Las Vegas Urban League's Kevin E. Hooks Pens Article "The Clinton's, Blame and Black Lives"

LAS VEGAS - April 13, 2016 - PRLog -- Kevin E. Hooks, President and CEO of the Las Vegas Urban League expresses the following opinion statement regarding issues related to the Black Lives Matter Movement and the the 2016 Presidential Campaign:

"For the past two years we've been inundated with vivid images of Black men and women being beaten or killed at the hands of police; we've watched in real-time children-mostly poor and brown, being poisoned by tap water; and civil-rights scholars have been discussing and writing books regarding the effects of mass incarceration on Black communities. Some of these wounds are fresh and others feel more like an old sports injury that aches on rainy days-either way, they've caused hyper-sensitive reactions to the candidates vying for our vote. The Black community, although not homogenous in thought are collectively feeling vulnerable.

Let me preface this by saying I love Michelle Alexander's work and I admire the work Black Lives Matter is doing across the country. They both have successfully held a steady spotlight on mass incarceration and actively engaged the public in conversations that were long overdue. However, I must respectfully disagree with the view that places the bulk of the mass incarceration crisis on the Clinton's.

I realize their views are shared by many, but without proper context, our rear-view vision is clouded as we blindly reach back for historical liability which scapegoats two individuals while disregarding the lot of us who either stood by and did nothing or begged for crime reduction.

There was an epidemic throughout inner cities across America as homicide rates soared, we were desperate for answers and relief for mothers who clutched their children's bullet riddled bodies, as they screamed, somebody help us, save our children. A movement was ignited in the late 80's to stop the violence and clean up the streets from those who threatened the safety of our community; a stop the violence crusade inspired by our Black leaders demanded that the plight of the Black community be taken seriously.

The three-strikes policy put forth by then President Bill Clinton as a part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act felt like a much needed remedy to a terminally ill community, but like any long-term treatment, adjustments should have been made to reduce and alleviate unintentional side-effects.

More often than not, broken window laws and over-zealous policing can further disenfranchise crime riddled neighborhoods that lack the resources to educate its children and employ their parents. The policy was painted with broad strokes without parameters in place to deter or rehabilitate the formally incarcerated. We couldn't see how this policy would disproportionally effect the Black community.

Let's also remember that the original law ushered in a new era ofmandatory sentencing to include life sentences without parole for anyone convicted of a serious violent felony after two previous convictions on similar state or federal charges. We didn't anticipate the policy being juxtaposed into a tool for profit and mass incarceration by overzealous prosecutors and lawmakers who molded the law to fit their racist and corrupt agendas.

Somehow the spirit of that law morphed into allowing life convictions for petty crimes, making it a convenient match to reignite the flames of antiquated Jim and Jane Crow laws.

I continuously say 'we,' because we wanted change, we wanted solutions and we wanted a President to lead the change and be tough on crime. And now that the pain and urgency we felt has dulled, we want to make Hillary Clinton culpable for everything that went wrong. The last wave of mass incarceration of Black people may have roots in the three-strikes policies of the Clinton era, but it's disingenuous to lay the blame at the feet of the former first lady. As American citizens armed with voting power and the responsibility to continuously hold elected officials accountable, we must look inward and admit that our complacent behavior may have acerbated our current situation.

It's time to quiet the rhetoric and noise and expand the narrow minded tunnel vision that blames two people solely for the existence of mass incarceration.

President Obama has begun, what will no doubt be a long and onerous process of fixing the huge problems created by the 1994 crime bill, and the only way we will be able to continue his work is by ensuring we elect the person who has continuously listened to cries of mothers and fathers struggling to be heard. No candidate is entitled to our vote; we must choose someone who is committed to furthering the policies that will undoubtedly bring us closer to realizing that hope President Obama inspired the country with during his first presidential campaign.

If we focus our energy and efforts on assigning blame rather than forcing long-term systemic change we do a disservice to the poor, the Black and the Brown who still languish in the hundreds of for-profit correctional facilities unnecessarily. Most importantly, we fail to recognize a valuable teaching moment. One that begins with honest self-reflection."

Kevin E. Hooks, Las Vegas Urban League
ADDRESS: 3575 W. Cheyenne Ave. Suite 101, North Las Vegas, NV 89032
PHONE: 702-636-3949
MEDIA CONTACT: Wendi Murillo
EMAIL: wmurillo@lvul.org
PHONE NUMBER: 702-528-9996
WEB: www.lvul.org