Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

Ive been doing this work for almost 25 years and its working: More people are talking about abolition, ending anti-Blackness and ending anti-Asian violence, as well as ending transphobia. The need is great and more people are seeing that need.

Dr. Connie Wun

Around the nation, women and girls are doing the collective work necessary to build free futures in their local communities. Dr. Connie Wunfounder of the #ImReady Movement and co-founder of AAPI Women Leadis one of these women.

Both AAPI Women Leadandthe #ImReadyMovementaim to strengthenthe progressivepolitical and social platforms of Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in the U.S. through the leadership of AAPI womenand girls. And these communities could certainly use the attention. According to the #ImReady Movement site:

AAPI Women Lead hosts a number of community initiatives:

I spoke with Wun about her dreams for freedom and what shes learned from her work with women and femmes as a feminist, scholar, activist and researcher. She offers a broad view of organizing, politics, healing, study and spirituality for us to consider as we work toward a free future.

Satya Vaught: Can you tell us about your organizations and their impact? How are they connected?

Dr. Connie Wun: Im the cofounder of AAPI Women Lead, which amplifies the leadership of Asian and Pacific Islander women, girls and non-binary communities. We do that to end the violence against our communities and in solidarity with other communities of color. Im a research consultant through Transformative Research, which means I train organizations and groups on how to do community driven research. I was recently an editor for Kapernick publishing. We did an online series of articles addressing abolition. The center of most of my work is around the intersections of race, gender and state violence.

All of these projects examine racism, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, patriarchy, capitalism. There is a centralized framework and all of them work together to end the violence against communities of colorspecifically women, girls and non-binary people.

Vaught: Whats the most empowering thing you have found from working with women and femmes?

Wun: Im always amazed by how creative, powerful and communal the people that I work with are. Ive been really sick lately, and with the rise in attention to anti-Asian violence, Ive been extended. Its been mostly women, femmes, non-binary people, queer folks, who have reached out to make sure Im okay. Theres something about the amount of care that women, femme, non-binary, queer folks have for the people that they love. And by people, I mean communities expansively. Theyre fearless in their leadership, but also in their compassion for each other. Theres something important about matriarchal politics and matriarchs. They care differently.

Vaught: What are the challenges and obstacles within your work?

Wun: The misogyny and harassment that I experience outside of the organization. The trolls that will either be in my DMs, messages, social media platforms or emails. Itll generally be from people who are quite racist, anti-Black, because my work emphasizes solidarity, ending anti-Blackness, ending white supremacy. Primarily men harass me.

Whats also been hard is there isnt enough community safety accountability. Theres not much of an infrastructure in place because there is so much violence from the police and criminal justice system against communities of colorspecifically Black, poor, disabled people. We have to defend ourselves against state violence, and at the same time, build a community infrastructure.

One of the other obstacles is the way mainstream organizations are hijacking community-based organizers and educators work for their own platforms and resources.

Vaught: Do you see it this year especially?

Wun: I see it a lot, and its troublesome. Many are calling for more policing and surveillance, while the ones who are most vulnerable and have been organizing from that position have to compete against these platforms. The former do it to enhance their political solutions. For instance, theyre calling for more hate crime legislation and partnering with conservative and neo-liberal politicians. The rest of us are like: What are you doing? Were building community solutions! They get coverage while everyone else is working with survivors of more recent violence, or they themselves have been doing this work for a long time to create community based solutions.

Vaught: What helps you stay motivated to do social justice work?

Wun: Ive been doing this work for almost 25 years. Its the community that keeps me growing and going. The need for liberation and freedom and the fact that more people are coming to do this work keeps me going. Then what I recognize is its working: More people are talking about abolition, ending anti-Blackness and ending anti-Asian violence, as well as ending transphobia. The need is great and more people are seeing that need.

Vaught: How do you create a collective space for people to think, organize and act?

Wun: We create different spaces including healing spaces to bring in healing practitioners and support attendees to decompress and address the harms that are currently happening. We had an event last month with poets and healing practitioners, so that folks could just be held and seen by their practitioners. We have self-defense seminars and community defense seminars.

Our organization is about abolitionist praxis and transformative justice. We have movement-building series where we do political education around the history of violence against Asians and Pacific Islanders here and the U.S. territories. We have end-of-the-year conferences where people come and they learn from different workshops, different educators and they also get healing support from acupuncturists, from herbalists, from martial artists. Well be starting a project that is called Intergenerational Participatory Action Research. Our young people will do research with older generations to tell stories so they can actively own their own stories and then tell them.

Vaught: What does a free world look like to you?

Wun: There wouldnt be racial and gender violence. Our communities would be accountable to each other and not reliant upon a state criminal justice system that has caused harm. We would be able to take care of one another. We would all have access to good health care, critical and good education, and beyond livable wages. We would have gotten rid of prison systems, detentions, ICE. We would have a matriarchal society that is not oppressive. We would be taking care of land, earth. Patriarchy would be dead. I would feel safe being in the world. The people that I love would feel safe being in the world.

Vaught: What work do we need to do to get there?

Wun: Were trying to do it now. We have the hard questions so that people learn to be more accountable to each other and have a systemic analysis of the harm thats been done. We collectively try to end the systemic violence so it doesnt penetrate our interpersonal relationships. That means being accountable in our relationships, neighborhoods, workplaces, creating systems that are accountable to all the peoples, the most marginalized communities especially, and then to Earth!

Ive been thinking about spirituality and of different conceptslike when you hurt someone, youre hurting beyond that one person; youre hurting communities and the spiritual world. Im big on praying to my ancestors, my grandparents, my great-grandparents every morning. I have only learned to do that after I left academia. Academia had me so much in my head. I didnt think to rely on other forms of knowledge. I grew up with a Ouija board, with my family seeing spirits, and I would discount them. Id be like ugh, my family is crazynot realizing how powerful that is that so many of them see spirits. I dont want Western epistemology to be the only form of knowledge that we respect. To get to that place of freedom, we recognize that there are multiple forms of knowledge and power that are not only Western. In fact, Western knowledge has hurt a lot of people,

Vaught: Who are inspirational thinkers, authors and artists that help you?

