Undercurrents

In the early hours of this morning, the Connecticut legislature passed a watered-down but still dangerous change to the existing “three strikes” criminal sentencing statute. The change requires that judges double or triple the mandatory minimum sentence for a person classified as a persistent dangerous felony offender. The amendment also requires that if a prosecutor does not choose to seek harsher sentencing in a case involving someone who qualifies as a persistent violent felony offender, the prosecutor must state on the record his or her reason for not doing so. The bill as passed also provides sums that can only be described as pocket change for the Public Defender’s office and for re-entry services for previously incarcerated people.

Thanks to the battle waged by the Clean Slate Committee and its allies, as well as the stalwart opposition of a few principled legislators, this new law is a far cry from the kind of three strikes that Governor Rell demanded. The fact remains, however, that the process that permitted this morning’s amendments to pass speaks volumes about the version of “democracy” that the existing political system provides. (more…)

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Angela Davis will be speaking at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain on Thursday, April 24th. She will be taking part in two panel discussions, the first at 2:00 titled “Are Prisons Obsolete?” and the second at 5:30 titled “Race, Class and Gender Issues in American Society.” The talks are in Torp Theatre in Davidson Hall.

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“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position . . . And if he was a woman of any color he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.” - Geraldine Ferraro

In responding to the comments by former vice-presidential candidate Ferraro, the media and political pundits have mostly focused on her suggestion that Barack Obama would not be a serious candidate for president if he were not African-American. That type of comment is well known to anyone who has spoken up to defend affirmative action programs.

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The Pew Center on the States very recently revealed their report One in One Hundred: Behind Bars in 2008 which lays out a very sobering and distressing outlook of the US Prison Industrial Complex. This report is particularly pertinent given the CT Legislatures total avoidance of the unacceptable increases in the prison population in Connecticut and seemingly ignoring alternative means to incarceration.

Some key findings are:

The US incarcerates more people than any other country in the world (more…)

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I recently heard a great piece by Mumia Download link as we approach the Remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this Monday.

Mumia, in quoting Vincent Harding, noted that: America has largely chosen the path of amnesia rather than true remembrance of the man. (more…)

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This morning a stick-figure drawing of a lynching was discovered in a CCSU men’s restroom. In a letter to students and faculty, CCSU President Jack Miller called the drawing a “racial insult” and said the incident would be treated as “a hate incident.” (more…)

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Given that several of the speakers at the Nashawn Williams solidarity rally on Saturday were clergy and/or religious folk, this non-religious person has to take you all to task for failing to cite the most clearly appropriate biblical passage for the day . . .and at the same time failing to clarify an important misconception about that passage.

In Genesis we read that God found Abraham’s nephew Lot to be the only righteous man in the city of Sodom and for that reason determined to destroy the city and all of its inhabitants. God sent two angels to Lot’s home to warn him so that he and his family might leave. Lot welcomed them and treated them hospitably, but that evening . . .

“When they had not yet retired, and the people of the city, the people of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, the entire populace from every end [of the city]. And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, and let us know them.” Bereishit (Genesis)19:4-5. (more…)

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I think all of us who attended today’s Nashawn Williams Rally in Plainfield would say that it was a true success. Our goals were to assure that the Williams family knew that Connecticut stood behind them in their outrage to the racial violence that was perpetrated upon Nashawn. We were honored that Nashawn’s mother and her fiance were able to attend and speak at the rally. And she saw that many people stood in solidarity with her in outrage at, and quest for, justice from the Plainfield Police, City Officials and residents of Plainfield. Though a number of Plainfield residents were hiding behind closed doors in the Town Hall whose steps we took for the day, there were a number of brave Plainfield residents who joined us and spoke out against the racism in Plainfield and in support of the Williams family. We hope that this visible presence will begin to allow Plainfield to openly discuss and deal with its institutionalized racism and white supremacy and (more…)

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By Steve Thornton
Lynching is as American as cherry pie. It continues to be the “strange fruit” that Billie Holiday first sang about in 1939: Black body swinging in the southern breeze/ Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. This brutal form of mob violence spread across the South after the Civil War but it never found fertile soil in Connecticut. Well, not quite.

Recently, nooses have appeared in West Hartford, Bridgeport, Stamford and New London. (more…)

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Connecticut legislators, Attorney General, Governor, State Police and on and on are SAYING NOTHING about the blatant racist attack against Nashawn Williams in Plainfield. The Plainfield police are simply dismissing the racist attack on Nashawn as a prank. Instead over the last week it has become glaringly clear that the victim and the family are becoming the targets of a Racist system of InJustice in Plainfield and Connecticut! I wonder if they were rich white folks in Plainfield if the deafening police and government silence would be the same? Don’t let Jena come to Plainfield! (more…)

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