55:43.157-08:00From The Inside: Worm's Story<span style="color: #fff2cc;">Last week we introduced Andre "Dre" Patterson, a resident in Stateville Correctional Center, and a volunteer writer for The Next Movement's blog. The first series of articles will be focusing on various crossroads . . . intersection points where a better decision could have led to an entirely different future. Here's . . .</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-size: large;"><b>Worm's Story</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUBaQOxfQXaZbu_6rQEsKETo0UFQUeShV_7fktyiApGQBHy_PbmxcxRqld8AIIw6_mHSx3cnWQ12vF7aQ6_Gn-1jXRTeEsV7RpicmzKICgnQfT4D7aDDUUMCfK-wCLXdnM2v2dcLTjeA/s1600/stateville-bighouse.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUBaQOxfQXaZbu_6rQEsKETo0UFQUeShV_7fktyiApGQBHy_PbmxcxRqld8AIIw6_mHSx3cnWQ12vF7aQ6_Gn-1jXRTeEsV7RpicmzKICgnQfT4D7aDDUUMCfK-wCLXdnM2v2dcLTjeA/s320/stateville-bighouse.png" width="320" /></a></b></span></div>
<br />
Nobody told him he wasn’t supposed to. That was the mindset of twelve year old Willie or “Worm”, the first time he got high. Even if someone had told him “just say no,” it probably would have gone over the cornrows on his head atop his four foot tall body. Raised in the land of vacant lots and dope spots, which is the west side of Chicago; Worm’s natural reaction was to do as he saw, not as he was told.<br />
<br />
<br />
When Worm was eight, his mother and uncles used to throw raucous card parties with all of the neighborhood super-heroes: gangsters and hustlers. They would send little Worm back and forth to the store and have him light their squares (cigarettes) and joints. So, when he was twelve and one of his friends passed him a blunt and told him to light it, Worm did so like he had been there before.<br />
<br />
During these same social gatherings, his mom would give him beer and put Worm in a circle of family and friends to sing and dance. Times like these inspired Worm to want to be a rapper and comedian. He associated the weed and alcohol with fun and celebration. By the time Worm was fifteen, he was smoking and drinking every day.<br />
<br />
With a father who lived in the suburbs, who he only saw when he got in trouble, Worm bonded with his step-dad; a small business owner and a well-known drug dealer. His step-dad gave him a small amount of drugs to sell so Worm could buy clothes and maintain his habits. Having been inducted into street culture by his uncles when he was big enough to sit on a watermelon and break it, this was a natural transition for Worm.<br />
<br />
In an attempt to pull her son from the tumultuous waters he had dived into, Worm’s mom sent him away to boot camp, where she hoped he would finish his education and learn discipline. It was just a vacation for Worm. When he completed the program, Worm came back home to the same poverty and hopelessness he had left. The weed he smoked to see the silver lining of the gray cloud over his environment would evolve into something more severe.<br />
<br />
One day, a hail of gunfire parted a crowd that Worm was congregated in, causing them to duck in panic, behind parked cars and porch steps. When the shots let up, two of Worm’s closest friends lay on the unforgiving concrete, bleeding to death. That night, an angry and saddened Worm tried a drug that he had been shielded from up to this point. One of his homies, also grieving from the day’s mad drama, lit up a blunt laced with PCP, called shock. “Let me hit that shock,” a dejected Worm demanded. That first hit would consummate a long relationship between Worm and shock, that would only end when he was charged with first-degree murder, five years later.<br />
<div style="color: #9fc5e8; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">
<br /></div>
The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-81044625896229980612013-11-11T17:22:00.000-08:002013-11-11T17:34:02.971-08:00From The Inside: Introducing Andre "Dre" Patterson<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Friends,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As we work to end the epidemic of mass incarceration in America one of our</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA_yb_xm457Lqn_qOArVbR05NZfOoQYHZTJr6aDnS9gZnLoaaH4O3t_miH6GKBbQBlFcZxPe1BPBs44JiDupMkjW7B6unpLIUepcW8GRKN5pYrTUMPz7MPUr7rRNruy2dGVDosPPTExw/s1600/Dre+Image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA_yb_xm457Lqn_qOArVbR05NZfOoQYHZTJr6aDnS9gZnLoaaH4O3t_miH6GKBbQBlFcZxPe1BPBs44JiDupMkjW7B6unpLIUepcW8GRKN5pYrTUMPz7MPUr7rRNruy2dGVDosPPTExw/s320/Dre+Image.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> challenges to to present the human side of this travesty. This can often be seen in the broken families, the struggling children, the collective misery of the communities from which men, women and children are drawn into our criminal (in)justice system.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course these are not all angels of misfortune. Of course human choice, personal decisions, often play a major role in determining who will populate the jails and prisons of America. And yes, of course, a stacked deck works to funnel many promising lives into permanent second class citizenship, if they are luck, or if not, a near permanent residence in one of our prisons.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Several months ago, one of our members, Ibi Cole, introduced me to a young man that resides in Stateville, a maximum security prison on the outskirts of Chicagoland. Andre is one of those promising lives that has taken up permanent residence in our prisons. Intelligent, articulate, and a gifted writer, he wanted to know if he could contribute to our fight against mass incarceration . . . even from behind bars.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our conversations, passed through communications that Ibi facilitated, have resulted in this first series of blogs <b>From the Inside</b>. I've asked Andre to talk with/interview the men he shares Stateville with, focusing particularly on the "forks in the road" that led to their imprisonment. I am prayerful that each story/article will move someone's heart as we recognize our own friends, family and ourselves: But for the grace of God go I . . .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our goal is to share a new story every other week or so for the next several months, with the first story beginning November 18th. