opinions/editorials
Guest Columnist
By Marian Wright Edelman
Funneling Children into the Adult Criminal Justice System Children are not little adults. Adolescents are not the same as adults. We’ve known this for years. The research showing that their brains are still developing is clear. Although young people act on impulse, they have the ability to positively change and have a productive future. That’s why it’s outrageous that in the 21st century we still ignore the consequences of automatically funneling children into
the adult criminal justice system against so much research on youth development and juvenile justice best practices. It’s bad for public safety and it’s bad for the youths and their families. One of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)’s earliest research projects was its 1976 report titled, Children in Adult Jails, documenting the inhumane, ineffective practice of treating children like adult criminals and housing them side by side in the same prisons. Some states had already begun abolishing this
harmful practice decades earlier but others were resisting change or dragging their feet. Nearly 40 years later, the good news is that there are only two states left that automatically treat all 16- and 17-year-olds like adult criminals. The bad news is that Judge Polier’s home state, New York, is one of them. North Carolina is the other. It’s time for change. Our society takes adolescent brain development into account in many ways and takes steps to protect children and youths. We
Guest Columnist
don’t allow youths to do certain things because we say they are not mature enough to fully appreciate the consequences of their actions. Young people can’t see certain movies without an adult until their 17th birthdays and can’t see others at all until they turn 18. They can’t buy alcohol until their 21st birthdays. In New York, young people can’t get a tattoo under age 18. The New York City Council recently voted to raise the legal age of buying tobacco products and electronic ciga-
rettes from 18 to 21. Yet, there is a double standard; the day a young person turns 16 in New York, they are automatically treated as adults in the criminal justice system when charged with a crime. This means a 16-year-old can be arrested and spend a night or more in jail locked up with older adults without his or her parent or guardian ever knowing. A young person can spend five years incarcerated alongside adults before they are
See edelman on Page 29
By James Clingman
Authentic Black Leaders Brother A. Peter Bailey wrote a very enlightening article, titled, “Black Leaders, Past and Present, Speak on the Need for Focusing on Economics.” I called him after reading it, and we discussed something I continue to lament about Black people: Our failure to learn and follow through on the economic lessons of the past, especially those left by our elders. Additionally, I was a guest on
Brother Elliott Booker’s Internet radio show, “Time for an Awakening,” out of Philadelphia, during which he opened his show with a quote from the Bible. It was Hosea 4:6, the one many of us like to use when we are describing why we are languishing. The passage goes on to say that we are destroyed not only because of lack of knowledge but also because we have rejected knowledge. Bailey and Booker pointed out important issues related to
knowledge, and they both discussed our dilemma of having access to knowledge but rejecting it, having experiences and admonishments from those past and present but ignoring them, and essentially always “crying hungry with a loaf of bread under our arm.” They also illuminated the fact that Black folks are so ensconced in politics and political rhetoric that in many cases we are totally oblivious to the real deal in this country —econom-
Guest Columnist
ics. All we do is discuss political officeholders or listen to the usual suspects on radio and television, ad nauseam, with no real power to change anything that we rail against, because we are not operating from a position of economic strength. Frantz Fanon wrote, “A deserving people, a people conscious of its dignity, is a people that understands and insists that the government and the political parties are to serve the interest of the people. He went on to
say, “…ultimately a government or a party gets the people it deserves, and sooner or later, people get the government / leadership they deserve.” In my first book, Economic Empowerment or Economic Enslavement, We have a choice, a section is titled, “We deserve what we accept.” It pointed out the futility in expecting politicians to solve our problems while we have absolutely no
See clingman on Page 29
By Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
King’s True Legacy This month will mark the 85th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Across the nation and throughout the world community, millions of people will pay tribute and celebrate the birth of one our greatest freedom fighters and most effective leaders. The legacy of Dr. King is more than a federal holiday although we should never forget the protracted but successful struggle that was required to get that hol-
iday recognition signed into law. The legacy of Dr. King is more than a tall magnificent statue that now stands on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. King’s legacy is also more than a faint remembrance of the past sacrifices and victories of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The living legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. should be a legacy of present-day continuing the good fight for freedom, justice, equality and economic empowerment in America, Africa and everywhere in the world.
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Yes, today that is a big order and a tremendous challenge. As a young, statewide youth organizer from 1963 to 1968 for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in my home state of North Carolina, I witnessed firsthand the incredible genius and courage of Dr. King. I also remember his militant band of preachers, community organizers and student leaders who had become impatient with the status quo of systematic racial injustice in the United States. Golden Frinks, the N.C. The Washington Informer
state field secretary of SCLC recruited and introduced me to Dr. King and SCLC. Working with Dr. King changed my life for the better. Today, my purpose is simply to apply what I believe is the living legacy of Dr. King to some of the most pressing issues that oppressed people face nationally and internationally. Remember when Dr. King spoke out against the atrocities of the Vietnam War in 1967, there were many in the African American community who could not readily make
the connection that saw between the issues of racial and economic oppression in the United States and the issues of war and peace in southeast Asia. One of Dr. King’s famous quotes was, “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” It was only after Dr. King’s tragic assassination in 1968 that many shared his opposition to the Vietnam War. Martin Luther King Jr. would not have supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact,
See chavis on Page 29
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