Wun: I love Beth Richie, who is a professor at University of Illinois Chicago. She has done gender based violence abolitionist work for a long time. Sabina Vaught is really amazing and very generous as an academic, as a friend, and mentor. Mariame Kaba does smart work around abolition and is fearless. Jenny Wun, my sister, is really smart, patient, and compassionate. Shes the cofounder of AAPI Women Lead. Assata Shakurshe too has the politics of care. Yuri Kochiyama was part of the Puerto Rican movement, Black Liberation movementshes a Japanese internment camp survivor. I got to meet her in the 90s, and learned from her in terms of her commitment to people. She was all about solidarity. I think about the goddess Quan Yin who is the goddess of compassion.

The resounding theme is that all of us are unafraid to fight for our communities because we care about them so much.

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The Ms. Q&A: Dr. Connie Wun on Creating Free Futures and a World Without Racial and Gender Violence - Ms. Magazine

As expected, the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) has updated its guidelines for stem cell research. The marquee guideline is the relaxation of the limit of 14 days on how long a human embryo may be kept alive in a lab.

According to the ISSCR the update reflects emerging advances including stem cell-based embryo models, human embryo research, chimeras, organoids, genome editing and ectogenesis.

Even though these recommendations do not have the force of law, they are very influential and pressure will mount in key countries like the UK, the US and Australia to amend or abolish the 14-day rule. Bioethicists have been calling for a revision in a number of journals over the past few years.

Until recently, the 14-day rule was impossible to break because embryos could not be kept alive longer than 11 or 12 days. But recently, two separate research teams in China announced that they had grown primate embryos in vitro for 20 days, opening up tantalising new prospects for stem cell scientists.

The update is the result of a two-year collaboration with 45 international experts in stem cell science, ethics, and law, and was peer-reviewed by scientists and ethicists from 14 countries. They conducted over 100 Zoom meetings.

"The 2021 update presents practical advice for oversight of research posing unique scientific and ethical issues for researchers and the public," says Robin Lovell-Badge, a prominent UK stem cell researcher. "They provide confidence to researchers, clinicians, and the public alike that stem cell science can proceed responsibly, ethically, and remain responsive to public and patient interests.

Strictly speaking, ISSCR has no authority to change rules. But is it recommending that scientists persuade people that his controversial research is necessary, safe and ethical.

But the ISSCRs announcement was quickly criticised (and not just by religious groups, as Lovell-Badges explanatory article in Nature suggested).

Stem cell blogger Paul Knoepfler, a long-time member of the ISSCR, argues that an open-ended guideline is foolish. To me a new 21-day rule would make the most sense for a few years to see how work proceeds and learn from the experiences with the somewhat later embryos. Then revisit the limit.

Canadian feminist bioethicist, Francoise Baylis, wrote in The Conversation that:

The decision to jettison the established 14-day rule is a mistake. There is good reason to recommend public discussion and debate on the merits of this rule. There is no legitimate reason, however, for this discussion to focus narrowly on extending the research time limit. For example, an equally legitimate public conversation could be had about shortening instead of lengthening the time frame for permitted research.

More importantly, there is no legitimate reason to have removed the 14-day rule in advance of any public engagement that might endorse the existing limit or advocate an alternative policy. Doing so changes the facts on paper and potentially also in practice.

Two Republican members of the US Congress, Representative Chris Smith, from New Jersey, and Senator Mike Braun, of Indiana, were scathing.

The ISSCR has shown an utter disregard for the value and dignity of human life, said Rep. Smith. Its previous rule allowing scientists to create and experiment on human embryos up to 14 days was already unethical and morally repugnant, but the ISSCR has now removed all restraint, allowing unborn humans at any stage of development to be experimented on, manipulated, and destroyed.

Michael Cook is editor of BioEdge

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Stem cell experts relax call for abolition of 14-day rule - BioEdge

Valda Harris Montgomery describes seeing the Freedom Riders enter her parents' Montgomery home in 1961 to hide from a white mob. Montgomery Advertiser

In May 1961, 13 men and women boarded a bus in Washington, D.C., bound for New Orleans to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision desegregating public schools.

Their mission was twofold, with the secondgoal being to challenge the laws regarding segregated interstate travel in the South.

They did so, but not without fear in the face of violence. The buses they rode on were bombed. They were beaten and jailed but their spirits were not broken.

More than 400 people would eventually participate in the movement known as the Freedom Rides.These are the stories of the 13 people students, a pastor and retired educators among them who started it all.

More: Freedom Riders revolutionized American travel, transit 60 years ago

Raised by a professor who taught divinity at Howard University, James Farmer Jr. was a pacifist who sought to achieve racial justice through nonviolent activism. Often a target of racial violence, Farmer helped to shape the Civil Rights Movement when he launched The Freedom Rides to challenge the efforts to block the desegregation of interstate busing.

Freedom Riders Charles Person, right, and James Peck on the bus in 1961, with James Farmer, the head of CORE, in the background.(Photo: Johnson Publishing Company)

The national director and co-founder of the first Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) chapter in 1942, Farmer set the foundation for the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts in the mid-1960s.

He spent 41 days in Mississippi jails. One of the most memorable moments of that time, he said, waswhen those jailed alongside him in steel and concrete cells with straw-filled mattresses sang freedom songs together, despite being threatened by guards.

"We were told that the racists, the segregationists, would go to any extent to hold the line on segregation in interstate travel. So when we began the ride I think all of us were prepared for as much violence as could be thrown at us. We were prepared for the possibility of death," Farmer said in a 1985 interview.

He would go on to serve as assistant secretary of health, education and welfare under PresidentNixon. In 1998, Farmer was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

When we left Atlanta for Birmingham on May 14, 1961 we knew that we were in for a very rough reception upon arrival.

James Peck was born into a wealthy family in New York City. He dropped out of Harvard University to become a full-time activist and was the only person to participate in both the Freedom Rides and Journey of Reconciliation.

By encouraging and supporting actions such as that in Montgomery, we who adhere to the principles of nonviolence hope to hasten complete abolition of segregation within our social system, Peck wrote in COREs introduction to Martin Luther Kings 1957 article, Our Struggle: The Journey of Montgomery.

Freedom Rider James Peck leaving the airport in Birmingham, Alabama, to board a flight for New Orleans.(Photo: Alabama Department of Archives and History. Donated by Alabama Media Group. Photo by Norman Dean, Birmingham News)

Peck would later go on to protest against the Vietnam War.

One of the three women to participate in the early days of the Freedom Rides, Genevieve Hughes quit her job as a stockbroker to become the field secretary of CORE and civil rights activist.

"I figured Southern women should be represented to the South and the nation would realize all Southern people don't think alike," she said of her reason to join CORE.

