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 of GlobalGrind.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 mbing@naacpnet.org or directly at 917.561.8870.
