Monthly Archives: September 2010
A conservative case for ending the drug war?
The libertarian critique of the war on drugs fails to grapple with the real dynamics of American conservatism. Continue reading
Judge will take a fresh look at the Willingham case
The Cameron Todd Willingham case is an embarrassment to Texas governor Rick Perry and to death penalty proponents everywhere. Willingham was convicted of intentionally setting the fire that killed his three young daughters in 1991. Willingham was convicted on the strength … Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Putting butts in the seats: the rise and fall of Bishop Eddie Long
Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia has been accused of using a mentoring program to lure gifted young male congregants into sexual relationships. Long, an adherent of the “prosperity gospel”, told his congregation this … Continue reading
Welcome to the Parchman Plantation
I write this from Lola Flowers’ dining room table. Yesterday I travelled to the Mississippi State prison in Parchman, Mississippi to visit Curtis Flowers. The last time I saw Curtis he was pronounced guilty of murder and sentenced to death … Continue reading
Filed under "civil rights", Curtis Flowers, Faith, mass incarceration, Uncategorized
Tulia script plays out in southern Louisiana
Sheriff Greg Champagne of St. Charles Parish reported yesterday that 70 narcotics cases made by a single undercover officer are being dismissed. Elijah Gary, the officer responsible for making almost 100 cases in the Parish, was on loan from a … Continue reading
A Small, Good Week: Three men walk free in Mississippi
Bobby Ray Dixon (pictured to the left) and Phillip Bivens are free. Thirty years ago, the two men confessed to the brutal rape and murder of Eva Gail Patterson in Mississippi. A third man, Larry Ruffin, was also wrongfully convicted in this case, but died … Continue reading
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Standing up for guilty defendants
Michelle Alexander says the criminal justice reform movement should shed its fixation with innocence. In her groundbreaking book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Alexander suggests that reformers start focusing on normal defendants. Since most criminal defendants done the deed, … Continue reading
Building a common peace consensus
Someday, historians will look back on 2010 and analyze the wave of xenophobic hysteria raging through the heartland. By then, it will be too late. Those of us with the courage to love, embrace, care, trust, hope and aspire must start building a common peace consensus while the wheel still spins.
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Support for Scott Sisters Grows as Governor Dithers
An alleged robbery in 1993 netted $11 in cash and two double-life sentences for Jamie and Gladys Scott of Forest, Mississippi. An article in USA Today provides a concise summary of the crime as it was presented to the jury by prosecutor Ken Turner: … Continue reading
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Reaping the American whirlwind
New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman argues that American schools are failing because students lack motivation. It ain’t the parents and don’t blame the teachers–the problem is the kids. Friedman gets his information from Washington Post economics columnist Robert Samuelson who … Continue reading
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