3rd Annual Tunnel of Oppression this Week!

In cooperation with UAB, Amnesty International, and the Peace Over Prejudice Campaign, your are cordially invited to attend a very unique annual event at MSU called

"The Tunnel of Oppression"

This is a theatrical look into the real-life experiences of oppression in their many forms.

It will be held on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 in MSU Union Ballroom at three different showing times (6:00pm, 7:00pm and 8pm).

During this event, audience members witness a series of short student-written and performed monologues and skits addressing the many different forms of oppression and discrimination that exist in our society. Some of the critical issues we address this year include Sexism, Homophobia, Body Image, Genocide, Socio-Economic Inequality, and more. 
 

Contact Zain Shamoon @ shamoon1@msu.edu if you have any questions or concerns


Ending the discrimination and hate that exists in our world today is a duty for each and every one of us. In order to better understand the oppressed, we must hear their stories, and feel their experiences for ourselves.

Come. See. Hear. Feel.

Injustice in the Criminal Justice System

(Note, to see pictures in better detail since they get cut off in the post, click on them)

This picture is not pretty. What does the criminal justice system look like in America today?

The first figure the incarceration rate.




Now, how does the United States compare with other countries? We have 5% of the global population and have 25% of the world's prison population.
( data from UN Human Development Report 2007/2008)





Much of this is due to our own War on Drugs and all the tough on crime rhetoric that has been sold to the public with Nixon, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Clinton, and George W Bush. Clinton offered a 3 strikes law to prove just how tough on crime he was to his Republican opponents back in 1994.

How many arrests are there for marijuana every year? From NORML.


I think this is part of the reason why 14 states have decided to stand up and enact some sort of medical marijuana legislation, while 11 states have decriminalized small amounts of marijuana. Also, it is a reason why there is a ballot proposal in California to legalize marijuana come this November and possible ballot measures in Oregon and Nevada (for 2012) to do the same.

By the way, Obama has decided to increase spending for the drug war despite noting in 2004 that the war on drugs is an "utter failure".


Finally, how does race factor into the criminal justice system? I think that these are some interesting quotes.

(1999) "Our research shows that blacks comprise 62.7 percent and whites 36.7 percent of all drug offenders admitted to state prison, even though federal surveys and other data detailed in this report show clearly that this racial disparity bears scant relation to racial differences in drug offending. There are, for example, five times more white drug users than black. Relative to population, black men are admitted to state prison on drug charges at a rate that is 13.4 times greater than that of white men. In large part because of the extraordinary racial disparities in incarceration for drug offenses, blacks are incarcerated for all offenses at 8.2 times the rate of whites. One in every 20 black men over the age of 18 in the United States is in state or federal prison, compared to one in 180 white men."

Source:

Human Rights Watch, "Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs" (Washington, DC: Human Rights Watch, 2000).

"In 1986, before mandatory minimums for crack offenses became effective, the average federal drug offense sentence for blacks was 11% higher than for whites. Four years later following the implementation of harsher drug sentencing laws, the average federal drug offense sentence was 49% higher for blacks."

Source:

Meierhoefer, B. S., The General Effect of Mandatory Minimum Prison Terms: A Longitudinal Study of Federal Sentences Imposed (Washington DC: Federal Judicial Center, 1992), p. 20.

Due to harsh new sentencing guidelines, such as 'three-strikes, you're out,' "a disproportionate number of young Black and Hispanic men are likely to be imprisoned for life under scenarios in which they are guilty of little more than a history of untreated addiction and several prior drug-related offenses... States will absorb the staggering cost of not only constructing additional prisons to accommodate increasing numbers of prisoners who will never be released but also warehousing them into old age."

Source:

Craig Haney, Ph.D., and Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., "The Past and Future of U.S. Prison Policy: Twenty-five Years After the Stanford Prison Experiment," American Psychologist, Vol. 53, No. 7 (July 1998), p. 718.


With regards to the war on drugs, I would say that it's one of those things that is becoming more and more unpopular and the public really doesn't care much about it, but it makes so much money for the DEA, police, prosecutors, prison system, military, drug cartels, banks (to launder money), and prescription drug companies that don't want people to have a cheap and effective alternative (medical marijuana) to their drugs being sold to the public, (like Oxycontin), that the War on Drugs will not being going away anytime soon.

Perhaps a bottom up approach needs to be done to reform the criminal justice system, starting at the local, then state, then federal level. Because Americans deserve a much better criminal justice system.

