By Phillip Smith, www.alternet.org Last month, the Drug Policy Alliance released a report noting that marijuana arrests under New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio continue to be marked by shocking racial disparities, much as they were under his predecessors, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg. Stung by the criticism, de Blasio is fighting back, but his response so far has consisted of attacking DPA as “legalizers” and comparing apples to…

China plans to build markets in Port-au-Prince under the new initiative. China plans to invest $30 billion in Haiti’s infrastructure according to the Haitian Press Agency (AHP). This week the Mayor of Port-au-Prince, Youri Chevry, hosted the signing of an agreement between the Haitian company Bati Ayiti (Build Haiti), headed by former Senator Amos André, and the Southwest Municipal Engineering and Design Research Institute of China. The agreement includes the…

By Dr. Vishnu Bisram Every year since 1985, the emancipation of enslaved Africans is celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago on Aug. 1 which has been declared a national holiday. Slavery and indentureship were among the most heinous and inhumane crimes committed against African and Indian peoples in the diaspora. Slavery was similar to indentureship in more ways than one. In fact there is a book on indentureship entitled, “A New…

By Doran Larson, The Conversation Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently announced a return to a pre-Obama policy of seeking maximum penalties for all drug crimes, including low-level, nonviolent offenses. Criticism from politicians, criminologists, lawyers and others was swift and unambiguous. Based on a discredited belief in a zero-sum relationship between crime and incarceration rates, the thinking behind this policy was called “one-dimensional,” “archaic,” “misguided” and “dumb.” America’s unprecedented attempt to jail its way…

Cannabis is not a public safety threat. By Ryan Jennemann, Newsweek Much to the dismay of US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Senate Appropriations Committee recently approved a budget amendment in an appropriations bill covering fiscal 2017. The amendment would protect states with responsible medical marijuana laws from Department of Justice interference and would help prevent a federal crackdown on state-legal cannabis businesses—a position the majority of Americans support However, the Department of Justice…

One dead after car plows into anti-racist demo in Charlottesville By Bill Fletcher I sat here listening to Trump’s remarks in connection with the violence carried out by neofascists in Charlottesville this afternoon, violence which has resulted in the death of at least one anti-fascist. He condemned bigotry on what he called all sides. Once again Trump obscures reality. He either ignores the violence and terrorism carried out against traditionally…

The harm that biased marijuana enforcement has on Black, Latino, and low-income communities is real. By Cat Packer, Drug Policy Alliance I went into law school thinking that I wanted to be a civil rights attorney. As a black queer woman, I understood many of the social injustices experienced by marginalized communities and wanted to use my law degree to fight the many systems of oppression that plagued and terrorized…

For a few weeks in Portland, I got a glimpse of what real solidarity looks like. By Donnell Alexander It was in a place of mourning that we Portlanders learned an all-star line-up of the worst White America has to offer would soon decamp in our mild-mannered city. The new knowledge promised to transform the pain into something more useful. But what? All anyone knew is that the need for…

White nationalists and neo-Nazis demonstrated in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday. Photo – Edu Bayer, The New York Times By Michael Eric Dyson The late, great Gore Vidal said that we live in “The United States of Amnesia.” Our fatal forgetfulness flares when white bigots come out of their closets, emboldened by the tacit cover they’re given by our president. We cannot pretend that the ugly bigotry unleashed in the streets…

The following article contains graphic images of lynching. By  Carol Anderson It was well after the Civil Rights Movement. Decades, even. Yet, the bodies of black people continued to pile up—the victims of police and vigilante violence. Their names read like a memorial to the fallen: Amadou Diallo, Tarika Wilson, Sean Bell, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Kathryn Johnston, Rekia Boyd, Trayvon Martin, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, Timothy Russell, Malissa…

Even in this early stage of the Second World War, ethnic minority British citizens did show enormous courage – one of the bravest ARP men during the Blitz was black, although we have yet to see a film about him Robert Fisk, @indyvoices In my mother’s family scrapbook, there is a tiny box camera snapshot of a very young Robert staring at the Luftwaffe-smashed “mole” leading out to sea from…

By Aimee Lewis (CNN) — The end is coming. A marvel of this sporting age is one championship away from retirement, 30 seconds or so from consigning himself to history. The age of Usain Bolt is nearly over and so the present must be cherished. Bolt, the fastest man in history, one of the greatest sportsmen to have ever lived, will run his last race at the World Athletics Championships in…