Criminal Justice: A Sin and A Shame

A Sin and A Shame

By: Llenda Jackson-Leslie

Someone or some people ought to be losing their jobs over the wrongful deportation and incarceration of Houston teenager, Jakadrien Turner. Turner ran away from home to Atlanta, GA last year at the age of 14 and was picked up for shoplifting. After she gave the name of a Colombian native to police—they turned her over to ICE even though her fingerprints weren’t a match—and she spoke no Spanish—not one word. ICE then deported her to Colombia. Her grandmother who had been searching for Jakadrien—finally tracked her whereabouts through Facebook.

If you think the incompetence and callous treatment of the African American teen is pretty shocking up to this point—it gets worse. ICE officials told the grandmother that if she wanted her granddaughter returned to the US—she would have to buy a plane ticket for her. Finally as news accounts of the story spread, the government was shamed into returning her. And fortunately she was reunited with her family two days ago.

No one charged with enforcing the law or immigration policy looks good in this story—not ICE, the Colombian government or Atlanta police. Even sadder, immigration advocates and lawyers say Jakadrien’s story isn’t that unusual or even that tragic. The case against ICE is replete with stories of people dying in custody, being denied medical treatment or medication and nursing infants being separated from their mothers.

Yet so far there have been no reports of ICE officials being fired or investigated—no calls from Congress for eliminating the agency. Is it because this error and a host of others—humiliating, outrageous and even fatal—disproportionately impact Black, Brown and poor people?

You can read a pretty full account of Jakadrien’s ordeal at Madame Noire and Juliane Hing offers more details at Colorlines.

From 1917 to 2011... Look How Far We've Come

From 1917 to 2011... Look How Far We've Come

By Shannon Mouton

Suffragists being arrested (c) 1917

Greenboro Sit-in 1963

Civil Rights marchers hosed 1963 (video)

Kent State student protesters 1970

UC, Davis protesters 2011 (video)

When will it end?

Rolling Out The Welcome Mat

Rolling Out The Welcome Mat

By Shannon Mouton

Wow, this is a big world with 193 countries and 7 billion people speaking 6,500 languages. Think of it, immigrants from the around the world come here, the United States of America. We should be humbled, with our widely known and often discussed history of slavery, discrimination, intolerance and injustice, they still want to come here. They want to live with us; they want to be our neighbors and they want to call America home.

They come here singing "America! America! God shed his grace on thee..."
They come here thinking we are "the land of the free and the home of the brave..."
They come here accepting Lady Liberty's invitation, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses..."
They come here knowing with hard work and perseverance, they too can achieve the American Dream.
They come here believing in democracy, "with liberty and justice for all."
To put it quite simply, they think we are all of that and a bag of chips.
Are we? Is America living up to the hype?

I'm not so sure anymore:

Most of us are aware of the Arizona law, SB 1070, which encourages racial profiling because it requires "law enforcement officers attempt to determine an individual's immigration status during a 'lawful stop, detention or arrest' when there is reasonable suspicion that the individual is an illegal immigrant..."

In June Alabama passed HB 56, which "requires public schools to check students’ immigration status, criminalizes giving an undocumented immigrant a ride, and instructs police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop if they suspect the person of being an undocumented immigrant."

Not to mention redlining, LGBTQ discrimination, sexual harassment and pay inequities, voter fraud elimination schemes and the rise of hate crimes.

Yep, I can see why immigrants would want to come here. We're so open to people not like us.

We are the 90%

We are the 90%

By: Llenda Jackson-Leslie

We’ve all heard of the 99%. Most of us are in the 99%-- in New York there’s also the 90% that’s the percentage of New Yorkers who are stopped for no good reason whatsoever and are innocent of any crime or suspected criminal act or behavior.

What’s even more astonishing of the 3 million New Yorkers who have been stopped, questioned or searched between 2004 and 2010--- 90 % of them--- were you guessed it Black and Latino. The New York ACLU did an exhaustive report—using the figures from NYPD records. Yes, the police department admits that 90% of the people they stop are completely innocent. So why hasn’t NYPD cleaned up its act. Maybe the Justice Department needs to step in. Read the report here.

The prison industrial complex is also one of the key issues undermining the stability of communities of color, and we are more likely to be focused on Attica or San Quentin than Wall Street, unless the linkages are made. Occupiers must pay attention to occupants.  

What about the 13%

That’s the percentage of African American men who are permanently barred from voting by felony disenfranchisement

Nationally, an estimated 5.3 million Americans are denied the right to vote because of laws that prohibit voting by people with felony convictions. Felony disenfranchisement is an obstacle to participation in democratic life which is exacerbated by racial disparities in the criminal justice system, resulting in an estimated 13% of Black men unable to vote.  Sadly, in the all-out assault on voting rights by right wing extremists financed by the Koch brothers, several states have rolled back paths to enfranchisement for former prisoners.