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lastly, please take a few moments to provide feedback on the stories. You can comment on the blog itself, or on the various Facebook pages that we will be linking to. That said, let me introduce you to Andre:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A luta continua</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Daryle Brown</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>My name is Andre Patterson, known to loved ones as, simply, “Dre.” I graduated from Evanston Township High School in 1997; I was an average student, with above average potential. The northern suburbs of Evanston are not the most dangerous or degraded environments to grow up in. But, viewing the mostly green landscape from the shadows of insecurity, personal pain and alcoholism, it appeared dark and decrepit.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Lacking the courage and tools to conquer my demons, I made some bad decisions, that lead to a sixty-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections. My cowardice has broken many lives, some of which I may never be able to piece together again. But I would like to try… </i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>I’m going to tell you stories of other men, incarcerated like me, whose demons have manifested through addiction. Maybe their lives and the lives they’ve affected through their actions could have turned out differently… if these addictions were viewed in a different light. </i></span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Dre</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
</blockquote>
<div>
<br /></div>
The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-15288223908131016542013-10-03T11:03:00.001-07:002013-10-03T16:45:05.070-07:00Will Cold Facts Warm Hearts? New Reports Should Call Us to Action<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today, </span><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Sentencing Project</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">, an organization dedicated to researching, generating publications, and advocacy, in order to change America's thinking about crime and punishment, released two significant reports. Both are intended as shadow reports to the United Nations Human Rights Committee and were written in advance of its review of U.S. compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) later this month.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first, <b><a href="http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_ICCPR%20Race%20and%20Justice%20Shadow%20Report.pdf" target="_blank">Racial Disparities in the United States Criminal Justice System</a></b>, delivers the data to show what most of us already know - that the justice system in America imprisons vast numbers of our citizens, far more than any other country in the world, and that there are incredible racial disparities.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">FACTS:</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Black men are 6 times more likely to be incarcerated than white males</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Black men are 2.5 times more likely to be incarcerated than Hispanic males</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If current trends continue, one in every three black American men born today can expect to go to prison in his lifetime. ONE IN THREE! This is true for one in six Latino males and only one in seventeen white males.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Their findings lead them to conclude:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #ffd966;">By creating and perpetuating policies that allow such racial disparities to exist in its criminal justice system, the United States is in violation of its obligations under Articles 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to ensure that all its citizens—regardless of race—are treated equally under the law.</span> </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Essentially, our criminal justice system is deeply flawed and this report is a solid piece that provides evidence of those flaws at every level - from police activity, to trials that have well-equipped and motivated prosecutors against overworked indigent defense counsel, and the failure of our system of "presumed innocence" and ultimately, huge disparities in sentencing, once convicted, including the use of capital punishment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The second report, <b><a href="http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/fd_ICCPR%20Felony%20Disenfranchisement%20Shadow%20Report.pdf" target="_blank">Democracy Imprisoned: A Review of the Prevalence and Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States</a></b>, provides insight into, as Professor Michelle Alexander, author of <b>The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness</b>, explains it, <u>a new caste system </u>that has developed in America - the formerly incarcerated.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">FACTS:</span></b><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Despite decreases in overall prison populations in the last three years, the number of disenfranchised citizens has continued to grow, with over 5.85 million in 2010 (compared to 1.17 million in 1976).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">75% of these disenfranchised individuals reside in their communities</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">7.7% of adult African Americans are disenfranchised, more than 40% of whom have completed their sentences</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As with the first report, these findings show America to be in violation with the U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, specifically:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #ffd966; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“general deprivation of the right to vote for persons who have received a felony conviction, and in particular for those who are no longer deprived of liberty, do not meet the requirements of articles 25 and 26 of the Covenant, nor serves the rehabilitation goals of article 10(3)."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">While they detail the grievances associated with voting rights, there are a litany of other handicaps heaped on the formerly incarcerated, including federal housing, student loans, food assistance, and various job licensing restrictions.</span><br />
