As s long-term volunteer, helping prisoners at Oregon State Penitentiary learn rehabilitation skills, justice is a subject that concerns me deeply. Sadly, the word that best describes justice in the US is “injustice”. From rampant racism and excessive force by police, to long waits for trial and interrogators that are allowed to lie, to prosecutors that need convictions for career advancement and a stacked deck in court, to mandatory minimum sentences, to inadequate medical and rehabilitation services in prison, to rampant racism throughout, the system is broken. Politicians, mainly Democrats, spoke out on these issues in SC. Let’s start with an introduction.
One day after President Trump claimed he had done more for black voters than the Obama administration had, several Democratic presidential candidates spoke at the same historically black college on Saturday and issued a blistering rebuke of both the president and the event’s organizers — whom they accused of giving Mr. Trump an undeserved platform.
Senator Kamala Harris of California led the charge, and was set to boycott the event altogether until the group that had invited Mr. Trump was removed as a sponsor. Other candidates, including Joseph R. Biden Jr., Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., said the president had a history of racist demagogy that outweighed any recent efforts at criminal justice reform, including the First Step Act, which he signed into law last year.
The First Step Act was a bipartisan bill that helped thousands of federal inmates secure early release under new sentencing guidelines, but Democrats were united in framing it as an insufficient measure. They called for more structural reforms to the criminal justice system, and took aim at Mr. Trump himself, who has made exploitation of racial grievance a trademark of his political brand…. [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Here is the complete video of the two day event for you to peruse. There are around eleven hours total, so skip through as much as you want.
Watch Live: 2020 Democrats Speak At Justice Forum (Day 1)
You’ll find Elizabeth Warren early on Day two.
I heard some good ideas. I hope they put them into practice.
RESIST!!
7 Responses to “The Justice Forum”
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Excellent post.
W/view when I have the time,
Thanks, Tom.
Like Pat, I really can’t stop and watch right now. Your analysis:
only left out one thing that I can see, and that is the imbalance between crimes against property and crimes against persons. Proudhon said “Property is theft,” and while I wouldn’t go quite that far, excess property – more than one can use – looks a lot like theft to me. And Eisenhower (a Republican!) said:
“White collar” property crime (money laundering and racketeering, I’m looking at you) needs to be treated seriously in this nation like it never has been.
Talking about justice: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/impeachment-pelosi-vote_n_5db7445ae4b05df62ec3bcbb??ncid=newsltushpmgpolitics
Once again, I urge folks to read “The New Jim Crow….”
Great minds fall in the same ditch!
The Justice Forum is a great bipartisan way to discuss the many serious problems in the American justice system and try to rectify them, or rather, try to restructure the whole system from the bottom up. But inviting Trump to speak was sadly was a turn-off for a lot of people. Trump has only signed the First Step Act, there is nobody left that thinks he actually read it or has any knowledge of it. The ‘Presidential’ in the name of the forum has absolutely nothing to do with him. I hope this isn’t another bi-partisan effort that is doomed because Trump is associated with it.
Excellent post. Appreciate the videos.
Hope that they do start moving forward at taking steps to repairing this major issue.
We have way too many people sent there for minor felonies that aren’t even valid now, like marijuana which is legal now.
As for tRump having anything to do with this, I wouldn’t want him having anything to do with it.
Thanks TomCat
Thanks, hugs and amen to all.