Sotomayer dissents from SC refusal to hear death penalty appeal

The Supreme Court refused to hear controversial death penalty case—from our nation’s leading executioner-Texas. That’s the case where death row prisoner Duane Buck appealed his sentence arguing his right to a fair trial was violated when an expert witness testified that African Americans pose a greater risk of "future dangerousness." In Texas, a jury must find that a defendant poses a continuing threat to society in order to recommend a death sentence. Justice Kagan joined the dissent. Read Sotomayer’s dissent here here.

Social Justice: Equality By The Numbers

Equality By The Numbers

Byline: Shannon Mouton

Twitter: ShannonRenee

If a society is judged by its leadership, then what do these numbers say about the us?

How do they speak to our being the "land of the free and the home of the brave?"

51% - 157.2 million women in the United States (as of Oct. 1, 2010)

34% - 3 women sit on the Supreme Court

24% - 1,732 women serve in state legislatures (as of Aug. 29, 2011)

17% - 17 women serve in the Senate

17% - 72 women serve in the House of Representatives

12% - 6 women governors in the US

4% - 18 women CEOs at Fortune 500 companies

These numbers don't add up. 

Food Day: All Myths are not Created Equal

All Myths are not Created Equal

By Llenda Jackson-Leslie

Lately, there’s been a contrarian movement afoot arguing that the government shouldn’t be encouraging people to eat better and live healthier lives… seems that some believe government support for better nutrition leads straight to socialism. Others argue that those suffering from poor nutrition have only themselves to blame. Five Myths about Healthy Eating by Katherine Mangu-Ward printed in Sunday’s Washington Post falls in the last category, the author insists that food deserts aren’t all that barren. She claims that 93 % of the people living in a food desert have access to a car. Read the article here . I can’t refute her claims about access to a car, so I guess the many seniors I  regularly saw walking, catching the bus or a cab, and traveling by wheelchair to the Brookland Giant must have misplaced their keys.

Now I have lived in a couple of food deserts, most recently in northeast Washington, D.C.  While there was not one sit down restaurant within miles—actually within the whole ward, you couldn’t leave the house without stumbling over a Popeye’s Chicken franchise. They were as ubiquitous as Starbucks in other neighborhoods. Is Mangu-Ward seriously suggesting that if every corner had a fruit stand instead of a Popeye’s Chicken that people in that neighborhood would still be eating fast food at the same rate.

She goes on to add that people are hard-wired to like fat, sugar and salt so that the processed food companies who advertise so heavily can’t be blamed for our predilection for unhealthy food.

Now I’m the last person to suggest that we’re all robots simply doing what television advertising tells us to do—but to suggest that people are impervious to the powerful influences of our 24/7 television internet culture seems more far-fetched than the notion of food deserts. While people are ultimately responsible for the choices we make. Sometimes the choices we’re presented with aren’t so great. And people who are raising children, caring for aging parents and working overtime may find driving 2-5 miles to a grocery store to cook from scratch too be overwhelming. Taking a daily walk or run in an unsafe neighborhood just may not be a good health choice. The point in trying to eliminate food deserts and increase opportunities for exercise isn’t that people will always make better choices, but to make better choices easier to make. It took several generations for us to become an obese nation and it may take several more to reverse the trend.

As for debunking food myths, here are some that Mangu-Ward could tackle. Why not take on the myths about drinking eight glasses of milk, ingesting massive doses of vitamins, drinking something from a can that will magically turn us slim or into a super-athlete or the idea that bottled water is better for us than tap water.

Some online resources for getting fit are here and resources for healthy eating are here.

Preview: October 24th is Food Day!

October 24th is Food Day!

Food Day "seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life...to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way." McKinney & Associates is proud to support this effort as we know that a well-nourished citizenry is a more productive one. This week we will examine some of the issues surrounding food, nutrition and access to quality products. 

For more information:

Visit Food Day

Like Food Day on Facebook

Follow #FoodDay on Twitter

Social Justice: Go Forth And Occupy

Go Forth And Occupy

By: Shannon Mouton

     @ShannonRenee



"Occupy____" seems to be popping up all over the United States and Canada, yes, our presumably docile neighbor to the north has awakened. 

• The original, OccupyWallStreet, is still going strong and OccupyDC doesn't seem to be ending any time soon.
• OccupyVancouver, OccupyToronto and OccupyWinnepeg are gearing up for the long haul. 
• There has been some police action in OccupyBoston and the potential for arrests in OccupySeattle and OccupyDallas. 
• OccupyPortland, OccupySeattle, OccupyLosAngeles and OccupySanFrancisco have the west coast covered.