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<h2>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Unfortunately, These Facts Are Not New</span></b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">All of this has been adequately documented by Professor Alexander among others, and in fact <b>The Next Movement</b>, through various methods, has been working to educate the community and grow awareness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But where is the community uprising, the indignation, the mass outrage, the ACTION?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the issues of our time and to let that feeling of hopelessness "move" us to inaction. Fortunately, the evidence of our victory has already been witnessed by how far we have come. As I was seeking to be accurate with Dr. King's quote on the "arch of the moral universe," I came across what is purported to be the first documented use of this metaphor, from Rev. Theodore Parker, an abolitionist who in an 1857 collection of sermons included this language in his message, <b>Of Justice and the Conscience:</b></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #ffd966; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Look at the facts of the world. You see a continual and progressive triumph of the right. I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."</span></blockquote>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Clearly there are incredible injustices at work in the criminal justice system in America. Certainly, as people of conscience and people of faith, we know that something must be done. <b><span style="color: #444444;">The Next Movement is one organization that is working to end this era of mass incarceration, and can use all the help, ideas, and energy, we can get. Join us!</span> </b>Email us at <a href="mailto:TheNextMovement@trinitychicago.org">TheNextMovement@trinitychicago.org</a> for more information.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Rev. Courtney Jenkins, in a sermon delivered here at Trinity UCC, taught that (paraphrasing), "Our God wants to show off His power. In our prayers, we need to ask for great things, awesome things, change that can only come about by the intercession of God power." Ending the mass incarceration epidemic in America is worthy of our prayers and will prove to be an incredible example of God's power.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2 Corinthians 9:8-10, NRSV translation, states:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><sup>8</sup></b>And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. <b><sup>9</sup></b>As it is written,</span></i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor, his righteousness endures forever.”</span></i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><sup>10</sup></b>He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
</span></i></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">God bless you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A luta continua</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Daryle Brown</span><br />
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<br />The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-1462060182078816392013-09-18T14:40:00.000-07:002013-09-18T14:40:26.037-07:00Wasting Lives, Wasted Resources: The Tragedy of Life Sentences<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp-xlL7EkZ-u40Dip6i7-HtEVi9KSkFHBKe4RhbidqiCu42FSypITkLpqHh2-INd_nH_4RBBnM5gsj76ic13nYiodprHql2KEjwm8MIwDIV0dwF3G8mCFm27D_ZANtEUDjj8CG-KODKQ/s1600/Sentencing+Project+report+cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp-xlL7EkZ-u40Dip6i7-HtEVi9KSkFHBKe4RhbidqiCu42FSypITkLpqHh2-INd_nH_4RBBnM5gsj76ic13nYiodprHql2KEjwm8MIwDIV0dwF3G8mCFm27D_ZANtEUDjj8CG-KODKQ/s320/Sentencing+Project+report+cover.png" width="296" /></a></div>
As we work to end the mass incarceration of so many Americans, primarily African American, other people of color, and the poor, it is important that we continually educate ourselves on the many systemic issues that are driving up those numbers.<br />
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<div>
An important report was released today from <b>The Sentencing Project</b>, a key ally in the fight to end mass incarceration focused on the wide variety of sentencing issues that contribute to the rise in imprisonment. Their new report, <b><a href="http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Life%20Goes%20On%202013.pdf" target="_blank">Life Goes On: The Historic Rise in Life Sentences in America</a>, </b>details the trends in life sentences, as well as providing current statistics on a national and state basis.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
"Life" sentences have risen four-fold since 1984, some of it due to the end of death penalty convictions in many states, but much of the rise is also due to the increased use of mandatory sentencing, three strikes laws and other "get tough" legislation. There are now more than 160,000 prisoners serving life, 50,000 of them serving "life without parole." Of those serving life-without-parole, more than 10,000 were sentenced before their 18th birthdays . . . some as young as 12 and 13. And, as is typical with our criminal (in)justice system, these sentences are used far more frequently with minority populations. While one in nine prisoners is serving a life sentence, African Americans make up nearly half of all lifers. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Our society has unfortunately adopted the perspective of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, that our "prisons are for punishment." Almost completely absent from the conversation is the rehabilitative aspect of serving time, the capacity for us to change, leaving no room for redemption.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Over the next several months legislation will be introduced</b> in Illinois to address two ends of this spectrum. One group is actively working on a bill to address the early release of elderly prisoners. These are men and women that are getting totally unsatisfactory care from a prison system that is not designed to care for them - where we are wasting money that could be more efficiently used to care for them on the outside. The other is focused on providing a parole hearing process for juveniles that were sentenced to life without parole. In this situation, the Supreme Court has already ruled this sentence to be unconstitutional, but the state has been slow to address those individuals that are already serving those sentences. You will hear more from us on specific actions and support requests for these two initiatives.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.</i> <b>Hebrews 13:3</b></blockquote>
<div>
A luta continua.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Daryle Brown</div>