Members of the Congress of Racial Equality gather in Washington with a map of a route they plan to take to test segregation in bus terminal restaurants and rest rooms in the South on May 4, 1961. From left are Edward Blankenheim, Tucson, Arizona; James Farmer, New York City; Genevieve Hughes, Chevy Chase, Maryland; the Rev. B. Elton Cox, High Point, North Carolina, and Henry Thomas, St. Augustine, Florida.(Photo: Byron Rollins, AP)

She, along with John Lewis and Al Bigelow sustained injuries when several white men attacked them at a bus terminal in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on May 10, 1961.

Joe Perkins was the first Freedom Rider arrested for sitting at a whites-only shoeshine stand in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to PBS. After spending two days in jail, he caught up with the group and led the Freedom Riders on the Greyhound bus, which was burned in Anniston, Alabama.

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Perkins was recruited by CORE in August 1960 and became known as a masterful organizer.

Born in Owensboro, Kentucky, Perkins was educated at Kentucky State University andserved in the Army for two years. Helaterpursued a graduate degree at the University of Michigan.

Before 1961: How Irene Morgan and Bruce Boynton paved the way for the Freedom Riders

Walter Bergman graduated high school when he was only 15 and was drafted into the Army during World War I. Whenhe saw the devastation in Germany, he became a pacifist.

A former union activist and college professor, Bergman became a victim of McCarthyism in 1953 when the state department seized his passport while he was teachingin Denmark. He retired from teaching and became a Freedom Rider when he was 61 years old.

The oldest of the original 13 members, Bergman suffered a stroke after being savagely beaten by the Ku Klux Klan in Anniston, Alabama. He would never walk again. Bergman was awarded $35,000 of the $2 million he sought in lawsuit against the federal government in 1983.

A civil rights activist alongside her husband Walter Bergman, Frances Bergman was a school teacher and member of the American Civil Liberties Union and Socialist Party of America. After she and her husband retired from education, they volunteered to ride on the first bus that left Washington on May 4, 1961. At 57, she was the oldest of the female Freedom Riders.

A Boston native, Bigelow studied at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He workedas an architect before heading off to World War II with the Navy.

Then and now: Could the Freedom Riders make a difference against todays racism?

Bigelow was an activist prior to his time as a Freedom Rider. He opposed the use of nuclear weapons after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, and opened up his home to survivors of Hiroshima who were seeking reconstructive surgery. Following the war, he and a small crew set out for the South Pacific to disrupt and protest atomic testing. They were jailed for 60 days in Hawaii.

He was 55 when he joined the Freedom Riders.Bigelow and former U.S. Rep. John Lewis were the first to face violence after attempting to integrate a whites-only waiting room in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Lewis was struck first as Bigelow stepped in between Lewis and his attackers.

It had to look strange to these guys to see a big, strong white man putting himself in the middle of a fistfight like this, not looking at all as if he was ready to throw a punch, but not looking frightened either, Lewis wrote in his memoir Walking with the Wind.

Freedom Riders in the back of a police van after their arrest at the Greyhound station in Birmingham, Alabama in May 1961.(Photo: Alabama Department of Archives and History. Donated by Alabama Media Group. Photo by Robert Adams or Norman Dean, Birmingham News.)

McDonald was 29 years old when he joined the Freedom Riders and was considered the least disciplined of the group when it came to adhering to its non-violent mantra.

As a teen in the late 1940s, McDonald, according to author Raymond Arsenault, campaigned for a Progressive Party presidential candidate. Later, he became a folk singer in New York City before joining the Freedom Riders. McDonald saw the bus trip as an adventure, and said he was brought along for his singing ability.

I was not sent because I had a lot of intellect, he recalled in 1969; . . . certainly I was not in there because I wanted to be like Gandhi, he said in Arsenaults book Freedom Riders.

McDonald would later go to work on television for BET, where he hosted two programs. He was also the executive director of the Yonkers Human Rights Commission and a 30-year activist for the NAACP.

Prior to becoming a Freedom Rider, Blankenheims experience as a young Marine in North Carolina, where he witnessed segregation and racism, laid the groundwork for his role in the Civil Rights movement.

After leaving the military, Blankenheim enrolled in classes at the University of Arizona, where he helped Black students suffering from housing discrimination. He also joined the NAACP and soon after was offered a spot as a Freedom Rider.

Blankenheim was 27 when the bus he rode intoAnniston, Alabamawas set on fire on Mothers Day 1961.He the blaze, but lost several teeth after being hit in the face with a tire iron.

Well roast them alive! Well roast them alive! is what the crowd shouted, Blankenheim told NPR in 2001.Blankenheim worked for a few years in the South testing bus stations to make certain that they were following the laws and were fully integrated before eventually settling in San Francisco, where he worked as a carpenter.

Thomas, who grew up in Florida, was only 19 years old when he joined the Freedom Riders. He too was one of the riders attacked in Anniston, Alabama, after their bus caught fire.

But I then knew that Anniston was a terrible, terrible place, he told an interviewer in 2017.

D'Army Bailey, left, chairman of The National Civil Rights Museum Foundation, and Hank Thomas, who was on the firebombed bus as a Freedom Rider in 1961, watch a replica of the bus burn at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds Feb. 7, 1991.(Photo: Nina Alexandrenko / The Tennessean)

Thomas later served in the Vietnam War as a medic in 1965. He was wounded in combat and awarded the Purple Heart. While serving in Vietnam, just a few years after his time as a Freedom Rider, he shot down a Confederate flag flying above an Army base.

An entrepreneur, Thomas first bought a laundromat before going on to own several fast-food franchises and hotels.

Eleven of the 13 original Freedom Riders sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality in 1961.(Photo: Johnson Publishing Company)

Cox, 29, was a pastor in High Point, North Carolina, when he founded the first Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) chapter. After meeting with James Farmer, director of CORE, he was asked to become a Freedom Rider.

One of 16 children, Cox said he protested an A&W Restaurant in Illinois as a teen because of its shoddy service toward Black customers. In high school, Cox and other students were successful in persuading staff to stop the singing of a song in music class that he said had degrading racial overtones.

In December 1961, Cox lead a peaceful demonstration in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he was arrested and charged. In 1965 in Cox v. Louisiana, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor, on the groundsLouisianalaw deprived him the right to free speech and assembly.

Cox was arrested nearly 20 times during the civil rights movement and spent numerous days in jail.

Now the most famous of first Freedom Riders, Lewis is considered one of the Big Six leaders of the Civil Rights movement. He represented Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 2020.

