The United States is home to five percent of the world's population, but we house 25 percent of the world's prisoners. That is just one of the reasons why President Obama is calling for sweeping reforms to our Justice System.
During a speech last Tuesday at the NAACP, the President called for changes to mandatory minimum sentencing, for a review of the use of solitary confinement, and for more investments in education and assistance programs that keep people out of jail in the first place.
He said, “Any system that allows us to turn a blind-eye to hopelessness and despair, that's not a justice system, that's an injustice system.” He added, “Justice is not only the absence of oppression, it's the presence of opportunity.”
And, the President addressed the fact that our Justice System has never really been blind when it comes to race or economic standing. He pointed out that African Americans and Latinos only represent 30 percent of the American population, yet those groups account for 60 percent of all inmates.
Statistics clearly show that these minorities don't commit crimes more often, but they are more often subjected to harsher penalties that trap them in a cycle of incarceration.
Although many of us have been pointing out the racial disparity and injustice in our nation for decades, more Americans are finally recognizing these massive flaws in our Justice System.
At his speech last week, President Obama said, “The eyes of more Americans have been opened to this truth, partly because of cameras, partly because of tragedy, partly because the statistics cannot be ignored. We cannot close our eyes anymore.”
Incarcerated Americans are still Americans and it's time that our Justice System stands for more than injustice.
-Thom
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