September 19, 2013

Prison-Industrial Complex Watch: End Mandatory Minimum Sentences For Non-Violent Drug Offenses

It’s time for Americans to pay attention to what we are doing to so many non-violent drug offenders. We put them in jail, take away their right to vote when they get out, in many cases for minor offenses, that probably shouldn’t be illegal in the first place. Americans need to see the forest for the trees when it comes to U.S. drug laws. Why is it so hard to change failed policy?

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July 22, 2013

Racializing Black-On-Black Crime, A Means To Demonize African-Americans

To listen to many on the Right, we are never to include a racial component in any crime until we eradicate so-called “black-on-black” crime. Conservatives believe the liberal media should not focus on a black victim, portrayed by conservative media as the guilty party, and should instead focus its attention on inner-city black-on-black crime. According to conservative media, we aren’t talking about blacks killing other blacks enough. Until we meet our quota in reporting blacks being murdered by other blacks, we are not allowed to talk about any other crime and the potential that race may have played a role.

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November 23, 2012

The Conservative Republican Delusion

There are some Republicans who recognize that their party needs to change if it’s going to be competitive in future presidential elections. Yes, Republicans still hold a majority in the House of Representatives, and Republicans will be able to easily win a number of Senate and House races for years to come, but it’s the top office in the land where the math is not in their favor. When you’ve lost California’s 55 electoral votes before the contest has even begun, that’s a problem.

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November 12, 2012

Conservatives, It’s Not Your Country To Take Back

If there was one phrase heard most often during the health care debate in 2009 and 2010 it was “I want my country back.” This phrase, used exclusively by white conservatives, encapsulates the palpable fear felt by a shrinking white majority. This is not a phrase that would be uttered by African-Americans or Latinos, for good reason, and let’s not mince words. — White conservatives are talking about an increasingly diverse country with many more brown and black people, and it scares them to the core.

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