war on drugs « Reclaiming Our Way

27Jul/150

Why Bill Clinton Admitted Being Wrong on Crime

Bill Clinton's political ambition, tied to what many have reasonably asserted was/is a more cynical national effort to reinstitutionalize a large segment of the African American community (i.e. The New Jim Crow), has cost the African American community millions of productive days of human life; days spent behind bars by women and men while families and children suffered the extended consequences.

Also note that Clinton's acknowledgment - at the NAACP conference no less - does nothing to right the wrong; indeed severe wrongs and real harm that tens of thousands of our families are continuing to experience each day. Adding insult to injury was the way in which so many of those Black folks in attendance yelled and screamed enthusiastic support of the former president. I'm not even slightly impressed. Disgusted in fact.

This is an important discussion, and certainly worth the time.

Former President Bill Clinton admitted that his 1994 tough-on-crime bill was "overdone" and has made our country's incarceration problem "worse." We explore America's approach to crime since Clinton's era—and how his comments could impact Hillary.

From HuffPost Live -- July 16, 2015

Approx. 18 mins.

Tagged as: Bill Clinton, war on drugs No Comments

7Mar/140

Angela Davis on the Abolition of Prisons, the War on Drugs and Increased Activism

From yesterday's Democracy Now broadcast...

Angela Davis on Prison Abolition, the War on Drugs and Why Social Movements Shouldn’t Wait on Obama

For more than four decades, the world-renowned author, activist and scholar Angela Davis has been one of most influential activists and intellectuals in the United States. An icon of the 1970s black liberation movement, Davis’ work around issues of gender, race, class and prisons has influenced critical thought and social movements across several generations. She is a leading advocate for prison abolition, a position informed by her own experience as a fugitive on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list more than 40 years ago. Davis, a professor emerita at University of California, Santa Cruz, and the subject of the recent documentary, "Free Angela and All Political Prisoners," joins us to discuss prison abolition, mass incarceration, the so-called war on drugs, International Women’s Day, and why President Obama’s second term should see a greater wave of activism than in his first.

PART 2: Angela Davis on Solitary Confinement, Immigration Detention and "12 Years a Slave"

Watch our extended interview with the world-renowned author, activist and scholar Angela Davis about the significance of the Oscar-winning film, 12 Years a Slave, the use of solitary confinement in prisons, and the global movement to challenge the expansion of immigrant detention. "If we are going to mount an effective campaign against what we call the prison-industrial complex," Davis argues, "it has to take into consideration immigration detention is the fastest-growing area of that complex."