It’s been 15 months since unarmed African American adolescent Michael Brown was killed by White Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson and the Lost Voices of Ferguson and the Black Lives Matter social justice movement forced national attention on America’s broken criminal justice system. Black Lives Matter continues to inspire numerous long-overdue social justice…
Tag: criminal justice
“Cruel and Unusual Punishment” of Incarcerated Youth
California’s decision this month to reform the use of solitary confinement of prisoners brought further attention to the wide-spread use of this medieval method of incarceration. The use of medieval dungeons in U.S. prisons consistently violates the 8th Amendment’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual punishment.” Solitary confinement in 21st century prison-dungeons…
Note to Cincinnati Prosecutor: Murders by Police Do Happen in the U.S.
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the death of unarmed Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer, a slow but discernable shift is occurring among some public officials in response to the heightened public awareness brought on by the Black Lives Matter social justice movement. This shift is seen in the legal response of…
Sandra Bland and Smoking While Black
Reflecting on Sandra Bland’s arrest and eventual death while incarcerated in a Texas county jail with its own legacy of White supremacy is an important reminder that historical patterns continue to inform 21st century racial disparities. What was her “crime”? Apparently not giving a White police officer the deference required by White custom for Black people since…