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New York Times 
Tue Mar 09, 2010 at 12:18:52 PM EST
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From the Restore Fairness blog. It’s the first time that 1 in every 100 adult Americans is in prison, proof of an exploding prison system that states can ill afford and a movement away from rehabilitation programs. Even more disturbing are the racial disparities within the prison system. More than 60% of people in prison are racial and ethnic minorities which means 1 in every 36 Hispanic adults and 1 in every 15 black adults are in prison. How did this all happen? A change in laws and policies over the past decade have convicted more offenders, including non violent offenders, and put them away for increasingly lengthy sentences. For many, it is a system that is not providing the same returns in public safety in relation to this growth, and a rapid movement to change unfair laws has seen growing progress. The 1980’s saw the “War on Drugs” launched in a big way. It was also the time for many federal policies that disadvantaged communities of color. One example: sentences for crack cocaine offenses (the kind found in poor Black communities) that were treated a 100 times more severely than powder cocaine offenses (the kind that dominates White communities). Reform advocates say no other single federal policy is more responsible for gross racial disparities in the federal criminal justice system than the crack/powder sentencing disparity. Even though two-thirds of crack cocaine users are white, more than 80 percent of those convicted in federal court for crack cocaine offenses are African American. The differences in sentencing were based on a myth that crack cocaine was more dangerous than powder cocaine and that it was instantly addictive and caused violent behavior, all of which has been disproved. What it’s actually led to is a costly system that focuses on low-level offenders and users instead of dealers and suppliers, imprisoning addicts that could benefit from rehabilitation programs. One analysis by Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat of Illinois, estimates that an increased focus on community programs and an end to the sentencing disparity could lead to a savings of half-a-billion dollars in prison costs. With mounting pressure on Congress to do away with legislation that has devastated communities, we are at an opportune moment to instill justice back into the system. While The House Judiciary Committee has already passed a bill that ends the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine, the Senate Judiciary Committee will likely vote on a bill soon. Some Senators want to reduce the sentencing disparity instead of eliminating it but this watered-down compromise will do little to restore fairness. Let the Senators hear your voice. Learn. Share. Act. Go to restorefairness.org
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Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 09:30:57 AM EST
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Cross posted from Nourishing the Planet.
A recent article in the New York Times highlights the critical role that agriculture will play in rebuilding Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake of January 2010.
Food security is not a new problem in Haiti, and development organizations such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme, as well as nongovernmental organizations like Heifer International and Oxfam, have been forced to halt food programs in the country as these groups themselves attempt to recover from the disaster.
Before the quake, FAO alone was implementing 23 food and agriculture projects in Haiti, hoping to improve access to food in the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Prior to the disaster, an estimated 46 percent of Haiti's population was undernourished, and chronic malnutrition affected 24 percent of children under five.
Right now the most urgent need is to get food and water to millions of people in the capital city of Port au Prince and elsewhere in Haiti. But as the country looks to the future, the need for sustainable sources of food, such as those we are learning about in sub-Saharan Africa, is more important than ever.
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Thu Sep 03, 2009 at 12:31:42 PM EDT
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Imagine, if you woke up every morning having to fear being beaten with a baseball bat; attacked with BB guns, pepper spray, or objects thrown from passing cars; run off the road while riding bicycles; or having your home lit on fire. Imagine if you were too afraid to let your children play outside, and your family was too afraid to walk outside after dark. According to a report released yesterday by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), that's the reality that many Latino immigrants living in Suffolk County, New York, USA have faced for the past few years.
This is not the past we're talking about; this is the current reality for many Latinos in Suffolk County. As astounding as that might sound, according to the SPLC report, dozens of Latinos have been attacked these ways over the course of the last decade.
The scores of interviews and research that substantiate the SPLC report point to the sad fact that the tragic death of Marcelo Lucero, which we've reported on extensively, was not the beginning or the end of the vicious cycle of fear and hate, but rather the apex of a culture gone wrong.
