In terms of addressing crime issues in the black community, the dominant political class has historically refused to endorse the full slate of reforms along lines of education, economic security, housing, etc, necessary to address the root causes.
A black man of my generation born in the late 1960s is more than twice as likely to go to prison in his lifetime then a black man of my father's generation. I was born after the Voting Rights Act, after the Civil Rights Act, after the Fair Housing Act.
African-Americans have always viewed the protection of black lives as a civil rights issue, whether the threat comes from police officers or street criminals. Far from ignoring the issue of crime by blacks against other blacks, African-American officials and their constituents have been consumed by it.
Mass incarceration will have to be dismantled the same way it was constructed: piecemeal, incrementally and, above all, locally.
In court, judges tell people that their conviction carries a sentence of years, or probation. The truth is far more terrible. People convicted of crimes often become social outcasts for life, finding it difficult or impossible to rent an apartment, get a job, adopt children, access public benefits, serve on juries, or vote.
I find it very frustrating how much passing the buck there is in the criminal justice system when it comes to taking responsibility for outcomes.
There can be racism in a system even if a particular episode of injustice is not a manifestation of that racism. Every single thing in the criminal justice system is not a manifestation of racism, but many things are.
Prosecutors committed to reform need talented staff members who share that commitment, and our best legal talent should flock to their offices.
Most people that take jobs as police officers are taking them because they're good jobs. Many who go into these jobs are doing it because it's good work.
We need to hire more black police officers in this country because these are good jobs, and African Americans should have their fair share of good jobs. But we shouldn't do it because we think that's going to change policing. We have to push for police reform in other ways.
At the end of the day, I think my story is, we need black officers because African-Americans need a fair shot at good jobs in this country, but we cannot expect them and should not expect them to change the nature of policing.
The only news most people ever hear about the inner city comes from grim headlines; the only residents they can name are characters on 'The Wire.' Of course, ignorance of a community doesn't stop outsiders from having opinions about it or passing laws that govern it.
What if we strove for compassion, for mercy, for forgiveness? And what if we did this for everybody, including people who have harmed others?
Mass incarceration and its never-ending human toll will be with us until we come to see that no crime justifies permanent civic death.
While mass incarceration is a national crisis, it was built locally.
Actually creating a positive school climate, particularly in schools that are in communities that are themselves not calm and orderly, is hard work.
We must continue to recruit progressive prosecutors to run in local elections, support those who do, and hold them accountable if they win.
It's not easy. I make snap judgments, too, and I start to write people off. And then I start to remind myself of how I'm constantly asking judges not to write people off. And so then I try to resist it.
The fundamental problem for the teaching profession is how undervalued it is and how underpaid teachers are.