Not long after the group set out, Lewis, then 21, was attacked in Rock Hill, South Carolina. In another attack during the rides, a white mob beat Lewis unconscious in Montgomery, Alabama. Jailed numerous times, he also spent nearly 40 days in the Mississippi State Prison, known as Parchman Farm, for entering a white restroom as a Freedom Rider. For several years until his death, beginning in 2014, Lewis posted his mugshots on Twitter each year to mark the anniversary of his Mississippi arrest.

In 1961, Mississippi arrested wave after wave of Freedom Riders that dared to enter an "all-white" area of the bus station, including future Congressman John Lewis. They were arrested, convicted and sent to Mississippi's most notorious prison, the State Penitentiary at Parchman. Lewis was finally freed on July 7, 1961.(Photo: Mississippi Department of Archives and History)

During the time I was being beaten and other times when I was being beaten, I had what I called an executive session with myself. I said Im gonna take it, Im prepared. On the Freedom Ride, I was prepared to die, he said during a 2011 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Person was born in Atlanta, Georgia, where hatred toward Black people was rampant. He wanted to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but during the time many universities weren't willing to look beyond his skin color to consider his intellect. After multiple denials, Person attended Morehouse College and waded deep into the politics and racism of society by participating in rallies and facing discrimination head-on. He would spend weeks behind bars after being arrested at protests and never failed to completehomework assignments

Charles Person, one of the original 13 Freedom Riders, sits on his front porch at his home in Atlanta, on Thursday, April 29, 2021. "What I would offer them is that the chance comes around where you'll have the opportunity to change the world or to make a difference and you have to make a decision," said Person on his advice to young activists. "It's easy to sit and complain about things, that are wrong, but it's more important that you find a way to do something about it to make things better."(Photo: Joshua L. Jones, Athens Banner-Herald USA TODAY NETWORK)

He joined the Freedom Riders at age 18 and would go down in history as the youngest original member.

Though he wasn't on the bus that caught on fire in Anniston, Alabama, Person didn't come out of the journey unscathed. He experienced nightmares some men only see in war: burning vehicles with the doors held shut while people burned inside, caravans looking for people to lynch and blood leaking into his eyes after relentless beatings.

In May 1961, the first Freedom Riders departed on their journey through the South to challenge segregated buses, bus terminals, lunch counters and other facilities associated with interstate travel.

These activists would be confronted, often violently, by police and mobs of white citizens, drawing international attention to social inequity in what became a pivotal moment in the civil rights movement.

This year, the USA TODAY Network is examining the legacy of these trailblazers and how it informs our current moment.

Read or Share this story: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2021/06/01/meet-13-original-freedom-riders/4882573001/

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Paving the way: Meet the 13 original Freedom Riders who changed travel in the South - Tennessean

Abolition Curriculum | Mennonite Church USA As members of Mennonite Church USA, We are called to extend Gods holistic peace, proclaiming Christs redemption for the world with our lives. Through Christ, God frees the world from sin and offers reconciliation. We bear witness to this gift ofpeace by rejecting violence and resisting injustice in all forms, and in all places. We heed this call even when the state sanctions violence and injustice. Police abolition is a process that requires communities to create alternatives to policing. We hope this curriculum will educate, inform, and transform our thinking concerning justice, mass incarceration and how we live in harmony as a society. This process involves the deconstruction of preconceived understandings of policing. As Anabaptists, we have long looked for a third way. We have studied the impact of war, stood against the military-industrial complex and searched for alternatives to military service. As our police force adopts the tools and tactics of our military, we as peacemakers need to think deeply about the intersection of our theology and our view of community policing.We invite peace and justice-minded congregations and faith-based organizations to use the curriculum. Please credit Mennonite Church USA as part of any promotional materials. Please include this link to our website to consider supporting our work: https://www.mennoniteusa.org/give/Glen Guyton, Mennonite Church USA Executive Director

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Abolition Curriculum | Mennonite Church USA

The Gilder Lehrman Center Legacy Fund

Twenty-one years ago, the Gilder Lehrman Center for theStudy of Slavery, Resistance, andAbolition at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies was founded at Yale University. TheGilder Lehrman Center was the first institutionin the world wholly devoted toscholarship, public education, and outreach about the globalproblem of slaveryacross all borders and all time. In a world that needs this work now morethanever, we invite you to join us in sustaining our mission to foster an improvedacademicand public understanding of the role of slavery, its destruction, andits legacies in thefunctioning of the modern world.

To support the annual programming, outreach, andother key activities of the Gilder Lehrman Center, pleasecontribute to theGilder Lehrman Center Legacy Fund.

On April 22, the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition sponsored a panel discussion titled Repair for Historical Harms: Global Models for...

Event description:In the past half century, a dozen or more nations, as well as numerous international organizations, companies, and universities, have considered or...

Thursday, April 8, 2021Alice Baumgartner, in conversation with David Blight about her book, South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexicoand the Road to Civil War(Basic Books...

In October 2020, Yale President Peter Salovey announced the start of a research project charged with investigating Yales historic entanglements and associations with slavery...

February is Black History Month and the first day of the month is National Freedom Day, a national holiday that commemorates the day in 1865 when President Abraham Lincoln...

Ambassador (Ret.) Luis C. deBaca, Senior Fellow in Modern Slavery at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at the MacMillan Center,...

The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition (GLC), part of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University,...

New Haven, Conn. Yale Universitys Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition announces the winner of the 22nd annual Frederick Douglass Book...

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The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery ...

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Colin Kaepernick appears to be a man with many jobs, just not the one he desperately wants.

If for some strange reason youre following the NFL this offseason after a pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign that almost no one watched, then rest assured and take comfort in the fact that Americas favorite pastime is still as racist as its ever been. Case in point: Tim Tebow, a white conservative favorite who never quite gelled in the NFL as a signal caller, has just signed a one-year contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars to play tight end. Tebows signing caused something of a stir when ESPNs Stephen A. Smith compared it to Kaepernicks ongoing labor dispute and said it was yet another sign of white privilege in the NFL

Meanwhile, Kaepernick, a well-qualified quarterback who once led his team to a Super Bowl appearance, is still without an NFL job, so hes keeping himself busy by editing a widely anticipated anthology on prison abolition.

Kaepernick has been shut out of the league since 2017, shortly after be began kneeling on the sideline during the national anthem as a protest against the extrajudicial killings of Black people by the police. In 2017, he landed a book deal with One World Publishing. In 2019, he won a collusion grievance against the NFL, which reportedly netted him under $10 million, according to ESPN. Kaepernick, who is biracial and was raised in a white family, has also worked with Ava DuVernay and Netflix on a limited series about his teenage years.

