National

Community Efforts Urged to Curb Mass Incarceration

Published

11 years ago

June 11, 2015

By Jazelle Hunt
NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The Black community should take a larger role in curbing mass incarceration and be less reliant on public officials to slow prison growth, says Rev. Hebert Brown III, community organizer and leader of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore.

“In addition to banging on the system and going to the White House and moving on legislation to ban the box, et cetera, et cetera, I think it is a mistake for those who are most directly affected to wait for the experts to come do it,” Brown said.

He made his remarks during a panel sponsored by the Center for American Progress (CAP), a progressive policy think-tank in Washington. The panel was part of an event titled, “Toward a More Perfect Union: Bringing Criminal Justice Reform to Our Communities.”

Brown said, “[During the Baltimore uprising] we started to create the systems that we needed. We’re not calling 911 for everything. Let us move into spaces where we develop the training, skills, and whatever else is necessary, and just be neighbors and sisters and brothers again so that we can help to engage some of the issues that might lead to interpersonal violence.”

Justice system professionals, activists, and community organizers all agree that empowering ex-offenders is one of the best ways to rebuild communities and keep people from re-offending. But more than 5.8 million Americans – 1 in 13 Black Americans – are disenfranchised because of their criminal offenses, according to The Sentencing Project, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group for criminal justice reform. In effect, the people most affected by criminal justice policies are excluded from shaping policy decisions.

Though having a criminal record is no longer rare – 1 in 3 Americans has one – employers are generally unwilling to hire ex-offenders.

For decades, formerly incarcerated people have pushed to “ban the box” on job applications that require applicants to disclose past convictions. It’s often used to disqualify otherwise qualified candidates. The “ban the box” effort is gaining official traction, largely through state laws and updated guidelines from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. But unless an applicant launches and wins a lawsuit, there are few repercussions for employers who dismiss applicants on this basis.

“What happens is, you have all of these folks who come home and they feel alienated from society, and they don’t feel like there’s any place for them,” said Pastor Darren A. Ferguson at the CAP event. Ferguson leads Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Far Rockaway, N.Y. and works to provide reentry support. The community organizer is also an ex-offender who spent nearly nine years in the New York corrections system.

“They can’t get jobs because they’re afraid to go to a job interview, because they’re going to ask them that magic question that frightens anybody who’s been incarcerated: ‘have you ever been convicted of a crime?’ And there’s a feeling across the board – there’s no place for me, there’s no hope for me, so what else can I do?”

The laws that created mass incarceration have not only failed to make provisions for mass reentry, but have also devastated Black families and communities. Department of Justice data from 2007 found that 6.7 percent of Black children had at least one incarcerated parent, compared to less than 1 percent of White children and 2.3 percent of Latino children.

Among today’s Black twenty-somethings, 1 in 4 had a parent incarcerated during their childhood, according to CAP research. Another study from The Sentencing Project finds that nearly half of all Black women have a currently incarcerated family member, compared to just 11 percent of White women.

Alicia Garza, award-winning community organizer and co-founder of the national Black Lives Matter organization says that part of empowering ex-offenders is to find ways to restore their voice.

“Part of that is having those folks shape what the policies, practices, and systems look like. Because nobody knows better how to shift the trend of criminalization than those who have been criminalized,” she said at the same CAP event. “Not only do we need to center those voices, but we need to put those who have been directly impacted by the systems we’re facing in positions of power. Folks actually need to be able to make decisions that impact their lives.”

Voting is not the only way to raise one’s political voice. Pastor Michael McBride, a San Francisco-based community organizer and a program director within the PICO Network, an organization of religious leaders working for social justice, who was also part of the CAP event. He points out that elected officials are often bending to the whims of private entities.

“Many of these things happen under the cover of night. A lot of our Fortune 500 companies are actually profiting off of private prison labor, and other forms of legalized slavery. And I think we can shame them publicly in a way that at least creates some form of accountability, and we need to do the same thing with elected officials,” he explained. “We have the responsibility to make it known, and then we have another opportunity to hold them accountable through our voting, through where we shop, through our support, et cetera.”

The tide is slowly turning against mass incarceration and unfair sentencing polices. In 2008, then-President George W. Bush signed the Second Chance Act into law, which gives tax perks to employers that hire ex-offenders. In 2010 President Barack Obama signed the Fair Sentencing Act, which significantly reduced the sentencing disparity between crack-cocaine and powder cocaine. And last year, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to raise the mandatory minimum threshold for drug-related offenses, and allow appeals for reduced sentences under the new guidelines.

Still, Black communities do not have to wait to have these disparities corrected by authorities.

“I am thankful for those working at the federal level trying to move things forward there, but…. It takes so long before my day-to-day reality is impacted by something whoever is in the White House signs,” Rev. Brown said.

“We have to continue to build for power socially, economically, politically so that we can … say, no more will we rely on the benevolence of a system that has an appetite for our destruction to decide our destiny. No more.”

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COMMENTARY: The National Protest Must Be Accompanied with Our Votes

Just as Trump is gathering election data like having the FBI take all the election data in Georgia from the 2020 election, so must we organize in preparation for the coming primary season to have the right people on ballots in each Republican district, so that we can regain control of the House of Representatives and by doing so, restore the separation of powers and balance that our democracy is being deprived of.

Published

5 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper. File photo..

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

As thousands of Americans march every week in cities across this great nation, it must be remembered that the protest without the vote is of no concern to Donald Trump and his administration.

