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Free
Kemba
Smith:
Youth
lead
the
way
in
the
campaign
against
mandatory
minimum
sentencing
9/12/97
In the last Week Online, we urged members in the Washington, DC area
to attend the Free Kemba Smith rally, protesting disproportionate mandatory
minimum sentencing, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday. (See
http://drcnet.org/rapid/1997/9-5-1.html#demos.)
The event featured students from Dayton, OH who had learned about the tragic
Kemba Smith story from the May, 1996 issue of Emerge magazine. Speakers
from Congress included Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI),
and Rep. Maxine Waters (D- CA), chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Waters denounced a policy that would take a daughter away from her parents
for 24 years after they have spent just as many years doing everything
they could to raise her as a good citizen.
Also presenting were Kemba Smith's parents, Gus and Odessa Smith, Catherine
Powell of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Anthony Graham, Language Arts teach
at Colonel White High School in Dayton, followed by three of his students,
Michael Hines, a New York poet and recovered addict, and Julie Stewart,
President of Families Against Mandatory Minimums.
The most rousing presentation was that of Rev. Jamal Bryant, Youth and
College Director of the NAACP. Bryant's fiery oratory was evocative of
the civil rights movement in its heyday under Martin Luther King.
The rally received extensive coverage on radio, TV, and in newspapers,
including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, FOX News, NBC,
Court TV and more.
We will provide ordering information for the "Kemba's Nightmare"
report in the next issue of The Week Online.
-- END --
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Issue #11, 9/12/97
Organization News | Medical Marijuana: Plaintiffs in Conant v. McCaffrey Win Another Stage | Needle Exchange: House passes amendment that would strip Shalala of the power to lift the ban on using Federal AIDS funding for needle exchange | War on the Border: Against the Pentagon's wishes, the House votes to add provision for 10,000 troops on US-Mexican border to defense bill | War in the Capital: In our nation's capital, nearly 50% of black males between 18-35 are under criminal justice supervision | Focus on Michigan | Free Kemba Smith: Youth lead the way in the campaign against mandatory minimum sentencing | International: Colombia faces terror threat and a guerrilla war it can't win | Quote of the Week: Monkey business from the new issue of the Drug Policy Letter | Link of the Week: National Alliance of Methadone Advocates
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