And now, his publishing company, Kaepernick Publishing, is hard at work on an anthology called Abolition For the People, which will include contributions from 30 contributors, and art by Emory Douglas, a graphic artist known for his work with the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.

All to say, sure, Kaepernick doesnt have the job that he spent his life training for. But hes making quite a few waves with his side hustles.

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Colin Kaepernick Forced to Live Off His Side HustlesUnlike Tim Tebow Mother Jones - Mother Jones

When Marta Barriga was told by school administrators that her toddler son was being expelled, she was stunned. Barriga said that was the first time she even learned about her 3-year-olds aggressive behavior toward teachers and other students. His behavior supposedly changed, after he returned from winter break and his favorite teaching assistant was no longer there.

Theres a lot of guilt and shame and sadness, Barriga said, as she opened up during a Zoom meeting May 22 to a virtual room packed with parents, educators, researchers and community residents. Her voice wavering, Barriga said she wasnt sure why her son was acting this way and felt helpless when the school turned her family away.

We need to speak up, Barriga said, her eyes tearing. We need to help. I dont know how, but we need to share these stories. I cant even blame the program. Its a matter of resources.

Barriga, a member of the bilingual parent advisory committee at Oak Park Elementary School District 97, was one of a few guests who spoke at a panel during the Collaboration for Early Childhoods inaugural equity summit. The free event aimed to bring people from Oak Park together to discuss what equity means and what it looks like inside the classroom.

As Barriga shared her story, she thought about the struggle to find the right doctor to evaluate her son and to find a new preschool program. Barriga recalled reaching out to developmental specialists and scrambling to make sure those providers were covered by her insurance while juggling her day job. Barriga said she considered herself lucky because she had the financial resources and often leaned on her group of mom friends for emotional support and advice.

I cant give up on my child, she said. If he has a sensory disorder, he needs to get the help that he needs because hes 4 now. What happens when hes in first grade and [hes] not able to read or write or stay put?

During the panel, Sarai Coba-Rodriguez, an assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, also spoke in-depth about her research project, which centered on school expulsion.

Thousands of preschoolers between 3 and 4 years old are being expelled from school across the nation for what can be seen as normal developmental behavior, including biting, throwing toys or excessive crying, Coba-Rodriguez said. She shared further that students of color are also more likely to face expulsion than their white counterparts.

Being expelled is detrimental for parents and caregivers, as well as students, Coba-Rodriguez said. The entire family loses access to a network of support systems.

Coba-Rodriguez also noted several factors come into play here when school officials do decide to suspend or expel a student. One example is that educators may have implicit bias. Teachers may not be equipped with the right skills to help handle their students behavior. Schools may also not have enough funding to support mental health and social-emotional resources, she said.

Coba-Rodriguez shared that most of the research on expulsion is written from the perspective of teachers, directors or state policies, but her investigation is founded on families experiences. Coba-Rodriguez and her research partner, Kate Zinsser, are taking a look at what happens to families after their children are thrown out of school and their journey to find new academic opportunities. This is about access, affordability and quality, Coba-Rodriguez said.

Other panelists such as Beronica Puhr of the Oak Park Public Library shared what equity looks like among her staff and the children they serve. Puhr, who manages the librarys middle school services, said she and her colleagues have worked to help families facilitate issues of racism and biases. Some staff members are also trained to hold peace circles, a model used in discussions that often address conflicts, needs and healing for participants.

What the young adults are seeing, even as young as 7 years old, 6 years old, the [biases] that started out early [have] seeped into them from their families or even within their school system, Puhr said. They are aware of it, and they want to say something about it.

As the two-and-a-half-hour event came to a close, keynote speaker Gina Harris offered some of her thoughts. Harris, who is on the Oak Park and River Forest High School board and works at Percy Julian Middle School as a climate and culture coach, shared her screen with the audience and pointed to a slide that depicted many messages and sayings on equity.

Anti-racism is a process of unlearning, co-learning, engaging and enacting, said Harris, as she read one of the messages aloud.

The only way to end the conversation was to stop talking about action and taking that step whatever it may be to further the mission.

We are the system. We are it, she said. We make it up, and every single thing we do needs to be addressing it. What on an individual basis are you going to do? Whatever board, community, group you ascribe to, [what] are you going to do? How do we support the collaboration and do what we all say we are about?

The initial plan for the Collaboration for Early Childhoods first Equity Summit was for it to run for roughly four hours, but a disagreement among speakers cut the event in half. John Borrero, the collaborations executive director, said the dissonance that transpired days ahead of the May 22 event served as a tough reminder for all participants that the conversation around equity can be hard.

One of the original panels sought to explore the importance of equity in early childhood settings and invited community leaders such as Oak Park Police Chief LaDon Reynolds to be part of the discussion.

Borrero said his organization had learned about the departments initiatives on equity, especially for young children, and one of the goals for the summit was to bring different people to the table.

The presence of a police department representative, however, did not sit well with keynote speaker, Akiea Ki Gross, founder of Woke Kindergarten. Gross, whose organization hosts anti-racism read alouds and educates youth and families on liberation, felt unsafe with Oak Park police as part of the program and pulled out of the event, Borrero said. Other panelists, including the police department, decided to take a step back from the event, as well, Borrero added.

There was nothing for us to do except honor that request, Borrero said. We want everyone in this space to feel safe, and that was our goal: to create a place where everyone can speak.

In a brief Twitter thread, Gross told their followers why they decided to back out of the summit.

I cannot align myself w/ [sic] any entity, person or otherwise that thinks p*lice [sic] should be in convo [sic] about early childhood equity for Black & [sic] brown children, Gross said May 22, the day of the event. Im still processing the harm, & [sic] am not in a place to divulge further, but I wanted to share my absence for those who mightve been attending today.

p*lice [sic] are not community helpers. they [sic] have no place in our communities, schools or otherwise. abolition or nothing, they continued.

Borrero shared that for some people, talking about equity and access to education, resources and opportunities can often be personal and passionate.

When people talk about young children, they get emotional. They think about their children, he said. People really care about what happens to children in our communities. I think its natural that there would be an emotional connection to that topic, and when you have people in the room who are emotionally attached to a topic, I think it lends itself to these kinds of deep conversations.

