06/19/2020
Today, we celebrate the emancipation of black Americans from slavery. However, many Americans, mostly black men, still suffer involuntary servitude in prisons around the country at an absolutely staggering rate. Today we should not only celebrate the successes of our past, but we should also contemplate the ways in which we have failed ourselves and our citizens on a systemic level. Criminal defense lawyers are often the first line of defense against mass incarceration, but we can only lawfully operate within the system that is in place.
Two organizations are making inroads in dismantling the system of mass incarceration. On a local level, the RMF - Community Bail Fund is working hard to bail out non-violent defendants in Boone County. On a national level, Families Against Mandatory Mimimums is lobbying against draconian minimum sentencing laws. They need your support.
On this Juneteenth, NPR is marking the day in 1865 when Union forces arrived in Texas with the news that slavery had been abolished two years earlier with a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation.
