Civil Rights Leaders Condemn Privatization of Prisons and Schools
Speakers at this weekend's March for Justice in Washington, DC, drew attention to the failed war on drugs, and called for its end as one step towards reducing the number of people incarcerated in America. On the Melissa Harris-Perry show, a former Baltimore circuit judge named Billy Murphy spoke out as well.
The war on drugs is the 800-pound gorilla that must be killed. The private prison industry is sucking the life out of the black community. ... it is the enemy of progress for black people.
Murphy drew attention to a speech earlier this month by the nation's Attorney General, Eric Holder, who called for dramatic changes as well, including ending mandatory sentencing laws. Holder also said it was time to:
...confront the "school-to-prison pipeline" and those zero-tolerance school discipline policies that do not promote safety, and that transform too many educational institutions from doorways of opportunity into gateways to the criminal justice system. A minor school disciplinary offense should put a student in the principal's office and not a police precinct.
One of the most remarkable speeches in Washington last weekend was nine-year-old Asean Johnson. Here is what he had to say:
I am marching for education, justice and freedom. All over the country public education is under attack. Public schools are closing in African American and Latino communities. In Chicago we have 50 school closings in African American and Latino communities, budget cuts in all public schools and an increase in charter school budgets, and new charter school openings. Every child deserves a great education. Every school deserves equal funding and resources. I encourage all of you to keep Dr. Martin Luther King jr's dream alive. Help us fight for freedom, racial equality, jobs, and public education, because I have a dream that we shall overcome.
Asean Johnson first came to our attention when he called out Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuelfor his decision to close public schools. This policy is being repeated, with tacit and overt support from the Obama administration, in communities of color across the nation. These