Borrero also believed the event, overall, was still a success and said he does not consider the dissonance between some of the panelists as a negative. Borrero said it did not detract from the vision of the summit, as the event continued to move the conversation of equity forward.

Everyone who walks into that has a different take and different experience that informs their understanding of equity, and those are what I think are the areas where sometimes peoples differences come out, he said.

Were really proud that were part of this community and proud of the role and the commitment that weve seen from the community, Borrero said, adding that one of the main messages here is the organization will strive to create a safe space for people to talk, learn and build.

Gross and Reynolds could not be immediately reached for comment.

Read more from the original source:

Expulsions as the opposite of inclusion in school equity work - Wednesday Journal

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar Friday announced to abolish all the unnecessary amendments to Sugar Factories Control Act to make it farmer-friendly.

During a meeting with Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) president Khalid Khokar, the chief minister said that bumper crop was produced this year and the farmers had been rewarded for their hard work. The sugarcane farmers had to protest on roads for the payment of their dues in the past, and they remained hostage to powerful mafia. The PTI government has given farmers their rights, and legal protection has also been provided to sugarcane growers, he said. The chief minister said that the pending dues worth Rs26 billion had been recovered from sugar mills, adding that the sugarcane growers would get full reward of their hard work in future. The farmers rights will be protected and more facilities will be provided to increase yield, he said, adding The year 2021 will be the year of increase in productivity and policies will be formulated in consultation with farmers.

The CM directed the officials concerned to prepare working papers for a solution to farmers problems, and he also ordered effective steps for the manufacturing of vaccines for foot and mouth diseases at local level.

He said that adhoc recruitments in the agriculture department had been approved to fulfill the shortage of essential human resources. The CM also directed timely completion of desilting. He further stated that the scope of Kissan Card for subsidy on agri-inputs would be extended to the whole of the province.

The PKI president thanked the CM and appreciated the steps taken by the PTI government for the welfare of farmers. Provincial ministers and officials of Agriculture and Food Departments also attended the meeting.

CMs message on 70 years of Pak-China relations

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar said that the journey of strong brotherly relations between Pakistan and China had started 70 years ago, and it was filled with brotherly love, affection and sincerity.

In his message, the CM said that the friendship between Pakistan and China had no example in the history, adding that the association had met every challenge. The Pakistan-China friendship is appreciated in the global community as both countries are intertwined in strong bonds of respect, honour and affection, he added.

He said that the relations between the two countries were touching new heights under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He said that China had always extended full support to Pakistan in every difficulty, adding that China had achieved the pinnacle of glory with hard work, commitment and zeal.

Pakistan is lucky to have a great friend like China. The Chinese nation has given the lesson of hard work to Pakistan, and we have to transfer this lesson to our next generations because it is the only way to prosper in the world. The journey of Pakistan-China relations will continue, the CM concluded.

Original post:

CM Buzdar announces abolition of irrelevant amendments to Sugar Act - The Nation

The Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde speaks during a memorial service for George Floyd and other victims of racist violence and police brutality. Photo: Diocese of Indianapolis

[Episcopal News Service] Bishops, priests and laypeople from across The Episcopal Church gathered online on May 25 for a memorial service to mark the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. The multi-diocesan effort included musical performances, a message from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and a prayer of lament filmed in George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where then-police officer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd by kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes on May 25, 2020.

The service honored the memory of Floyd as an individual, but also as one of many people of color who have been killed by police in the United States, and also to honor the national movement to end police brutality and systemic racism that his death accelerated.

When America saw that video taken by that dear 17-year-old child, when the world saw George Floyd murdered by those charged to protect and serve, something moved, Curry said in his sermon. Something changed. And while we do not know how it will unfold, people began to pray with their lips and with their legs.

The liturgy, designed by Missouri Bishop Deon Johnson, opened with statements from several other bishops, putting Floyds death in context and affirming the churchs ongoing commitment to racial justice.

Together we stand against the tide, said Colorado Bishop Kym Lucas. Because no matter what may come, no matter what the tide may bring, we are here, and we are far stronger united as one, caring for our neighbors in Christ.

Events like this ongoing viral pandemic and the pandemic of racism and violence which took the life of George Floyd and many others offer us more questions than answers, said Michigan Bishop Bonnie Perry, but we gather to be close to each other, to be in community, to remember. We stand with each other and with our siblings who tragically continue to lose their lives in our communities, our nation, and around the world.

A slideshow of Episcopalians at Black Lives Matter protests including at St. Johns Church in Washington, D.C. accompanied a performance of Hes Got the Whole Word in His Hand by musicians from the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Lexington, Kentucky.

After a Scripture reading, Minnesota Bishop Craig Loya and the Rev. Robert Two Bulls, missioner for the Department of Indian Work and Multicultural Ministries in the Diocese of Minnesota, prayed a psalm of lament written by the Missouri bishop at the site of Floyds murder.

The Rev. Robert Two Bulls and the Rt. Rev. Craig Loya pray during the memorial service. Photo: Diocese of Indianapolis

How lonely sits our neighborhood, O God! they prayed. How we weep bitterly in the night! Silent tears have become our song. Gone too soon has become our lament.

The service was then silent for 9 minutes and 29 seconds the amount of time that Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyds neck. During the silence, a slideshow played that showed Floyds place in a long line of African American victims of racist violence and police brutality. Dozens of faces from recognizable names like Emmett Till, Martin Luther King Jr., Michael Brown and Breonna Taylor to lesser-known victims like Eleanor Bumpurs and Alonzo Ashley passed across the screen, punctuated by bells. The montage showed the sobering toll on African Americans that had been mounting long before Floyds murder.

Curry, drawing from Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass in his sermon, commended Episcopalians for praying with your lips and with your feet by marching for change. He encouraged the church not to give up, even when the struggle seems fruitless or forgotten.

There will come a time when the worlds attention will go elsewhere, he said. There will come a time when there will be pushback and resistance. That is often the case. There will come a time when we will grow weak, and sometimes weary. Death after death. Shooting after shooting. Violence after violence. Nightmare after nightmare.

The job of Christians, he said, is changing this world from the nightmare it often is into the dream that God has intended, changing and transforming human lives and social institutions.

The abolition and civil rights movements took decades of work that often seemed hopeless, he recounted, sharing the story of how his grandfather marched with other sleeping car porters in the 1940s for fair wages, equal rights and an end to lynching. But the lynchings did not end; Emmett Tills murder in 1955 galvanized the public in a way similar to Floyds, he said. Tills murder inspired Rosa Parks to stand her ground on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

It is sometimes easy to despair and give up, Curry said. And while this is a normal and natural human emotion. It is not an option for us.

