One-Fifth Racist

The Senate throws the prison industrial complex a bone at the expense of African-Americans males. On some issues there should be no compromise, equality is the only answer.

From The American Prospect...

Under current federal law, it takes 500 grams of powder cocaine to trigger the same mandatory minimum sentence as 5 grams of crack cocaine.

"It is plainly unjust to hand down wildly disparate prison sentences for materially similar crimes," Attorney General Holder said last summer. "It is unjust to have a sentencing disparity that disproportionately and illogically affects some racial groups.

So what is the Senate proposing? More from The American Prospect...

Sen. Dick Durbin announced that he and Sen. Jeff Sessions had reached a "compromise" which will eliminate the 100 to 1 sentencing disparity for crack vs. powder cocaine.

The compromise was that Durbin would accept Sessions' amendment to change the disparity from 100 to 1 to 20 to 1.

The Judiciary Committee passed the bill, which will go to the full Senate for a vote. Instead of eliminating the crack/powder disparity, which practically everyone in the committee acknowledged disproportionately affects black Americans, the senators opted to make the law one-fifth as racist as it used to be.

And the response from our esteemed African-American Attorney General, Eric Holder?

“I applaud the work of the Senate Judiciary Committee, particularly Chairman Leahy, Ranking Member Sessions and Senators Durbin and Graham, in taking such an important step toward reforming our sentencing laws. I look forward to the Senate and the House approving this legislation quickly so that it can be signed into law.”

I would call my Senator to voice my opposition to this "compromise" but DC residents don't have a vote in the Senate.  Sigh.  Another layer of the unjust onion.