Announcing the 2nd Annual Peace Art Contest!

The Peace over Prejudice Campaign (PoP) is excited to announce the launching of its

2nd Annual Peace Art Contest!

DEADLINE: MONDAY, APRIL 5th

Create an artistic piece fitting one of 3 themes:

1) the process of peace-building in our daily lives

Some possible ideas for this may include not only depictions of promoting peace in everyday life, but also promoting values such as justice/compassion/forgiveness, etc. We hope to see entries that illustrate how the abstract ideas of peace and justice can be concretely implemented. We also believe it is important to emphasize that peace-building is an ongoing, continual process.

2) art to propel activism and overcome apathy

People say that a picture can be worth a thousand words, or a song can start a movement. Show us any artistic depiction you think is powerful and compelling enough to help overcome apathy and promote greater awareness of and concern for any social justice issue(s).

3) peace and pop culture

What are some examples or ways in which values like peace, social consciousness and pluralism can/are promoted through pop culture? Can pop culture hinder efforts to overcome apathy? If so, how can this be overcome?

All Creative Mediums Accepted:
(drawing* painting* photography* dance* comedy* spoken word* music* animation* film* web* sculpture* fashion* and more!)

Prizes:

1st Place- $100
2nd place- $50
3rd place- $25
4th place- $25

*plus, all contestants will have the chance to have their work in a gallery display!


For more information about Peace over Prejudice, and to see images of some of last year's submissions, please visit www.popmsu.com and contact popmsu@gmail.com with your submissions or any questions.

Note: Submissions will become the property of Peace over Prejudice upon being received.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing your work!

Groups emailed about the art contest

Hi everyone,

I have emailed the following groups about our art contest:

MSU Women's Council
Center for Inquiry
MRULE
Black Student Alliance
RING (Respecting Individuals on Neutral Grounds)


Curtis

social justice quotes

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. ~Mother Teresa


Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Poverty is the mother of crime. ~Marcus Aurelius
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~Dalai Lama
Abraham Lincoln:
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Albert Schweitzer:
The fundamental rights of [humanity] are, first: the right of habitation; second, the right to move freely; third, the right to the soil and subsoil, and to the use of it; fourth, the right of freedom of labor and of exchange; fifth, the right to justice; sixth, the right to live within a natural national organization; and seventh, the right to education.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn:
Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice.
Baruch Spinoza:
Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue; a state of mind; a disposition for benevolence; confidence; and justice.
Charles Dickens:
Charity begins at home and justice begins next door.
Elie Wiesel:
This is the duty of our generation as we enter the twenty-first century -- solidarity with the weak, the persecuted, the lonely, the sick, and those in despair. It is expressed by the desire to give a noble and humanizing meaning to a community in which all members will define themselves not by their own identity but by that of others.

Census 2010!

hey all,

i contacted someone who works for the Census Detroit Regional Office and he asked me to pass along the information italicized below.

why should people who care about social justice support Census efforts, especially in under-served communities? it can make a really huge difference in determining how much federal money local cities and areas receive over the next decade, which can translate into improving schools, roads, parks, safety, and just a better quality of life.

in the city of east lansing alone, for every individual who fills out their Census form the city government receives $1400 of Federal funding per year over the next tend years (i.e. $14,000!)

please help get the word out!

"There are things that you and your organization can do immediately to contribute to the Census effort.

If you and your organization are a part of Facebook, be sure to become fans of the 2010 Census and the

Check out the 2010 Census website and the Detroit Regional Census Office and recommend that your Facebook friends become fans as well.

Check out the census website (http://www.census.gov) for information and updates on the 2010 Census and information on Census on Campus.

Remind friends and classmates that the Census is coming up fast. Census forms will be mailed out March 15, 2010 and Census Day is April 1, 2010."

Favorite Quotations

A few of my favorite peace and justice quotations:

Peace, to have meaning for many who have only known suffering in both peace and war, must be translated into bread or rice, shelter, health and education, as well as freedom and human dignity.
-- Ralph Johnson Bunche (1904-1971)

Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
-- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

There was never a good war or a bad peace.
-- Ben Franklin (1706-1790)

Peace may sound simple - one beautiful word - but it requires everything we have, every quality, every strength, every dream, every high ideal.
-- Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999)

Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.
-- Maria Montessori (1870-1952)

If you want peace, work for justice.
-- Pope Paul VI (1897-1978)