Politics. On Point.

Today President Barack Obama granted clemency to twenty-one individuals, consisting of eight commutations and thirteen pardons.   Said the president, " Three years ago, I signed the bipartisan Fair Sentencing Act, which dramatically narrowed the disparity between penalties for crack and powder cocaine offenses.  This law began to right a decades-old injustice, but for thousands of inmates, it came too late.  If they had been sentenced under the current law, many of them would have already served their time and paid their debt to society.  Instead, because of a disparity in the law that is now recognized as unjust, they remain in prison, separated from their families and their communities, at a cost of millions of taxpayer dollars each year.    Today, I am commuting the prison terms of eight men and women who were sentenced under an unfair system.   Each of them has served more than 15 years in prison.  In several cases, the sentencing jud...

Chanting “Just say No to the new Jim Crow” and “The War on Drugs is a war on us”, hundreds of protesters, many of them young activists who had come to Washington DC in buses from Pittsburgh and New York, marched on June 17th from the AME Church on 15th Street to Lafayette Park across from the White House where they staged a rally demanding that the Obama Administration end the war on drugs which disproportionally targets young African Americans. They also called on the president to focus more attention on the “epidemic” of Black unemployment across the country. Featured speakers at both the church and Lafayette Park rallies were Rev. Jesse Jackson , president of Rainbow Push and Dr. Ron Daniels , President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century ( IBW ). Related The War on Drugs: 40 Years Later African American Think Tank To Obama:  End War On Drugs Now

Speaking at the National Press Club yesterday, Dr. Ron Daniels, noted lecturer at York College City University of New York and president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century has an immediate call to action and fervent message for President Obama: Stop ignoring the plight of African Americans . Dr. Ron Daniels at National Press Club announcing IBW's Day of Direct Action. Photo/CD Brown. When 27 elementary children at a Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Connecticut were assassinated during on a regular school day, President Obama was there - front and center - vowing for tougher gun laws . When a hurricane and winds pummeled cities and towns of New Jersey last year, President Obama was there.  To thwart women being discriminated against in the work place, President Obama took swift and immediate action. As the president continues his push for the rights of the middle class, immigration reform (mainly for those of Hispanic descent), and equal treat...

Law enforcement officers say "Enough!" LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) is planning an event Tuesday, June 14th at the National Press Club to mark the 40th year anniversary of the war against drugs. The group's website states:  On June 17, 1971 President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs.” Looking back at the damage done over the past 40 years, it is clear that drug prohibition has failed. Click here to read more about how LEAP will mark the 40th anniversary of the drug war this week and find out how YOU can stand with our cops in saying “40 years is enough!” In an 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em-like video , Neil Franklin, a veteran officer in the state of MD, and Executive Director of LEAP, along with other law enforcement officers remark that drugs should be legalized. Listen to his message below. For some odd reason they're blaming President Obama for the war on drugs, calling their 10:00 am Tuesday event, Police an...