As a historian, I know slavery has left a deep scar on America. The reasons are many. I have found wisdom in the words of Cornelius Holmes, a former slave, interviewed in 1939, a man who saw brutality and separation of families. Holmes shared the dreams and melodies before freedom and then witnessed the reality of freedom.

The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration is refusing to support a bill backed by the Obama administration that would modify mandatory minimum sentences for federal drug crimes, putting her at odds with her boss, Attorney General Holder. He hopes to make the bill, the “Smarter Sentencing Act” a centerpiece of his legacy.

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has cited traditional high Caribbean unemployment as a reason for current challenges to the National Insurance Service (NIS) fund that pays relief benefits to workers who lose their jobs.

New York’s new Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio ran a significant portion of his election campaign on his promise to end the racialized policing practices of his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg.

When the Obama administration released its 2013 Drug Control Strategy recently, drug czar Gil Kerlikowske called it a “21st century” approach to drug policy. “It should be a public health issue, not just a criminal justice issue,” he said.

“I’ve always loved getting clean,” says Piper Chapman, at the beginning of the first episode of “Orange Is the New Black.”

The GOP-controlled House surprised just about everyone when it voted 218 to 189 for a pro-medical marijuana amendment on Friday. The amendment, tacked onto the much larger criminal justice funding bill (H.R. 4660), would prohibit the Department of Justice (DOJ) from using federal taxpayer funds to interfere with medical marijuana laws in 22 states that have passed them.

“The past is in the past; it’s time to move on.”
That’s a common response to Ta-Nehisi Coates’ eloquent essay in The Atlantic, “The Case for Reparations,” and his recent discussion with Bill Moyers.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is formally backing a proposal being considered by the U.S. Sentencing Commission that would shorten the amount of time that federal drug offenders currently behind bars would have to spend in prison.

As Brazilians opposed to outrageous sums of public money spent on preparations for the upcoming World Cup protest with marches and strikes…
This article explains how the United States is exporting its model of mass incarceration and social and political control to at least 25 countries.

On Monday afternoon, as the Seattle City Council was poised to pass a historic minimum wage hike, Kshama Sawant wasn’t quite ready to relish the imminent victory.