The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-324972007888332892013-06-11T11:57:00.000-07:002013-06-11T12:02:02.764-07:00NSA Data Mining or Drug War People Mining . . .<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb8RKR-eTmf9J99-OFUbVB6CNJQlI5hI0NBTP8QWPBQPmwVHMieFlqMfZjjUtJh_p0mf8CRLyrkvJc2UL5KTOUhhyphenhyphen8MxrJus0Qnpl7GqUKEFQUtbqzMUhzHj4dlIOVvlHwrS1TYGvnDg/s1600/NSA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb8RKR-eTmf9J99-OFUbVB6CNJQlI5hI0NBTP8QWPBQPmwVHMieFlqMfZjjUtJh_p0mf8CRLyrkvJc2UL5KTOUhhyphenhyphen8MxrJus0Qnpl7GqUKEFQUtbqzMUhzHj4dlIOVvlHwrS1TYGvnDg/s320/NSA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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An interesting article in Nation of Change eNews today, on the moral challenge to support <a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/historic-challenge-support-moral-actions-edward-snowden-1370957517" target="_blank">NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden</a>. As I consider the various information flowing through all of my media and news outputs on this subject, I have to admit . . . I'm still not sure.</div>
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I'm not sure if Snowden is a hero, traitor, or somewhere in between.</div>
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I'm not sure if the government capturing and sifting through meta data seeking to shine a light on potential enemy plans for our demise is worth the sacrifice of a bit of my personal privacy.</div>
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I'm not sure if one day we'll be sorry, or that this is "the tip of the iceberg" or "the first domino."</div>
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What I am sure of is that America is sliding into a police state, and that we have been sacrificing our constitutional rights in another way that has caused no panic among the media, the pundits, the government or the majority of people. We have allowed the war on drugs, and associated stretches of police and prosecutorial power to all but eliminate our rights to privacy, freedom from unwarranted searches, the expectation of probable cause, the right to a jury trial . . . and on and on, but where is the cry of indignation.</div>
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When the rights of poor, black, and brown individuals, inner-city communities and even rural communities, are laid bare and treaded on with abandon, there is little concern raised on CNN, FOX, ABC, hell even The Onion. Even as our investment in prisons begins to exceed our investment in higher education, few are noticing or caring.</div>
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Given the reality I witness, that the NSA is tapping into our data streams isn't surprising in the least. Frankly, I prefer the passive data collection to the active stop-and-frisk, "random" traffic stops, racial profiling, and other tactics used in the interest of "justice."</div>
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Daryle Brown</div>
The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-19384312611037286572013-06-05T10:19:00.002-07:002013-06-05T10:19:25.824-07:00If Only Common Sense Weren’t So Uncommon . . .<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj1zIrbqBF-ZF4etYsAM1oIhnKB62IzsfPZmjEAa34SAWP7yuLSf5wKcYmQvLNW4Smr07HsG9A_8yFJJgvmx-Pm36KB_CLpJq9TdnBl6ntNyM9pvHt-BS-jVjZFDR9r5ZsYBBIBVD35w/s1600/Young+men+behind+bars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj1zIrbqBF-ZF4etYsAM1oIhnKB62IzsfPZmjEAa34SAWP7yuLSf5wKcYmQvLNW4Smr07HsG9A_8yFJJgvmx-Pm36KB_CLpJq9TdnBl6ntNyM9pvHt-BS-jVjZFDR9r5ZsYBBIBVD35w/s320/Young+men+behind+bars.jpg" title="Young men behind bars" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>This is not the way to create safe communities</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Once again</b></span>, the public is subjected to totally thoughtless commentary from people to whom we entrust our safety, and general quality of life. Once again, a politician is putting forth policy ideas that if implemented would be incalculably worse than the problem they are seeking to solve. Once again, for want of a headline, a completely senseless proposal is getting attention it does not deserve, wasting resources we can’t afford, and misleading the public.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were utterly disappointed in Senator Mark Kirk’s bizarre solution to the gang and gun violence problem we have in Chicago. We are revolted by the senseless violence and deaths that have plagued some of our communities, but the idea to lock up 18,000 members of one particular gang as a solution is thoughtless, simplistic, and devastatingly wasteful. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You lock up 18,000 black men and then what? Most certainly, any gaps in the drug trade would be immediately filled either by “dealers in training” or the competition, and most likely spur a new round of competitive warfare; ultimately, our communities would be less safe, less stable, and less livable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For all of that “less,” it will certainly cost more. <b>In fact, the $30 million that Senator Kirk has requested is a rounding error compared to the $810 million it will cost to imprison that many people.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is sad and disturbing that Senator Kirk and his staff appear to have done no research on this issue — not with the leading academics, not with the local politicians, not with the communities. It seems the best we can hope is that this is somehow a ploy to bring attention to this problem. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What we suggest is that the $30 million dollars (money he plans to request from Congress) be combined with Mayor Emanuel’s $50 million dollars (the amount he hopes to raise through the Chicago Public Safety Action Community Fund) and redirect it to projects and programs that do make our communities safer, by creating opportunity for young men and women who otherwise would work in the underground drug economy: job training, jobs, education, behavioral health services (including drug addiction services), and other community-based services. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">While we are a bit encouraged by his meeting with Congressman Rush and a fresh commitment to engage the community on the issue of public safety, the danger is that this was merely a face-saving tactic. In the coming days, we will also seek to meet directly with Senator Kirk to offer our suggestions for real solutions to our community’s issues.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For now, please take a few minutes to write and send a letter to Senator Durbin (or call), and encourage him to skip the inflammatory rhetoric and focus on community focused solutions:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Senator Mark Kirk </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">524 Hart Senate Office Building </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Washington DC, 20510 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">202-224-2854</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Dr. Patricia Simples</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Daryle Brown</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Next Movement</b> committee</span><br />