And this is only a sampling of what is going on across the country.

Many are dismissive of the protesters, which is a shame because it completely misses the bigger picture: for the first time, in a very long time, people are trying to hold people accountable for their actions. So often, you go-along to get-along, let "them" fight the battle or simply ignore issues altogether. Americans literally can not afford to keep silent any longer.

This is WONDERFUL!

No one has to accept the status quo just because it is the status quo. History is filled with institutions and attitudes that were once the status quo, and they only changed when the collective voices of the people demanded or forced change. 

Whether or not you agree, or even understand, what the OccupyXXX in your area stands for, consider supporting your fellow Americans, who are using their voices, versus sitting quietly on the sidelines, letting someone else fight their battles.



Wangari Maathai, She Grew Where She Was Planted

Wangari Maathai, She Grew Where She Was Planted

By: Shannon Mouton

Prof. Wangari Maathai received her PhD when a lot of Americans were still wondering if a college degree was necessary;

Prof. Wangari Maathai chaired her university department when many American women were still wondering about their "Mystique;"

Prof. Wangari Maathai led the National Council of Women of Kenya when some Americans were electing the first female Democrat to the US Senate in own right (not appointed or filling a seat of a deceased husband); and

Prof. Wangari Maathai started an environmental movement when most Americans thought tree-hugging was just about smoking marijuana, growing long hair and wearing moccasins.

Yes, Prof. Maathai had a heart for social justice...for the planet, her country and her people. She believed planting trees, bringing life back to the barren places of Kenya, would bring opportunities for all to have self sufficient and self determined lives.

What she accomplished was nothing short of miraculous. Consider the facts, she was a woman, from a Third World country, working in a Third World country and she convinced people to plant trees to better their lives and communities. In fact, they planted a bunch of trees...over 45 million trees in Kenya.

 

The world needs more Wangari Maathai, people with hearts and minds for social justice. This is not to say that everyone has to start an international NGO, move an entire country into action or win a Nobel Peace Prize. All we have to do is follow Prof. Maathai's example and grow where we are planted.

To The Left (Social Justice): Two Plus Two Equals Seven... Huh?

Two Plus Two Equals Seven... Huh?

On Tuesday September 13, 2011 at 5:08pm, WTOP posted this story from Amy Hunter, Renters face high rates in D.C. region.

Rental rates in the D.C. region are the highest they've been in years, experts say. In fact, Bloomberg Businessweek recently ranked the District and parts of Northern Virginia as having the ninth-biggest rent hike in the country over the past year. Nearby Bethesda, Md. ranked 25th.

"It's a trend that's resulted from the recession," says Stephen Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. "The rental market has been so hot in Washington because we did generate jobs during the downturn and we attracted young people who came as renters. Many of them don't qualify for purchase of houses, or they want to live in an urban area closer to downtown."

According to Bloomberg, rent prices in the No. 9 area have seen a 7.4 percent annual increase, with a 4.6 percent vacancy rate. Added to that, unemployment rates have remained low, hovering around 6 percent.

While the recession ravaged other locales nationwide, Washington actually saw stability and some job growth. Because of that, folks who'd lost their homes or jobs in other areas came to D.C., filling up the city's apartments and ultimately, tightening the market enough to enable landlords to hike the rents, Fuller says.

A couple of hours later at 7:47pm, WTOP posted this story from AP’s Hope Yen,

Nearly 1 in 6 Americans in poverty, Census says.

The ranks of the nation's poor have swelled to a record 46.2 million _ nearly 1 in 6 Americans _ as the prolonged pain of the recession leaves millions still struggling and out of work. And the number without health insurance has reached 49.9 million, the most in over two decades.

The figures are in a Census Bureau report, released Tuesday, that offers a somber snapshot of the economic well-being of U.S. households for last year when joblessness hovered above 9 percent for a second year. The rate is still 9.1 percent at the start of an election year that's sure to focus on the economy and President Barack Obama's stewardship of it.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent, from 14.3 percent the previous year, and the rate from 2007-2010 rose faster than for any similar period since the early 1980s when a crippling energy crisis amid government cutbacks contributed to inflation, spiraling interest rates and unemployment. For last year, the official poverty level was an annual income of $22,314 for a family of four.

Measured by total numbers, the 46 million now living in poverty are the most on record dating back to when the census began to track in 1959. The 15.1 percent tied the level of 1993 and was the highest since 1983.

Broken down by state, Mississippi had the highest share of poor people, at 22.7 percent, according to calculations by the Census Bureau. It was followed by Louisiana, the District of Columbia, Georgia, New Mexico and Arizona. On the other end of the scale, New Hampshire had the lowest share, at 6.6 percent.