Standing at a memorial to Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager killed by police in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, Johnson ended the service with a gesture of hope.

The Rt. Rev. Deon Johnson speaks during the memorial service. Photo: Diocese of Indianapolis

A single light has the power to dispel even the longest shadow, he said, lighting a candle and sharing the flame with others gathered there. Standing in front of St. Johns Church in Washington, Bishop Mariann Budde did the same. Then other groups from dioceses and seminaries across the U.S. and Canada held up their candles on Zoom, showing the progression of the flame into the world.

As we share the light from these many flames, may these candles be symbols of our burning hope and our shining light, that we may act out of hope and compassion to mourn with those who grieve, Johnson said.

Egan Millard is an assistant editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at emillard@episcopalchurch.org.

See original here:

At George Floyd memorial service, Episcopalians remember lives lost and recommit to 'stand against the tide' - Episcopal News Service

Support for capital punishment has declined in the U.S. to its lowest level in 50 years. In March, Virginia, formerly one of the staunchest supporters of the death penalty, became the 23rd state to abolish it.

But getting rid of it entirely promises to be an uphill struggle, says Marc Bookman, executive director of the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation. Bookman, whose nonprofit organization provides services for individuals on Death Row, explains why in his recently published book, A Descending Spiral a collection of 12 essays exploring the systemic, political and emotional barriers to full abolition.

In a chat with TCR, Bookman, who served in the Homicide Unit of the Defender Association of Philadelphia, discusses why the most draconian forms of punishment retain traction among many players in the U.S. justice system, why he believes things might change if prosecutors were held accountable for their actions at trial, and how capital punishment decisions are affected by systemic racism in the courts.

The following transcript has been edited for space and clarity.

The Crime Report: How did your experiences working in the justice system lead you to writing this book?

Marc Bookman: Ive always been a writer, but you know what brought me to write these essays was really my work. The one thing Im absolutely certain of is that if people knew the facts about the death penalty, they would think differently. Theres a quote from Hemingways The Sun Also Rises in which a character is asked how he went bankrupt. Two ways, he answers. Gradually, then suddenly. Thats capital punishment.

When you first get into it, you start to learn about all the problems with it slowly; but, after a while, it all just falls on your head like a stone. The problems become more and more apparent the more work you do. This book reflects that. I would start out writing an essay about a bad lawyer, but the essay would also quickly expose racism, or a prosecutor who hides evidence, or the courts that purposely overlook a problem with the case. And thats the amazing thing: any capital punishment case almost never has just one problem. In these cases, all of the problems tend to coalesce.

TCR: Your book points out that courts and judges will often override a jurys more lenient decision and push for capital punishment. What explains this dogged pursuit of the most punitive forms of justice?

MB: I think a desire for retribution is still a regrettable part of human nature. Why did we elect Donald Trump president? He said a lot of venal, vindictive and mean-spirited things, and yet he still got a significant percentage of the population to vote for him. However, Im also absolutely convinced that the courts, politicians, and prosecutors are all under the misperception that capital punishment is more popular than it really is. I think there are two explanations why courts go out of their way to sentence someone to death: Either the people involved are venal, or they feel that the public wants them to do this and that they may lose an election, or be frowned upon in their community if they dont.

TCR: Conversations about capital punishment often focus on the actions of police, attorneys, judges, and the lower courts. But your book reveals that even the Supreme Court often upholds or even flat-out ignores these cases where a persons life is on the line.

MB: There are common misconceptions that the law, as written, creates a revolving door where people commit horrible crimes and then walk out the front door because of a technicality. The reality is exactly the opposite. Some of our most regrettable laws, such as the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (ADPA), are written so that judges can feel better about ignoring compelling evidence. And its the beginning of the road to fairness and justice that is the most important.

So, if a bad ruling or [bad] lawyering occurs at the beginning of a trialand it often doesADPA is designed to shield that bad behavior from scrutiny. And once a state court makes a bad decision based on bad evidence and information, then that decision is deferred through the whole process. So, we see federal courts saying this is a decision made by the state court, we owe a deference; and, therefore, the Act prevents us from doing anything in this case. ADPA is designed to give cover to judges that, frankly, want to screw our clients. Its one of the worst laws ever written and the technicalities are really designed to hurt defendants, not help them.

TCR: Your book also reveals that judges make decisions based on how they will affect their careers, often deciding cases one way or another only because theyre worried about losing their jobs.

MB: [Many polls on capital punishment ask people whether they are in favor of the death penalty] but thats the wrong question. The right question is: what do you feel is the appropriate punishment for someone who has been convicted of first-degree murder? The death penalty, life without parole and restitution to the victims, or life with parole and restitution to the victims? Thats the correct question because its the question jurors are faced with. It doesnt matter what a guy thinks when hes walking down the street, it matters what he thinks when hes imposing a sentence someone convicted of an death penalty-eligible crime.

When you ask that question, the answers come out to about 35 or 40 percent in favor of the death penalty, 35 or 50 percent in favor of life without parole and restitution to the victims, and the rest is life in favor of the possibility of parole and restitution. And once judges and politicians realize that the death penalty is not nearly as popular as they think it is, they wont feel compelled to act in a fearful way to support the death penalty and they wont feel that theyre going to lose the next election. The death penalty is simply not the trigger that it used to be. And the sooner we can persuade politicians and judges that they can do whats right, and not what is necessary to keep their jobs, then the better off well be in terms of justice.

TCR: How does politics influence the conversation?

MB: Politics is a broad word. I think that until relatively recently the public might have thought that the U.S. Supreme Court was getting its answers from law books. In other words, they might have thought the answer is there somewhere, well go and find the case that addresses this point of law, and then well write an opinion and that point of law will be explicated, and well know the answer.

What we now know, and what people like me and many others have known for years, is that the answer does not lie in the law books. It lies in, for lack of a better word and relying on the broadest use of the word, politics. Which is that people bring their thoughts, background, and experience to their decision making. W.B. Yeats said, How can we know the dancer from the dance? You cant separate politics from legal decisions, because the answer doesnt lie in the law books; it lies in what the court thinks is the right answer. The decision on whether someone should live or die is the only moral decision that we make in the justice system; so, how do you separate out a persons individual politics from that decision? I dont think you can.

TCR: Your book exposes the countless number of circumstances that can affect the course of a death penalty case. Among them are the failings of prosecutors and defense attorneys. How do we improve their accountability?

