Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
June 6, 2021
Hello All – Yesterday 1,000 people marched in NYC for "parole justice." With less than a week left in the NYS legislative session, people across the state – especially the families of people incarcerated – have mobilized to change some of the practices in our present "system" of granting parole.
A particular focus of the movement for parole justice is on older prisoners, 55+. As the number of people in NY prisons has declined, the proportion of prisoners age 55+ has risen from 10 percent to 20 percent. Few people in this age group pose much of a threat to society, yet many are likely to die in a prison hospital rather than among their family and loved ones.
The main issue with parole is that Parole Boards are mandated to consider parole in terms of the crime that was committed. Yet many prisoners have taken advantage of the rehabilitation programs available to them, or have simply matured, so that the person they are now stands a good chance of leading a productive life on the "outside." In considering parole, should personal rehabilitation be taken into account? And if not, what is the purpose of rehabilitation in the first place.
A second consideration in thinking about parole starts with the racial disparities in the prison population. Taking Westchester as an example, of the 800 people sentenced in Westchester, 90 percent are people of color; and of those now 55 or older, 80 percent are people of color. So parole – or obstacles to parole – is a racial issue as well as a "procedural" issue.
There are now two bills now in the NYS legislature that address this issue:
· "Fair and Timely Parole" would change parole hearings by directing the Parole Board to consider what kind of person the prisoner has become, rather than simply (as is the case now) the nature of the crime he or she committed many years ago.
· "Elder Parole" would allow incarcerated people age 55 and older who have already served 15 years or more a chance to go before the Parole Board for a hearing.
Please note that neither of these pieces of legislation would automatically "free" anyone. The bills are directed to giving people a chance for a parole hearing.
Please call the offices of Majority Leader Sen. Andrea Stewart Cousins (518-455-2585) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (518-455-3791) and ask them to support "Elder Parole" and "Fair & Timely Parole." And for more information about Parole Justice, go here.
News Notes
Congressman Jamaal Bowman was in Hastings on Friday; he was given a tour by the mayor and then met with some of us locals. He mentioned the issue now confronting "the Squad" and the dozen or so leftists among the House Democrats: whether to support President Biden's new version of an infrastructure project or to block it, as it is actually a Republican project in sheep's clothing. He explained this in a press statement on Thursday; check out this useful article from Common Dreams.
Sometimes late-night conversations lead to "Whatever happened to the 'sixties radicals?" A friend from back in the day, Mark Levitan, recently passed away; and another friend, Mike Hirsch, wrote a memoir about Mark's life and work in the 'seventies and way beyond. Like many from back then, Mark kept on keeping on, as told here.
Last Sunday the valedictorian of Lake Highlands (TX) High School went off message in her graduation speech and addressed some of the misdeeds of the Texas government and legislature. Responding to the state's extreme anti-choice law, Paxton Smith said, "I refuse to give up this platform to promote complacency and peace, when there is a war on my body and a war on my rights," and "I have dreams, hopes, and ambitions. Every girl here does. We have spent our whole lives working towards our futures, and without our consent or input, our control over our futures has been stripped away from us." Well done, Paxton! Check out the video here.
Things to Do/How to Help
As the NYS legislature grinds to an end, one of the bills in danger of getting lost in the shuffle concerns banning "hybrid" voting machines that can be "hacked" to change your vote. In the Assembly, the bill is A1115A; in the Senate it's S309A. Please call Assembly Speaker Carl Hastie (718-654-6539) and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (914-423-4031) and ask them to prioritize these bills for this legislative session. For information about "hybrid" machines and the dangers they represent to our elections, go to "Smart Elections."
Heather Cox Richardson is a new star in the left/liberal blogosphere. She is a "political historian" (esp. about Reconstruction, and thus racism/white supremacy) and each day posts informative, user-friendly observations on our passing political scene. She also posts informative video "chats" about US history. Check all this out here. (h/t EZ)
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. Taking the Covid Crisis into account, we meet (with safe distancing) for a protest/rally on Saturday in Hastings, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) A "Black Lives Matter/Say Their Names" vigil takes place every Monday from 5:30 to 6 pm, in Yonkers at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. In this time of coronavirus, we are meeting by Zoom conference; if you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, Tuesday and Thursday at noon and/or Sunday at 7 pm., please send a return email. Our newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. If you would like to support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
It has been quite a while since we checked in on the songs of Leonard Cohen. So this week's Rewards include some favorites from among his "political" songs: "Democracy"; "Everybody Knows"; and "First We Take Manhattan." Enjoy! (h/t FA).
