March 2
GUEST: Arielle Reid,
supervising attorney of the Decarceration Project at The Legal
Aid Society, the largest and most influential social justice
law firm in New York City, talks about fighting to keep what
is left of bail reform.
Albany
must keep bail reform
Arielle Reid pointed out the absolute fairness of bail reform. Originally a process that gave all the benefits to wealthy, white defendants, bail was refocused to allow even poor Blacks to get a fair shake in our criminal justice system. The assault on these simple reforms says more about our society than about protecting our neighborhoods from crime.
Racism is deeply ingrained in our society, making its manifestations almost invisible, at least to white people. Racism still exists because it is useful in suppressing worker rights, selling newspapers and winning elections. Why else would our media put out news articles about Walmart stores closing down in Black sections of our cities?
Check out this Fox News story to get a sense how easy it is to create fear and hatred. I love how a gun products advertisement comes before the red meat of Blacks carrying stolen TVs from stores.
So this is how African Americans are kept in the lowest caste in our supposedly free society. We allow merchants of hate like Fox News to openly cultivate racial discord in our body politic. We could start challenging news like this with some basic questions. Is theft really why some stores are closing down in Black areas? Or is that a convenient lie for whites looking to stoke up their rage? Could you go to a white area of town and make a video of all white thieves stealing items? Of course you could. But Fox News thrives on stirring the pot of racial mistrust. It's viewers come for their daily dose of ignorance and hate.
Let's fight back against the enemies of criminal justice reform. And let's call them by what they are, hatemongers willing to fracture our society for their bottom line.
