It was nearly a year ago in May of 2020 when I wrote an opinion editorial on the murder of George Floyd. Here I am a year later writing about another death of an unarmed Black man killed during a traffic stop in Minnesota while in Virginia an Afro-Latino U.S. serviceman was mistreated and berated by officers for a different vehicle infraction.
For 40 long years, until North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue signed “Pardons of Innocence” documents for each member of the Wilmington Ten (including myself), the issues of unjust and disproportionate mass incarceration, bail reform, racism in the judiciary, prosecutorial misconduct, and reentry challenges were not matters of partisanship, but were matters of fundamental civil and human rights.
NEW YORK (AP) — New York is becoming the first major city in the U.S. to offer free phone calls from jails. The New York Times says Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill into law on Monday. It takes effect in nine months. Currently, local calls from Rikers Island cost 50 cents for the first minute and 5 cents for each additional minute. About three quarters of people in the city’s jails have not been convicted of a crime and are there awaiting trial. Many are poor. The move is part of a nationwide push from prison-rights groups,