In every city, there is a personal connection to the U.S. Congress. In too many cases, the member of Congress representing the people of that city and the congressional district in which it sits, is a Republican. It is the Republicans who are giving silent support to the destructive actions of those persons like the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence Director, who are carrying out the revenge campaign of the President rather than upholding the oath of office each of them took “to Defend The Constitution of the United States.”

In California, the primary comes in June 2026. The congressional races must be a priority just as much as the local election of people has been so important in keeping ICE from acquiring facilities to build more prisons around the country.

“We the People” are winning this battle, even though it might not look like it. Each of us must get involved now, right where we are.

In this Black History month, it is important to remember that all we have accomplished in this nation has been “in spite of” and not “because of.” Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a struggle.”

Today, the struggle is to maintain our very institutions and history. Our strength in this struggle rests in our “collectiveness.” Our newspapers and journalists are at the greatest risk. We must not personally add to the attack by ignoring those who have been our very foundation, our Black press.

Are you spending your dollars this Black History Month with those who salute and honor contributions by supporting those who tell our stories? Remember that silence is the same as consent and support for the opposition. Where do you stand and where will your dollars go?

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Activism

Congresswoman Simon Votes Against Department of Homeland Security, ICE Funding

“They need accountability. Republicans already gave these agencies an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, funding they have used to conduct raids at schools, separate families, and deploy a masked paramilitary who refuse to identify themselves on American streets. This bill gives them more funding without a single reform to stop unconstitutional, immoral abuses,” she said.

Published

5 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12). File photo.

By Post Staff

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) released a statement after voting against legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which supports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB).

“Today, I voted NO on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 13, 2026.

“ICE and CBP do not need more funding to terrorize communities or kill more people,” she said in the media release.

“They need accountability. Republicans already gave these agencies an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, funding they have used to conduct raids at schools, separate families, and deploy a masked paramilitary who refuse to identify themselves on American streets. This bill gives them more funding without a single reform to stop unconstitutional, immoral abuses,” she said.

“The American people are demanding change. Poll after poll of Americans’ opinions show overwhelming support for requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras and prohibiting them from hiding their faces during enforcement actions. This is the bare minimum transparency standard, and this funding legislation does not even meet this low bar,” Simon said.

“Republicans in Congress are not serious about reining in these lawless agencies. Their refusal to make meaningful changes to the DHS funding bill has consequences that go beyond immigration enforcement. TSA agents who keep our airports safe and FEMA workers who help our communities recover from disasters are stuck in limbo due to Republican inaction.

“The Constitution does not have an exception for immigrants. Every person on American soil has rights, and federal agencies must respect them. The East Bay has made clear at the Alameda County and city level that we will hold the line against a violent ICE force and support our immigrant communities – I will continue to hold the line and our values with my votes in Congress.”

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Post Newspaper Invites NNPA to Join Nationwide Probate Reform Initiative

The Post’s Probate Reform Group meets the first Thursday of every month via Zoom and invites the public to attend. The Post is making the initiative national and will submit information from its monthly meeting to the NNPA to educate, advocate, and inform its readers.

Published

5 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) represents the Black press with over 200 newspapers nationwide.

Last night the Post announced that it is actively recruiting the Black press to inform the public that there is a probate “five-alarm fire” occurring in Black communities and invited every Black newspaper starting from the Birmingham Times in Alabama to the Milwaukee Times Weekly in Wisconsin, to join the Post in our “Year of Action” for probate reform.

Reporter Tanya Dennis says, “The adage that ‘When America catches a cold, Black folks catch the flu” is too true in practice; that’s why we’re engaging the Black Press to not only warn, but educate the Black community regarding the criminal actions we see in probate court: Thousands are losing generational wealth to strangers. It’s a travesty that happens daily.”

Venus Gist, a co-host of the reform group, states, “ Unfortunately, people are their own worst enemy when it comes to speaking with loved ones regarding their demise. It’s an uncomfortable subject that most avoid, but they do so at their peril. The courts rely on dissention between family members, so I encourage not only a will and trust [be created] but also videotape the reading of your documents so you can show you’re of sound mind.”

In better times, drafting a will was enough; then a trust was an added requirement to ‘iron-clad’ documents and to assure easy transference of wealth.

No longer.

As the courts became underfunded in the last 20 years, predatory behavior emerged to the extent that criminality is now occurring at alarming rates with no oversight, with courts isolating the conserved, and, I’ve heard, many times killing conservatees for profit. Plundering the assets of estates until beneficiaries are penniless is also common.”

Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb says, “The simple solution is to avoid probate at all costs. If beneficiaries can’t agree, hire a private mediator and attorney to work things out. The moment you walk into court, you are vulnerable to the whims of the court. Your will and trust mean nothing.”

Zakiya Jendayi, a co-host of the Probate Reform Group and a victim herself, says, “In my case, the will and trust were clear that I am the beneficiary of the estate, but the opposing attorney said I used undue influence to make myself beneficiary. He said that without proof, and the judge upheld the attorney’s baseless assertion. In court, the will and trust is easily discounted.”

The Black press reaches out to 47 million Black Americans with one voice. The power of the press has never been so important as it is now in this national movement to save Black generational wealth from predatory attorneys, guardians and judges.

The next probate reform meeting is on March 5, from 7 – 9 p.m. PST. Zoom Details:
Meeting ID: 825 0367 1750
Passcode: 475480

All are welcome.