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The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-6800385823786184192013-03-12T16:40:00.002-07:002013-03-12T16:40:17.851-07:00Don't Be Fooled: Support Sensible Gun Laws, Not Mass Incarceration!Family,<br />
<br />
Tomorrow the Illinois House Judiciary Committee is once again pulling out the "Get Tough on Crime" card, this time in the form of HB2265, legislation that adds extra time (two years typically) to Mandatory Minimum Sentences for a wide variety of gun crimes. While on the surface, and in light of the recent highly visible shootings in Chicago, this seems to be a reasonable reaponse, IT IS NOT!<br />
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Once again our legislators and other public officials, including Anita "What Torture?" Alvarez, Police Chief Garry McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, are seeking emotionally satisfying, but ultimately ineffective legislation, to fight our problem with gun violence.<br />
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<b>These changes in laws will create one more vector in the epidemic of mass incarceration</b> by reducing further the power of our Judges, to judge. There is absolutely no evidence that a longer sentence will stop anyone with a propensity to violate a gun law, to suddenly think twice. Instead this will grow our already crippling prison population and contribute to the destruction of families and communities . . . <b>while making us no safer</b>!<br />
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Please<a href="http://my.ilga.gov/WitnessSlip/Create/74043?committeeHearingId=10618&LegislationId=74043&HWeeklyCommittees-page=1&chamber=H&_=1363036573839&GridCurrentCommittees-page=4" target="_blank"> click here</a> today and tell he House Judiciary Committee how you want them to vote on HB2265 (this will allow you to submit a slip to the committee <u>in opposition to the bill</u>).<br />
<br />
Once you've voiced your opposition to this ineffective, no damaging, bill, <a href="http://passthebill.us/PTB/Home.html" target="_blank">please click</a> here to sign a petition supported by a coalition of churches in the Chicago area, including Trinity UCC and the Faith Community of St. Sabina, that asks for Sensible Gun Legislation that will really help to make our streets safer. Things like titling a gun like a car, so that it is always known who legally possesses a weapon, and banning military style assault weapons.<br />
<br />
Daryle Brown<br />
Trinity UCC Prison Ministry-The Next Movement committee<br />
<br />The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-53135254315552402292013-01-10T05:02:00.000-08:002013-01-10T05:02:23.888-08:00A Break in Prison Phone Rates?Family,<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNptprJmDgjmTiWtcujPOzhbQsfa4_OJd8rjs-vImXCRYZQRSNo2JVvhsIOXD2ByQsm7KdGVScQxBk6ch3kyDrcYW8twZsoL3XPftSfRTxI8kbHTmxN3wMUnvh9t6LjKyBpvqfZMawFQ/s1600/prison-phones_w300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNptprJmDgjmTiWtcujPOzhbQsfa4_OJd8rjs-vImXCRYZQRSNo2JVvhsIOXD2ByQsm7KdGVScQxBk6ch3kyDrcYW8twZsoL3XPftSfRTxI8kbHTmxN3wMUnvh9t6LjKyBpvqfZMawFQ/s1600/prison-phones_w300.jpg" /></a></div>
Many in the social justice and prison reform community have been for years advocating to get phone rates reduced for prisoners and their families. While telephone rates for the rest of us have been declining, almost since the invention of telephone service, the cost to prisoners has not.<br />
<br />
At Cook County jail, for example, inmates can only make collect calls, and typically they run from $7 to $15. According to the county's numbers, during one month inmates placed over 10,000 calls that cost $15! An article from <a href="http://www.wbez.org/story/cook-county-phone-contract-costs-inmates-and-families-97263" target="_blank">WBEZ</a> says:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">The county has a contract with Securus technologies that requires the phone company to pay almost 60 percent of what it makes from phone calls back to the county. The deal has netted the county about $12 million over the life of the three-year-old contract. </span></blockquote>
For calls to Illinois Department of Correction facilities, I visited the <a href="http://www.securustech.net/ratemycall.asp" target="_blank">Securus web site</a> that provides a rating option. Using their standard collect rates a 5 minute call from a Chicago location to Lincoln Correctional Center would be $4.10, and it seems the same for a 15 minute call.<br />
<br />
One of the insidious aspects of this monopolistic pricing is that it affects the poorest among us the most. Those that can least afford it. This often results in little or no contact between family members and their incarcerated loved one . . . even while the research shows that one of the keys to reducing recidivism is a continuing connection to family while a person is incarcerated.<br />
<br />
Due to ongoing pressure, the FCC is finally looking into these practices and there is hope for relief soon. On December 28, 2012, the FCC issued a <a href="http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2012/db1228/FCC-12-167A1.pdf" target="_blank">Notice of Proposed Rulemaking</a> aimed at addressing this egregious practice. While this is certainly encouraging news, we must continue to keep the pressure on.<br />
<br />
<b>Your support is needed.</b> Please take a few minutes to sign a petition by <a href="http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/01/04/call-action-prison-phone-rates" target="_blank">clicking here. TAKE ACTION</a> to stop predatory phone pricing.<br />
<br />