Best wishes
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW WEEKLY READER
'Reality Rebellion' [Trump's failed coup and its legacy]
By Mark Danner, New York Review of Books [June 6, 2021]
---- At the United States Capitol, after more than four months, the National Guardsmen have finally packed up and gone. Members of Congress come and go as always. But now they pass through magnetometers to make sure they are not bringing weapons onto the floor of the House or the Senate. Beyond the looming white building, the country has few magnetometers and a growing surge of political bitterness. In late April the president announced to Congress, rather poignantly, that a critical part of his program is "to prove that democracy still works—that our government still works and we can deliver for our people." Perhaps he will succeed and perhaps one day the Capitol coup and its aftermath will be remembered as a low point and not as the gateway to something worse. But that this rather modest goal is so central to our elected leader shows how late the hour is, and how much Americans need to be assured that it is true. "Can our democracy," the president implored Congress, "overcome the lies, anger, hate, and fears that have pulled us apart?" The plain answer is that there is as yet no sign that it can. All around us are signs that our angry politics are likely to grow angrier—and perhaps more violent still. [Read More]
War & Peace and the Climate Crisis
Chuck Schumer wants to pump up Cold War with China — at the planet's expense
By Marcy Winograd and Medea Benjamin, Code Pink [June 3, 2021]
---- Despite an existential climate crisis, Senator Chuck Schumer's $250 billion "United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021" takes aim at China as the most pressing national security threat. In a Cold War-style declaration, the Senate Majority Leader's proposed legislation reads like the last gasp of a dying empire, a plea from a panicked superpower losing its grip on global dominance. Schumer's laborious 1,445-page bill, the product of six Senate committees, would have the U.S. compete with China by creating tech hubs of robotics and artificial intelligence in U.S. cities, promoting school programs in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), accelerating production of semiconductor chips and spending $600 million to ramp up U.S. military presence in the South China Sea to show China the U.S. still rules the world. Collaborate with China to thwart climate catastrophe? That would be heresy. In a less xenophobic United States, a more visionary blueprint would emerge for collective technological development to save our warming planet. [Read More] For another good overview, read "Biden Dangerously Accelerating the New Cold War with China" by Joseph Gerson, Campaign for Peace, Disarmament, and Common Security [June 4, 2021] [Link].
The State of the Union
(Video) "The Second": The Racist Roots of the Constitutional Right to Bear Arms
From Democracy Now! [June 3, 2021]
---- Do African Americans have Second Amendment rights? That's the question Emory University professor Carol Anderson set out to answer in her new book, "The Second," which looks at the constitutional right to bear arms and its uneven application throughout U.S. history. She says she was prompted to write the book after the 2016 police killing of Philando Castile, who was fatally shot during a traffic stop after he told the officer he had a legal firearm. Anderson says the Second Amendment was always intended to be a means of arming white people to control the Black population. "There was this massive fear about these slave revolts, Black people demanding their freedom, being willing to have an uprising to gain their freedom," says Anderson. "What I saw was that it wasn't about guns. It was about the fear of Black people." [See the Program]
Israel-Palestine
Four Things to Know About Israel's New 'Change Coalition'
By Phyllis Bennis, Foreign Policy in Focus [June 4, 2021]
---- In Israel's parliament, the Knesset, a broad but shaky new "change coalition" claims it's ready to finally oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — the right-wing Likud leader who's held the office for the last 12 years. If approved, the new coalition would anoint as prime minister Naftali Bennett, a former Netanyahu ally who supports settlement expansion and annexation of much of the West Bank, and who is significantly further to the right than Netanyahu himself. In theory, if it stays in power for two years, the more centrist Yair Lapid would then take over as prime minister. But that's a big "if" — and the new coalition may not even survive its initial vote of confidence next week. More importantly, whoever is the next prime minister, Israel's politics — particularly on Palestinian rights — have in the last several years shifted dramatically to the right, and it is the far right wing of this new "coalition" that remains the most powerful. Here are four things to know about the government that could replace Netanyahu… [Read More]
Our History
Ronald Reagan Made Central America a Killing Field
An interview with Greg Grandin, Jacobin Magazine [May 2021]
---- Latin America has played a crucial role in the history of US empire — and not simply because of its proximity to the US. As historian Greg Grandin argues in the recently reissued Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States and the Making of an Imperial Republic, countries south of the border have been used as a crucible in the formation of US policy, a testing ground for its imperial theories, and a touchstone for domestic movements. One critical moment was the rise of Reaganism, when neoconservatives like Jeane Kirkpatrick and Elliott Abrams steered the US's foreign policy and rank-and-file members of the New Right took a keen interest in fighting left-wing movements in Central America. Right-wing leaders later used the lessons they gleaned from brutal counterinsurgency programs in El Salvador in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. In a recent appearance on the California-based progressive radio show Against the Grain, Grandin spoke with radical journalist Sasha Lilley about the many ways Latin America's resistance to US empire has reshaped American politics. [Read More]
