MAPTalk-Digest Friday, May 3 2013 Volume 13 : Number 014
001 NAACP Northeast Region Community Town Hall Forum - Ending the War On Dr
From:
002 The War on Drugs: Join us for a debate on Thursday 23 May
From:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subj: 001 NAACP Northeast Region Community Town Hall Forum - Ending the War On Drugs
From:
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:01:49 -0700
@ Community College of Allegheny County
7pm, Sat, Apr 27, 2013
808 Ridge Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.
NCAAP info: http://www.naacpconnect.org/blog/entry/ending-the-war-on-drugs
1 in 9. That’s the number of black children with incarcerated parents.
Juxtapose that number with 1 in 57. That’s the amount of white children
with incarcerated parents.
The greatest victims of the prison industrial complex are our nation’s
children. Hundreds of thousands of children have lost a parent to long
prison sentences for non-violent drug offenses, leaving these children to
fend for themselves.
These offenses and sentences are the beginning of a never ending cycle.
Many of the children end up in the criminal justice system as well because
of the apparent link between incarceration, broken families, juvenile
delinquency, violence and poverty.
1 in 15. That is the percentage of African-American men that are
incarcerated in the United States. Compared to the one in 106 white men,
something has got to give. There are more African Americans in the US
prison system today than there were slaves in 1850.
The cost of mass incarceration is not only detrimental to our children’s
futures by breaking up their homes and families—it’s taking money away
from their education as well. $30,000 dollars a year is the average cost
that the U.S. incurs to incarcerate an inmate. Yet, the nation is only
spending $11,665 per public school student.
For these aforementioned reasons, the NAACP Northeast Region is holding a
Community Town Hall Forum.
On April 27th, 2013 at 7:00pm, join us at the Community College of
Allegheny to hear a discussion and innovative solutions to combat the War
on Drugs.
Sammie Dow, Director of the NAACP Youth & College Division wrote in his
email addressing the region:
"We are a coalition of concerned advocates that is ready to support
more innovative criminal justice reforms and implement more
alternatives to incarceration. In 2010, the passage of the Fair
Sentencing Act was a tremendous step in the right direction, and we
appreciate how hard you worked on getting that done. Some of the
initial policies we recommend is, under the Fair Sentencing Act,
extend to all inmates who were subject to 100-to-1 crack-to-powder
disparities a chance to have their sentences reduced to those that are
more consistent with the magnitude of the offense. We ask your support for
the principles of the Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013, which
allows judges to set aside mandatory minimum sentences when they deem
appropriate."
Here is our list of guest panelists who will be leading the discussion for
the town hall:
Moderator:
Sabrina Saunders: Director of Education, Urban League Greater Pittsburgh
Panelist:
Michael Skolnik: Editor-in-chief ofGlobalGrind.com and the Political
Director to Russell Simmons
Carmen Berkley: Executive Director, Generational Alliance
Jasiri X: Hip-Hop Artist and Community Activist
Niaz Kasaravi: Director Criminal Justice Department, NAACP
Brandi Fisher: President & CEO, Alliance for Police Accountability
Bernadette Turner: Executive Director, Addison Behavioral Care
Honorable Ed Gainey: State Representative, Pennsylvania 24th Legislative
District
Please join us and our accomplished group of panelists for an evening that
guarantees to be insightful and engaging on an issue that is plaguing our
communities today. Join the fight to End the War on Drugs in Pittsburgh on
April 27th at 7:00 PM at the Community College of Allegheny College—808
Ridge Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.
Please RSVP to Marvin Bing, NAACP Northeast Regional Director at
or directly at 917.561.8870.
------------------------------
Subj: 002 The War on Drugs: Join us for a debate on Thursday 23 May
From:
Date: Fri, 3 May 2013 08:17:03 -0700
The War on Drugs: Join us for a debate on Thursday 23 May
http://www.guardian.co.uk/extra/2013/may/03/extra-war-on-drugs-debate
Join David Simon, writer of The Wire, documentary maker Eugene Jarecki and
other panel members at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. The debate
will be chaired by Observer editor John Mulholland
On Thursday 23 May, the Observer New Review will hold a debate on the
failures of America's war on drugs.
In what is sure to be a dynamic discussion, Eugene Jarecki, director of
the hard-hitting documentary The House I Live In, and David Simon, creator
and writer of the critically acclaimed television drama The Wire, will be
joined by Rachel Seifert, British director of Cocaine Unwrapped, a
documentary that confronts the harsh realities of the drug supply chain.
The debate will be hosted by the Observer's editor, John Mulholland.
America's war on drugs is 40 years old and has cost a trillion dollars.
Since making his award-winning film on the fallout from the war, Eugene
Jarecki has been on a crusade to change US narcotics policy. David Simon
says: "After covering the drug war as a journalist and researching The
Wire, it became clear that our political leadership is so necessarily
wedded to the status quo, they're so consumed with the next election,
there will never emerge a shred of leadership that will change the
situation. It's up to us."
The debate will take place at the Royal Institution of Great Britain on
Thursday 23 May 2013. Doors open at 7pm and tickets cost £12. Drinks are
not included in the ticket price but there will be a cash bar.
------------------------------
End of MAPTalk-Digest V13 #14
*****************************
|