DaryleThe Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-66992574887041500322012-12-23T16:46:00.000-08:002013-01-02T16:11:59.572-08:00Faith and High School Screening Opportunities for The House I Live In<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_pX8eMXir4ZFrBhdVBXIP6aVdodEgZJ6hDT0YlSyNmlIHQFZTQ7UnoYONXPSTu_mEXFKA-BlHXfd7QzHRp4c7PYKBn6GfYLT8eyWQHOnWKI04mrI8_VFlaZ4dntWC9_MAqYM3A7kijQ/s1600/%239+%E2%80%93+A+prisoner+in+the+film+THE+HOUSE+I+LIVE+IN,+an+Abramorama+release+2012.+Photo+courtesy+of+Derek+Hallquist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_pX8eMXir4ZFrBhdVBXIP6aVdodEgZJ6hDT0YlSyNmlIHQFZTQ7UnoYONXPSTu_mEXFKA-BlHXfd7QzHRp4c7PYKBn6GfYLT8eyWQHOnWKI04mrI8_VFlaZ4dntWC9_MAqYM3A7kijQ/s320/%239+%E2%80%93+A+prisoner+in+the+film+THE+HOUSE+I+LIVE+IN,+an+Abramorama+release+2012.+Photo+courtesy+of+Derek+Hallquist.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>Charlotte Street Films</b> and the <b>Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference</b> are partnering to host screenings of <b><a href="http://www.thehouseilivein.org/" target="_blank">The House I Live In</a></b>, an award winning documentary film that dissects the War on Drugs through insightful interviews with every aspect of the transactional cycle: drug abuser, dealer, police officer, prosecutor, judge and corrections officer.<br />
<br />
<b>The House I Live In</b> delivers an emotional reality - The War on Drugs is an abject failure, destroying lives, families and communities, and people of conscious should be outraged and recognize the need for immediate change to this cornerstone in the epidemic of mass incarceration in America.<br />
<br />
Presented as <b>2013 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Commemorative Events</b>, if you are member of a faith institution, or high school administrator or activist student, details of the screening opportunities are as follows:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>For<b> Faith Communities</b> - National Screenings, Saturday, January 12, 2013 to register <a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5955/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=50974" target="_blank">click here</a>.</li>
<li>For<b> High Schools</b> - National Screenings, Friday, January 18, 2013. To register<a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5955/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=50988" target="_blank"> click here</a>.</li>
</ul>
<div>
The Next Movement screened this film at Trinity United Church of Christ on November 4, 2012, and it was an emotion charged event. What a gift to the fight to end mass incarceration.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Churches and schools should make every effort to participate in this wonderful opportunity.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Daryle</div>
The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-76724209221572867782012-10-27T09:44:00.000-07:002012-10-27T09:44:38.495-07:00The House I Live In - Documentary Screening Nov 3, 2012Friends of Justice!<br />
<br />
Please make a special effort to attend, and to invite your friends and colleagues, to the special FREE film screening of the powerful new documentary<a href="http://www.thehouseilivein.org/" target="_blank"> <b>The House I Live In</b></a>.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h2>
<b>November 3, 2012</b></h2>
<h3>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">2:30pm Rev. Otis Moss III and filmmaker Eugene Jarecki<br />3:00pm Film Screening<br />4:55pm Q&A<br />5:30pm Popcorn, Punch and Networking</span></h3>
</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
As I read <i><b>The New Jim Crow</b></i>, Michelle Alexander's ground breaking book that describes the systemic structures that are led to the mass incarceration and criminalization of millions of people of color, I still remember my feeling that this book would be the "tipping point" that would begin to halt the growth in incarceration in America. More than two years later, as I've witnessed the fresh organizing and mission priorities of many social justice institutions, the impact of Professor Michelle Alexander's book continues to reverberate and grow the movement to end mass incarceration.<br />
<br />
<u>Eugene Jarecki's new film,<b> The House I Live In</b>, delivers another powerful blow to the American prison industrial complex</u> as he provides personal perspectives from every front of the War on Drugs - from the dealers to abusers, police, corrections officers, judges and prosecutors – and they all reach a common conclusion: The War on Drugs has failed, and we must do something.<br />
<br />
Please share broadly! While it would be great if everyone would read <i><b>The New Jim Crow</b></i>, this movie is another tool in building the mass movement we will need to bring about the systemic change we demand.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXQ94UStToiHzaeiKHfX2SYJKIw9S7A5ob6aVu6hAVX_GXcyucX29Ne-w2dNbeRPYhRdtZIf8sFFGuLQKZFoPYRakSg0K_Bf34sgZyXm-UNyoIyVS5sRyJurRxM105ozreUXEH-cixrA/s1600/TheHouseILiveIn-Final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXQ94UStToiHzaeiKHfX2SYJKIw9S7A5ob6aVu6hAVX_GXcyucX29Ne-w2dNbeRPYhRdtZIf8sFFGuLQKZFoPYRakSg0K_Bf34sgZyXm-UNyoIyVS5sRyJurRxM105ozreUXEH-cixrA/s640/TheHouseILiveIn-Final.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
Daryle Brown<br />
The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-56776127393735632922012-09-30T15:24:00.000-07:002012-09-30T15:24:22.841-07:00Prioritizing Prison Reform
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In an <a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/10-ways-reduce-our-out-control-prison-population-1348927431">Op-Ed</a>
this morning in the <a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/" target="_blank">Nation of Change</a> webzine, Christopher Petrella put forth
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<li>Replace mandatory
sentencing laws with more flexible and individualized sentencing guidelines.</li>
<li>Strategically reduce
“three-strikes” laws for non-violent offenders.</li>
<li>Relax
Truth-in-Sentencing thresholds </li>
<li>Organize against
prison gerrymandering to ensure that low-income communities—and particularly
communities of color—receive a fair portion of federal aid. </li>
<li>Make full employment
a domestic policy goal.</li>
<li>Eliminate the use of
for-profit, private prison companies.</li>
<li>Fund prison
education programs and incentivize inmate participation. </li>
<li>Provide incentives
for employers to hire “ex-convicts.”</li>
<li>Suspend “Operation
Streamline.”</li>
<li>Support community
policing efforts.</li>
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As I reviewed the list, I found myself nodding in agreement.
Most are fairly straight forward (and at any rate, you can refer to the
original article for more details). A couple are not as commonly discussed.
