US Could Safely Release Three Out of Four Prisoners
Although Illinois has responded to the Covid-19 epidemic by releasing about 500 state prison inmates, “the scope of the releases is way too small and way too slow, said Alan Mills, executive director of Chicago’s Uptown Peoples Law Center, which has called for letting 13,000 prisoners ride out the epidemic at home. “You could safely release 75 percent” of the two million incarcerated people in the US, said Mills.
San Francisco Sends 40 Percent of Jail Inmates Home
Chesa Boudine, the leftish district attorney for San Francisco, claims to have reduced the jail population by nearly 40 percent since the onslaught of the epidemic. “That has created the conditions for the jail medical team to implement some level of social distancing, to isolate people who show symptoms, and to find ways to meet the medical needs of folks who have other medical conditions besides Covid-19,” said Boudine, whose 75 year-old father, David Gilbert, is serving time for the 1981 Brinks armored car robbery in New York.
Whites See Black Kids as “Disturbing the Peace”
Sky-high rates of suspension of Black students are caused by a pervasive “system of anti-Blackness” rooted in slavery and Jim Crow, said Dr. Justin Coles, who specializes in Urban Education and Critical Race Studies at the Fordham University Graduate School. “The design of schooling in a ‘slave’ society is not meant for Black youth survival,” said Coles. “When Black bodies enter space they are disturbing the white mythical peace.”
Bolivia Coup is Rooted in White Racist Backlash
Last year’s “coup has to do with the racist backlash against President Evo Morales and the whole process of indigenous revalorization and empowerment,” said Dr. Tathagatan Ravindran, a Colombia-based professor of anthropology and sociology. After 500 years of white supremacy, “in the 21st century indigenous people took over the leadership of social movements against neoliberal policies” and “brought the first indigenous president to power,” said Dr. Ravindran. “This created a major backlash on the part of the white and mestizo elite.”
Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.
For two decades, draconian 1996 immigration laws have torn families apart—jailing long-term residents over minor offenses, fast-tracking deportations of asylum seekers, and fueling the cruel machine…
Trump’s brutality is just the latest flare-up of a bipartisan imperial evil—one that funds genocide in Gaza, war in Ukraine, and repression at home while both parties serve the same billionaire class…
In this week’s segment, we hear about police propaganda designed to make the public fearful and ready to exact severe punishment, regardless of any facts about crime.
Dr. Jemima Pierre is a Black Agenda Report editor and contributor.
Alec Karakatsanis is an attorney with a long history of work as a public defender.
