Pubdate: Thu, 29 Apr 2004
Source: Good 5 Cent Cigar (RI Edu)
Copyright: 2004 Good 5 Cent Cigar
Contact:  http://www.ramcigar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2599
Author: Chris Keegan
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?219 (Students for Sensible Drug Policy)

POETS, ACTIVISTS TO DISCUSS RACISM IN DOMESTIC DRUG POLICY

The University of Rhode Island Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) 
will host performance art and a round table discussion Saturday to examine 
how the enforcement of drug laws in the United States and abroad 
disproportionally affects people of color.

"Black and White: An Evening of Poetry and Discussion about Race, Class and 
War on Drugs" will feature multimedia poetry presentations by 
Colombia-native Alixa Garcia and New Yorker Naimu Penniman. The works of 
both poets are based on the negative aspects of the war on drugs.

Clifford Wallace Thornton of the Connecticut-based reform group Efficacy 
will speak on how domestic drug policy has hurt minority communities, while 
National SSDP Director Scarlett Swedlow will discuss proposed changes to 
the 1998 Higher Education Act. The act, enacted by Congress, denies federal 
aid to students with drug convictions.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the 
Multicultural Center's Hardge Forum from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Tom Angell, former SSDP President at URI and one of the event's organizers, 
said Thornton is the foremost speaker in the drug reform movement. Thornton 
recently spoke to the Parliament of New Zealand on the country's drug 
policies, which Angell said are similar to those of the United States.

Angell and SSDP President-elect Dan Rosenkrantz said they recently saw 
Garcia and Penniman perform at their group's national conference in 
January. The poets used props and projected slideshow images of poverty in 
Colombia to evoke tears from their audiences.

"It was powerful," Angell said. "It's their way of offering their support 
to the drug reform movement. Art is an integral part of social change 
movements in the past."

Angell said today's laws against drug possession have racist foundations. 
As a result, African American males have a one in four chance of going to 
jail. In a nation where 13 percent of its population is African American, 
nearly 55 percent of all individuals convicted of drug charges are black, 
he said.

In addition, Angell said it is the norm for people of higher socio-economic 
status to pay for legal representation and avoid conviction, while the poor 
cannot afford counsel. Since the early 1900s, drug laws have been designed 
to target minority communities, Angell said.

"The justification for the laws was to protect white daughters from crazy, 
reefer toking, Negro jazz musicians," he said.

Saturday's event is cosponsored by the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People, the Latin American Student Association, 
Raise Your Voice, URI Students for Social Change and the International 
Collegiate Organization for Nonviolence.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager