[Peace] Tueday talk on Criminal (In)justice

[Brian Dolinar]

More Black Men in Prison than in College: Why It's Everyone's Problem
Expert speaker panel addresses racial disparity problem in Illinois prisons

Tuesday, March 27, 7pm
Pennsylvania Ave Residence Halls, Saunders Lounge

On Tuesday, March 27, IDEAL (Illinois Drug Education and Legislative) Reform
and the Coalition of Students for Social Change, in conjunction with nine
other organizations, will present a panel to address the urgent and
devastating problem of racial disparities in incarceration in Illinois. The
panel will be held from 7:00 – 9:00 pm at Saunders Lounge in Pennsylvania
Avenue Residence Halls.

Walter Boyd of Protestants for the Common Good in Chicago, IL, will present
the issues of racial profiling, the prison-industrial complex, and the
plight of people of color, especially in Illinois. Why are race and
incarceration so closely linked? What are the indications for society and
most importantly, what can we do? A native Chicagoan, Boyd brings enormous
experience and commitment to the cause of protecting the rights of
ex-offenders. He served in the Illinois Department of Corrections as a C
Number inmate for 24 years and is part of the community-based Developing
Justice Coalition.

Adam Wolf of the American Civil Liberties Union Drug Law Reform Project
(DLRP) in Santa Cruz, CA will explain what he sees as the intended racial
consequences of American drug policy. Wolf and the DLRP have litigated cases
that have reached the Supreme Court. Specifically, he will address
confidential informants, selective enforcement of drug laws, selective
prosecution of drug laws, use of drug dogs in public schools of color,
mandatory drug testing of pregnant women of color, and crack-powder
sentencing disparity. Wolf is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law
School and a former professor at the University of California-Los Angeles.

The discussion will close with a question-and-answer session and a spoken
word performance from local artist, student and columnist George Ploss.

As of June 2001, there were nearly twenty thousand more black males in the
Illinois state prison system than there were black males enrolled in the
state's public universities. According to the most recent data available
(2002), Illinois ranks first in the per capita rate of incarcerated
African-Americans convicted of drug possession offenses.

The panel is presented by IDEAL Reform and the Coalition of Students for
Social Change in coordination with: Black Graduate Students Association,
UIUC Chapter; Black Law Students Association; C-U Citizens for Peace and
Justice; Graduate and Professional Students of Color; International
Socialist Organization; Intersections Living Learning Community – Housing;
Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc.; Students for a Sensible Drug
Policy, UIUC Chapter; Together Encouraging the Appreciation of
Multiculturalism (TEAM); and the UIUC Faculty Association.

Illinois Drug Education and Legislative [IDEAL] Reform is an Illinois-based
not-for profit advocacy organization, working to foster public and
healthcare policies that best respond to the societal problems associated
with drug prohibition and risks of drug misuse.

The Coalition of Students for Social Change creates a community for
student-professionals who are committed to working for social change and
aims to develop ways to maintain our meaningful involvement in the
community.
-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace/attachments/20070325/fde80543/attachment.htm