So when did this start? Who's perpetuating the violence? How will it end? These are some of the questions that the report reviews. The report traces much of the hate-mongering to nativist groups, such as the now defunct Sachem Quality of Life organization that fanned the flames of fears of immigrants, as well as to the failure of everyday systems, such as that reflected by police indifference to reports of attacks on immigrants, choosing to question alleged victims on their immigration status instead. Moreover, anti-immigrant statements made by elected officials, such as Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, former county legislator Michael M. D'Andre, and former county legislator Elie Mystal, only served to add fuel to the fire and legitimate nativist rhetoric. According to The New York Times :
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Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 14:01:23 PM EDT
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This week, The New York Times (NYT) delved into the Minutemen Project and Shawna Forde, former head of the Minutemen American Defense. Forde was recently arrested for the murder of nine-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father Raul. The murder happened during an inconceivable attempt to steal money for the development of an underground militia targeting undocumented immigrants.
NYT quoted former Minutemen American Defense member Merrill Metzger saying, "I had to take an oath, and part of the oath was that I couldn't eat Mexican food. That's when red flags went up all over for me. That seemed like prejudice."
Another former member, Chuck Stonex, said Forde had talked about buying a ranch near Arivaca, AZ and building a compound. According to NYT, Stonex said that he took an excursion in October into the desert with Forde, where, wearing camouflage and carrying handguns and rifles, they searched for illegal immigrants.
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 13:29:15 PM EDT
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Originally posted on Citizen Orange.
It is official. According to the St. Petersburg Times, the DREAM Act will be reintroduced this week by Sen. Richard Durbin and Sen. Richard Lugar:
The movement's moment could arrive as early as Tuesday when Durbin
reintroduces the bill with co-sponsor Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.
Dreamactivist.org is also beginning to sound the war drums through their change.org blog. Thousands have already been invited to call-in in support of the DREAM Act through facebook. The DREAM Act will be the first major migration policy battle of the 111th Congress and the Obama administration.
As such, I thought it would be good to step back and reflect a little bit on the politics of the DREAM Act. I've already written a post advancing a comprehensive argument for passing the DREAM Act during these trying economic times. It was published on Alternet this morning. Today, I thought I'd reflect a little bit on the political climate the DREAM Act faces.
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Sat Dec 13, 2008 at 07:35:21 AM EST
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Originally Posted on Citizen Orange.
 Picture: New York Times / Eric Hoagland
Don't you just love it when the media actually writes a story about real people? Marc Lacey does precisely that in the New York Times with his article "An American's Lament: 'I Was Deported, Too.'" Lacey writes about "Crash" and "American wanderer" who was found in Mexico without papers after being asked to join a police line-up, and was actually deported back to the Mexico / U.S. border. Here's the best part of the article:
He said he was taken away and later found himself in a police
lineup. He said he had been told that a woman had been robbed in
Acapulco by a blond man with a goatee. Looking at the other men in the
lineup, Crash said they could have been his brothers, all of them blond
and with goatees.
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Tue Jul 01, 2008 at 16:28:42 PM EDT
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Originally posted on Citizen Orange.
 "I think Obama would be a disaster, and there's a lot of
reasons," said [Leroy]
Pollard, explaining the rumors he had heard about the candidate from
friends he goes camping with. "I understand he's from Africa, and that
the first thing he's going to do if he gets into office is bring his
family over here, illegally. He's got that racist [pastor] who
practically raised him, and then there's the Muslim thing. He's just
not presidential material, if you ask me."
Welcome to the Intolerant States of America. Liberal elitists will
read the words of Leroy Pollard, a resident of Flag City,
U.S.A.,
and feign disgust. This arrogance betrays the truth that we are all
part of Leroy Pollard, and Leroy Pollard is part of us. The first
person I ran into who believed the myths about Barack Obama was not a
resident of a small town like Flag City, U.S.A., but a wealthy
investment banker, and the parent of a Harvard graduate.
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