MB: Let me deal with prosecutors first. The book describes a number of circumstances where prosecutors intentionally hid evidence or intentionally didnt turn over exculpatory evidence. And if we catch someone intentionally hiding evidence, and we prosecute that person for obstruction of justice, I guarantee you fewer prosecutors are going to hide evidence. How do we deter theft? We prosecute it. How do we deter any crime? We prosecute it.

When a prosecutor is intentionally hiding evidence, thats a crime. At the very least its obstruction of justice, and it may be more than that. Theres an essay in the book, where three police officers take the Fifth when confronted with the errors in their own investigation. Nothing happened to them. How do we expect to stop misbehavior by the prosecution or the police if were not going to prosecute them when they are actually seeking refuge in the Bill of Rights? Prosecute a couple of them, and theyll stop doing it.

Defense attorneys are a different issue. If a defense attorney intentionally undermines the case, thats a crime as well, but you dont see that. What you do see is incredibly sloppy behavior. The answer isnt to disbar them or force them to testify; or punish them. Its to stop giving them more cases and have them practice some other kind of law. There has to be a merit-based scrutiny of defense attorneys handling capital cases.

TCR: Why do you think there is a disconnect between the understanding and acceptance of scientific evidence by the courts, especially when it comes to things like mental illness?

MB: Fifty years from now were going to look back at our understanding of the brain, and be appalled. When you talk about scientific evidence, the first problem is that the courts consider that kind of science soft. Severe mental illness is seen as an excuse. Its not like cancer, its not like a stroke, its not like heart disease. But plenty of people know right now that severe mental illness is just as profound, just as provable, and just as able to be assessed as any of those issues. We have to overcome this prejudice, the idea that (mental illness) is some kind of an excuse for a person who is just evil. Anybody that does what I do doesnt believe in evil. Thats naive, black-and-white nonsense, and its just wrong.

TCR: When it comes to the problem of understanding evidence in the courts, please explain the role of Brady evidence and the potential for biased interpretation?

MB: One of the biggest ironies in criminal justice is that the people prosecuting the case are the same people that decide what evidence should be provided to the defense. The Brady Rule requires that exculpatory evidence be turned over to the defense. Ideally there would be some neutral body that was looking over the evidence and making a decision on what should be turned over and what shouldnt or doesnt have to be turned over. In a world where we really want to make sure were not making mistakes, where we really want to make sure every defendant has a fair shot, we would have a totally open file policy and the defense would get everything.

But were not living in an ideal world. The prosecution has to decide what gets turned over and what doesnt get turned over, but of course they have the motivation to win and, presumably, believe their case is a strong case. So what seems significant to me may not seem significant to them. But a huge irony in our practice is that the wolves guard the henhouse.

TCR: One essay in your book focuses on how a judges racism affects his decisions. Please discuss the role of race in capital punishment.

MB: Justice Lewis Powell, late in his life, said the one decision he really regretted the most was McCleskey v. Kemp. Its important that he said that. McCleskey demonstrated pretty clearly that theres an incredible racial bias that permeates our justice system. That cannot come as a surprise to any person whos paying attention. And if we find racial discrimination in these capital cases, whats to say that the same discrimination doesnt permeate the rest of the cases that are not capital? And of course it does. Its silly to think that we have racial discrimination in capital cases but we dont have them in forgery cases or in robbery cases.

Justice William Brennan once said theres a fear of too much justice. He meant that (judges) were afraid to be honest about what the evidence shows, because of the consequences of that honesty. We have to deal with the fact that our society still has an endemic racial discrimination problem. The story of the racist judge youre referring to is not the only one. In Pennsylvania. we had a scandal recently that rocked the judiciary. Two justices on the (state) Supreme Court had to resign because they were passing around racist, pornographic and misogynistic emails between the court, the prosecution and a couple of defense attorneys.

This problem is systemic and you can find problems like it in almost every case. McCleskey v. Kemp proves that we basically looked the other way at pretty clear evidence of race discrimination then and were still looking the other way now.

TCR: Along with discrimination, another systemic problem that you discuss is the issue of confessions.

MB: False confessions are so counterintuitive to most of us. Who in Gods name thinks that if they confessed to a horrible crime, they can then just go home? Theres a recognition, even by our Supreme Court, that lower-functioning people are more likely to confess. Thats one of the reasons the courts decided you cant seek the death penalty against the intellectually disabled. Another reason, aside from moral ones, is that they are more likely to get caught up in the criminal justice system.

The story dealing with this in the book is pretty amazing. Not only did two people confess, but one of them took a deal for 15 years in prison and then testified against the other one. There was no doubt that both were clearly innocent, and they were later released from prison because of their innocence. But think about the power of false confessions when a low-functioning guy, who was probably intellectually disabled, was actually able to testify to a crime that he didnt commit. Then look at the list of DNA exonerations, where we found out who the right person was by DNA.

A significant percentage of exonerees had actually confessed to the original crime, and a lot of these false confessions are caused by the police. In the story described in the book, the police came to the conclusion that the individuals they arrested were guilty after firstg threatening them with the death penalty. The method of interrogation used by the police is essentially designed to coerce confessions. And the biggest problem with false confessions is that a jury cannot imagine somebody falsely confessing. And the eleven always pressure the one who can.

TCR: At the end of the book, you say that change is coming, albeit slowly. Where do you see this change occurring and why are you optimistic for the future?

MB: Im hopeful because I can look at the data and see that sentences are going down and executions are going down. And the explanation for that is the more people know, the less they are enamored of capital punishment. The more we know that lawyers screw up, that people falsely confess, that juries make mistakes, that race discrimination has permeated our justice system, the more all those things come into the publics view and the less enamored they become. The public and jurors are getting more knowledgeable.

Thats the main reason I wanted this book to come out, because I think that the more people read about these things the less theyre going to like capital punishment as a public policy.

Its a truly failed public policy.

I write that its going to come to a slow grinding halt because something like the Trump administration comes along and executes 13 people in seven months. Its disgraceful. But, the more we recognize that we have made a lot of mistakes like this, and that its wrong, then the more progressive prosecutors get elected and the more likely it becomes that were going to end capital punishment. And states are regularly getting rid of it, if only for the fact that were just throwing money away on a failed policy. So changes are around the corner; it just depends on how far away we perceive that corner to be.

Isidoro Rodriguez is editor of TCRs Justice Digest.

More:

Why the Death Penalty Lingers On in America - Crime Report