Something isn’t adding up...2 + 2 = 4...doesn’t it?

In a matter of two hours, 39 minutes, WTOP posted stories that paint very different, if not opposite pictures of the nation’s capital. The first story speaks to DC’s prosperity, “stability and some job growth” and the second story speaks to the city as being among the states with the highest “share of poor people.” Huh? How does this happen?

When did 2 + 2 start equaling 7?

How does DC have growth in a recession AND have such high numbers of poor people?

Was there only “stability and job growth” for certain populations?

If DC’s unemployment have remained low, then are the poor people the working poor?

There is something terribly unjust, horribly unfair and blatantly unequal about this situation.

Posted by Shannon Mouton

To The Left (Social Justice): See Me, See My Humanness

See Me, See My Humanness

By: Shannon Mouton

Our world is filled with obscure concepts we try to squeeze into neat little boxes. This often leads to frustrating and feeble attempts to define and explain those ideals and concepts, which, by their nature, are complicated and convoluted. As Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said in 1964 with regard to pornography, "I know it when I see it..." it is this same sense of knowing with the notion of social justice.

"Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being."

As there have been volumes written about this concept, I will only focus on a piece of it, "recognition [sic] [of] the dignity of every human being." This is the most important part; it is the essence of social justice; it is the foundation upon which the entire idea of is built. If you do not recognize my humanity, if you do not see me as a person, if you do not realize the innate value of my humanness, then all hope for social justice is lost.

• If you saw the women of the Congo as human beings, like your mother or wife, then you could not rape them.
• If you saw the children of Latin America as human beings, like your son or daughter, then you could not sell them into slavery.
• If you saw the men of Sudan as human beings, like your father or brother, then you could not mutilate them.

Let me bring this home because it is easy for us to turn a blind eye and say to ourselves that it's those people, it's happening over there or we would never allow to occur here.

• If you saw your wife as a human being, then you could not abuse her.
• If you saw your children as human beings, then they could not bully other children.
• If you saw your husband as a human being, then you could not degrade him.
• Finally, if you saw yourself as a human being, then this piece would not have been necessary.

Social justice begins at home. We have to recognize the value of those closest to us before we can see it in others. If not, then all hope is truly lost.



To The Left: Memorial Me This

To The Left: Memorial Me This

The National Mall is filled with memorials. There are iconic memorials to presidents, such as the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. There are memorials dedicated to wars and the people who served in them, including the The District of Columbia War Memorial (WWI), Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Women in Vietnam Memorial and the newest, the World War II Memorial.

And when you think about it, you can make the case that the Washington and Lincoln Memorials are also war memorials as they were wartime presidents. Okay, Washington wasn’t officially a “wartime” president; however, it was his extraordinary leadership during the Revolutionary War that won his election to the presidency. The point is, in a lot of ways, the National Mall can be construed as a memorial to America’s warring ways.

How is it then that a memorial to one of the country’s greatest advocates and speakers for peace and justice is perfectly set amongst those of war?

The answer is quite simple, while Dr. King may not have held a rifle or stormed a beach, his battles against systemic racism were no less significant and his victories over injustice were no less sweet.

What battles have you won without firing a single shot?

Photo: Marvin Joseph/Getty Images first appeared http://abcnews.go.com/US/mlk-memorial-million-shy-reaching-goal/story?id=14309127

To The Left: Social Justice - What does this mean in practical terms?

To The Left: Social Justice -

What does this mean in practical terms?

According to Wikipedia, “social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being.” What does this mean in practical terms?

As Americans we pride ourselves on thinking we’re a socially just country. We hold our heads high, thump our chests and strut like peacocks because of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. And we do have some tremendous achievements for which we should be proud.

• It only took us 144 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence to grant women the right to vote and hold elective office (1776 - 1920).
• It only took us 143 years after the Civil War to elect a Black man as president (1865 - 2008).
• It only took us 94 years after the passage of the 15th Amendment for minorities to vote without fear of reprisal, intimidation or fines (aka taxes) (1870 - 1964).
• It only took 61 years after the passage of Uniform Code of Military Justice to grant gays and lesbians the right to openly serve in the armed forces (1950 - 2011).

We have come a long way, and we still have a long way to go. Regretfully, our heads lower, our thumping lessens and our feathers lose a little color with each debate over the definition of citizenship by any means other than birth, the denial of gay marriage or the weakening of worker protections.

The shining city on the hill is a bit tarnished, but all hope is not lost. If history teaches us anything, time has a way of straightening the crooked paths, just ask Sojournor, Frederick, Elizabeth, Harvey or Barack.

What social justice issues are you passionate about?
What social justice issue must America face?
What are you doing to make your home, neighborhood and community more socially just?