Number 4 addresses the fact that, as hard as it is to imagine, communities
that house prisons get to claim the inmates as “residents” and as a result get
increased tax dollars allocated to them, while reducing the tax dollars to the
often distressed communities from which they come. And, number 9, “Operation
Streamline,” is talking about the huge numbers of people that are being held in
detention as a result of questionable immigration status.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-3uOMM_QcygSIXomMveSKoxRhbyfEWBCqvlVqHcDPJOsnEBpjfcjRe_Ho1ME-JGKt_urxYHTR5pFPQPCHQB4JG8pDRtCUHp-Rvp-kXF5IMJZ8lZSv9egE1jOn0GLpIrtRNwoR4bWFQ/s1600/IMG_6334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE-3uOMM_QcygSIXomMveSKoxRhbyfEWBCqvlVqHcDPJOsnEBpjfcjRe_Ho1ME-JGKt_urxYHTR5pFPQPCHQB4JG8pDRtCUHp-Rvp-kXF5IMJZ8lZSv9egE1jOn0GLpIrtRNwoR4bWFQ/s320/IMG_6334.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Patricia Simples and Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle<br />at The Next Movement forum/panel discussion<b> <br />Treating Drug Abuse as a Public Health Issue, Not a Crime</b></td></tr>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f9cb9c;">While all of these are ideas that are easy for those with a
prison reform mind to agree with, the elephant in the room is missing.</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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As recently as 2009 there were 1.7 million people in prison,
jail, or on probation or parole for drug offenses. Currently there are over 500,000 people in prison for drug offenses,
80% of which are for use and possession. In addition, many of the other crimes <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">–</span> theft,
prostitution, robbery, etc. <span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">– are related to drug habits. In fact, nearly 1 in 5 crimes were committed to obtain money for drugs, according to a Bureau of Justice study from 2004 . . . that would mean another 400,000 inmates. Yet, Mr. Petrella
does not include ending the War on Drugs among his tactical solutions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Implementing some of the “tweaks” Mr. Petrella outlines can reduce the
escalation in prison populations, but we will never achieve the reductions that
are necessary, certainly not a humane and moral resolution, without addressing the
fallacy of the Drug War. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><u>Ending the epidemic of mass incarceration simply cannot be achieved if we ignore the drug policy issue</u>. Yes, we should support his shopping list of reforms, but if we don’t
begin to treat drug abuse as the medical condition that it is, we will continue
to waste human potential, debilitate families and cripple our communities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Daryle Brown</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-85777384226410467802012-09-11T14:03:00.000-07:002012-09-11T14:03:16.127-07:00Prison Profiteering . . .<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5o5oAyHqmgJuTi8X0wFa2HySCL2RsLJ5aw_WGQcnGEFNR2uDNh6rgvnxx5-1V1ZdDE7Ah6mUzGAFGImyXkwbxl9aBwLrJLMAqvde-ey1uAKmPt5iGCK_mpNFb3w_WWXjPkVUSSk31Mw/s1600/NJC+Blue+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5o5oAyHqmgJuTi8X0wFa2HySCL2RsLJ5aw_WGQcnGEFNR2uDNh6rgvnxx5-1V1ZdDE7Ah6mUzGAFGImyXkwbxl9aBwLrJLMAqvde-ey1uAKmPt5iGCK_mpNFb3w_WWXjPkVUSSk31Mw/s200/NJC+Blue+Cover.jpg" width="147" /></a></div>
This note comes under the category of "Did you know?"<br />
<br />
In a very informative article, <b><a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/prison-privatization-and-efficiency-myth-1347370158" target="_blank">Prison Privatization and the Efficiency Myt</a>h</b>, Christopher Petrella digs into the federal Bureau of Prisons and the causes of the initial foray into private, for profit prison contracts.<br />
<br />
Interestingly, it was our "friend" President Bill Clinton that initiated the first contracts for private prisons to manage federal inmates. While we are so often told that the competitive model of introducing for profit prisons (substitute schools if you'd like) will assure more efficient operations emerge, until those models are tested in the real world, it is a huge, and often inaccurate, assumption.<br />
<br />
In our federal prison system, however, that was not the initial rationale at all. It seems that President Clinton introduced contract prisons into the federal system to accomplish two goals: 1) To allow for an increase in prison populations due to new laws he supported, so that he could show himself "tough on crime," and 2) He could show conservatives that he was reducing the size of the government payroll, since contractors do not show up as employees.<br />
<br />
This article is well worth reading as it also shows how Clinton contributed to "The New Jim Crow" and mass incarceration with his support for the "Truth in Sentencing" bill and other get tough legislation.<br />
<br />
Read the entire article by <a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/prison-privatization-and-efficiency-myth-1347370158" target="_blank">clicking here.</a><br />
<br />
Daryle Brown<br />
<br />The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-76441872796977189422012-06-10T15:05:00.000-07:002012-06-10T15:17:35.872-07:00America Needs to Stop Building Prisons!Leading the world in incarcerating its own citizens, America has over 2.4 million people housed in its prisons, detention centers and jails . . . more than China, more than Russia . . on both the gross figure and in terms prisoners per 100,000 citizens (we're at 743 per 100 thousand).<br />
<br />
While The Next Movement fights to end this outrageous ethical, moral and humanitarian crisis, one of the battles we need to stay on top of is prison construction.<br />
<br />
In <b>Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice</b> are working to stop Champaign County from spending $20 million to extend their county jail. With our state and local governments in dire need of funding for life sustaining services, they argue the money could be better spent! If you agree, <a href="https://www.change.org/petitions/the-champaign-county-board-stop-the-20-million-dollar-jail-expansion" target="_blank">please sign their petition by clicking here.</a><br />
<br />
