ESR student Karen A. Bradley shares her thoughts after attending Friends Committee on Legislation's Spring Lobby Weekend:
Over Spring Break I had the opportunity to attend the
“Unlock Justice” Lobby Weekend sponsored by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, in Washington DC. As a nontraditional student, I was--let's just
say--“a tad” bit older than most of the participants, about 400 Quaker and
Quaker-inspired high school and college students. The purpose of the event was
to train and excite young activists in lobbying as an advocacy practice. Participants spent three days learning about
the issue and one day actually lobbying their state senators and
representatives on Capital Hill. It was a high energy event to say the least. These young adults were amped up on their
political and religious passions. Even
the moments of Quaker silence shimmered in palpable effervescence.
Sentencing reform was the substantive focus of the lobby
weekend. In particular, mandatory sentencing, especially for small drug crimes,
that has filled our prison systems with essentially non-violent, minimal crime
offenders who end up with very long maximum sentences. There is also evidence
that this affects poor and minority communities disproportionately. Much needs
to be done to reform these laws. That is
why FCNL chose this issue for the lobby weekend. It is an essential step in having a more fair
and just approach to imprisonment in America.
I care very much about this issue. As I looked over the 400
students packed into the hotel conference room, I also thought about my own
nephew, Joshua, who sits in a prison in Oklahoma. It isn't one of those extreme
examples we heard about at the conference.
He is an ordinary rural kid in his early 30s who was arrested for selling
“meth.” It sounds bad and dangerous but
he is not that formidable. Josh grew up
in a low income home and community. He
has a dad who died of an overdose. He has multiple learning disabilities
including ADHD. They tried Ritalin at
the time but eventually, because Josh didn't have access to health care, he
didn't have any access to treatment. He
dropped out of school in 8th grade and began self medicating with
speed (oddly kids with hyperactivity actually feel more calm when they take
speed.) Because he didn't complete
school, he struggled to find jobs. He
moved through a variety of them, all minimum wage. For the most part, he
attempted to do well in them. Even when he did do well, the pay was hardly
enough to live on. His growing
involvement with drugs grew out of the lack of economic opportunities, the
on-going issues with learning disabilities, a narrative on rural masculinity,
and a whole host of other things. There
were times he had more opportunities then others. He has a loving, supportive
family. Even so, Josh never really pulled
his life together; his drug use grew worse.
His crime, the “selling” of meth, was simply him passing on enough to a few friends in order to pay for his own habits. So now he is in prison for three years and he
has several substantial fines he must pay when he gets out.
It is hard to imagine how this scenario is going to yield
anything other than more failure in his life.
What “lesson” will he learn in prison that will make his life better
when he gets out? He has a drug addiction, learning disabilities, and a learned
way of life that centers on tough masculinity.
He needs adequate health care. He
needs education. He needs a minimum wage that he can live on. He needs job opportunities that are
meaningful. He needs an alternative way
of thinking about the world that gives him hope.
Joshua is only slightly older than the young Quaker
lobbyists who marched into senator and representative offices on Capital Hill
to speak their minds. Their life paths
are very different. There isn't anything
the young Quakers can do to directly to undo the unevenness between their more
blessed lives and the lives of poor rural white kids in Oklahoma. But that
those students take the time to invest their blessings in ways to intervene in
the system and to demand attention to the cause of peace and justice is truly a
beautiful thing. It inspires me to work harder and it gives me hope.
The tag line for the whole weekend was “Tell congress why
you want to “unlock justice.”--the source of many videos that were posted on
social media. Here is my response. Why do I want to “unlock justice?” Because I believe that prison sentences are
no substitute for adequate education, affordable health care, and a functioning
economy.
Quaker young adults, you rock!
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