The fight to end mass incarceration is inextricably linked to fights to end prison construction, both private and public. The chart below shows the incredible growth in prison populations following Richard Nixon's declaration of the "War on Drugs," and subsequent irrational legislation like "3 Strikes You're Out" laws and the crack cocaine versus powder cocaine sentencing discrepancies.<br />
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<img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPPffypdSwhgAm-1JlYW1fMSBmAEAuYsY20XMZ9443HvTcFyWHM4Cz6Zga1QToAA19cUSTEWkKkD0U9iNqPHDiLNGRWzRg8yTsR5leO8dO66n6H2bCrvlZdPkqmIu_hMRG10z_strFGg/s400/Screen+Shot+2012-06-02+at+9.39.37+AM.png" width="400" /></div>
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For additional information on current incarceration trends in America, <a href="http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Trends_in_Corrections_Fact_sheet.pdf" target="_blank">click here </a>to view the latest report from <b>The Sentencing Project</b>.</div>
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A luta continua (the struggle continues),</div>
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<br /></div>
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Daryle Brown</div>
<br />
<br />The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-16735234693115432702012-06-05T08:56:00.000-07:002012-06-05T14:41:20.495-07:00Torture Panel Dies of MalnourishmentI guess it shouldn't surprise anyone that Illinois, a state with a reputation for political corruption like no other, should vote to remove the measly $235,000 needed to keep its Torture Commission operating for another year.<br />
<br />
As reported in the Chicago Tribune today, as the commission prepares to release its first recommendations today, it will also most likely be its last.<a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-06-04/news/ct-met-torture-commission-20120605_1_police-torture-jon-burge-chicago-police" target="_blank"> Click here to read article.</a><br />
<br />
It is incredibly sad that with all we already know about the Burge torture scandal, and the many citizens that have already been released as a result of torture derived confessions, our legislators could kill the one agency that was finally bringing some light to issue. Perhaps too much light.<br />
<br />
Daryle BrownThe Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801801636702181743.post-34421987858695080802012-02-01T16:26:00.000-08:002012-02-04T17:57:17.234-08:00Life!<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Life. A typically positive word that captures the essence of the unique nature of our planet, and its place in the universe. </div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;" /></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Life. An organism that actively interacts with its environment and eagerly reproduces.</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;" /></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Life. As Lewis E. Lawes, warden of Sing Sing prison from 1920-1941 puts it, "<em style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">Death fades into insignificance when compared with life imprisonment. To spend each night in jail, day after day, year after year, gazing at the bars and longing for freedom, is indeed expiation."</em></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiJvy8BADQvF0oI8w4WkTe-xV-gPrGEbE6lTepPM5nrDNmfcVaED6wbTRszkQox05RlQydnKtrgpvod4DJwctxLLemPIkRaYLuOLP2GzZRuHOwYDl5PfuA7__6wlG3yhR_duh34WMOaQ/s1600/Prison+Legal+News.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiJvy8BADQvF0oI8w4WkTe-xV-gPrGEbE6lTepPM5nrDNmfcVaED6wbTRszkQox05RlQydnKtrgpvod4DJwctxLLemPIkRaYLuOLP2GzZRuHOwYDl5PfuA7__6wlG3yhR_duh34WMOaQ/s1600/Prison+Legal+News.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In an article in the Prison Legal News <b><a href="http://tinyurl.com/LifeInPrison" target="_blank">Days Without End: Life Sentences and Penal Reform</a>,</b> Marie Gottschalk digs deep into the almost uniquely American love affair with life sentences. Some important highlights:</div><ul><li style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">One of every eleven prisoners in the U.S. is serving a life sentence, and a third of these are life without parole</li>
<li style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">The U.S. has approximately 141,000 people serving life sentences . . . TWICE the entire population of prisoners in Japan</li>
<li style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">The population of elderly inmates, in spite of the low possibility of them being re-incarcerated upon release, grew 77% from 1999 to 2007 -- even though the cost to imprison the elderly is three times that of a younger inmate, averaging $70,000 a year</li>
<li style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">Since the 1980's prison populations have quadrupled while <strong style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">the Life Without Parole population is 100 times greater than it was then!</strong></li>
<li style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">Lifers have some of the lowest recidivism rates of any population - a study of 368 people convicted of murder who were granted parole in New York between 1999 and 2003 showed that only 6 returned to prison . . . less than 2%</li>
</ul><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">As we look to halt the out of control growth in incarcerations, certain ending the War on Drugs is one of the areas of focus of many prison reform organizations, in fact one the The Next Movement considers critical. Marie makes an excellent argument that sentencing reform is just as critical, if not more so. From a report by William Sabol, the chief statistician for the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, from 1994 to 2006 13% of the growth in state prison populations was the result of drug offenders, while nearly two thirds was attributed to defendants convicted of violent crimes.</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;" /></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">In the end, for those of us seeking to end mass incarceration, this article provides some valuable data points and clearly articulates the need for us to be holistic in our approach lest we have victories that are shallow and ultimately fail to correct the problem.</div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;" /></div><div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Daryle Brown</div>The Next Movementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05103233680654026878noreply@blogger.com0