Drug War Survivors March Across Bridge In Selma, Alabama

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AP

Survivors of the Drug War, community leaders from United States and Mexico to walk across historic Edmund Pettus Bridge to call for an end to Drug War that has devastated black & latino communities and killed more than 60,000 in Mexico
In act of solidarity, U.S.-Mexico Caravan for Peace joins local leaders to condemn rampant violence and mass incarceration caused by failed War on Drugs.
The Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity — made up of Mexican survivors of the Drug War and activists from both Mexico and the United States — on Wednesday will join local civil rights leaders to travel over the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge in order to draw attention to the more than 60,000 people killed in drug-war-related violence in Mexico since 2006, as well as the devastating and systemic racism caused by the failed war on drugs in the U.S.


GLAA Forum
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader John Lewis, who led a peaceful march for the right to vote, is beaten by police at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, March 7, 1965. 

On “Bloody Sunday,” March 7, 1965, roughly 600 peaceful civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma towards Montgomery to protest a brutal murder and the denial of their constitutional right to vote, but they were attacked with clubs and tear gas by armed officers when they reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Today Alabamians – including Bullock County NAACP President Dr. James Poe and community leader Sam Walter, along with members of local NAACP and other civic organizations – seek to raise attention to the overwhelming racial disparities of the drug war – or what has been called the “New Jim Crow.”
They are joined by the Caravan for Peace, which is traveling across the country to call for an end to the failed drug war that has proved to be a war on communities in Mexico as well as people of color in the U.S.
This action of solidarity between Mexican Drug War survivors and U.S. black and latino communities comes one day after the 49th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Javier Sicilia, Caravan for Peace: “Our movement brings together activists from both of our countries to shed light on the policies that have failed our families, neighbors, and nations”

“Our movement brings together activists from both of our countries to shed light on the policies that have failed our families, neighbors, and nations,” said Javier Sicilia, the poet turned activist and Caravan leader after his son, Juan Francisco, was killed last year in violence related to the drug war. “United, we will raise our voices to call for an end to a war on drugs that allows entire communities to become casualties, and we will demand a shift in attention to poverty and the lack of economic opportunity that helps breed criminality.”
What: Peaceful March Across Historic Edmund Pettus Bridge
Where: Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, Alabama
When: 12 noon
Immediately following the bridge crossing, the Caravan will continue its journey to Montgomery, where it will join with the Alabama NAACP, Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice  and other community organizations to hold a press conference and public forum, during which survivors and witnesses of the drug war from both sides of the border will share their testimonies.
What: Press Conference
Where: Fresh Anointing House of Worship, 4870 Woodley Road, Montgomery, Alabama
When: 3 pm
Although today black people are legally able to go to school where they choose, to own homes and to vote for the politicians who represent them – and though the formal system of segregation and Jim Crow has been dismantled – schools are more segregated now than they were in 1963, home ownership by people of color remains well below that of whites and a full 13 percent of black men are denied the right to vote because of felony convictions, mostly for offenses related to the Drug War.

Smith/New York Daily News
Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP: “We must abandon the unsuccessful ‘tough on crime’ appraoch to justice and adopt a ‘smart on crime’ strategy”

Racism and exclusionary practices did not cease with the end of Jim Crow. They became more subtle as they went from racism enshrined in law to racism achieved through social mores and the use of drug laws. The Caravan and its allies in the Selma community are calling for the U.S. public to recognize and reflect on this new form of racism — which in many ways has its origins in the War On Drugs.
The rhetoric of the War ON Drugs arose at precisely the same time as outright racism was becoming taboo. Fighting “drugs” and “disorder” was code for maintaining white privilege in the face of challenge by people of color and others who believed in the principles of justice and equality. 
“The NAACP is united with the Caravan for Peace in calling for an end to ineffective criminal justice policies like the war on drugs and racial profiling that fail to address the real problems of our communities,” said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “We must abandon the unsuccessful ‘tough on crime’ approach to justice and adopt a ‘smart on crime’ strategy that places individuals, their welfare and dignity, and community safety at the center of drug policy.”

LEAP
Neill Franklin, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition: “What do we have to do this decade to end the incarceration epidemic?”

Today, as a result of this “war,” two-thirds of those in state prison are black or latino, even though the rate at which they use and sell drugs is
about the same as whites. Prisons are the new ghettoes, the latest in a series of exclusionary mechanisms that serve to exclude people of color from mainstream society.
Even after being released from prison or jail, a criminal drug conviction often creates a permanent ban on voting, getting a job, receiving public benefits, obtaining financial aid, and many other vital aspects of social, economic and political life – leading to a permanent underclass of primarily young black men.
For these reasons, many today consider the Drug War as a major driver of a “New Jim Crow.”
“In the 1860s we fought the deadliest war in the nation’s history to end slavery,” said Neill Franklin, retired police major and executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). “In the 1960s we were fire-hosed in the streets, attacked by dogs, our children taunted and attacked, our leaders assassinated to stop Jim Crow.
“What do we have to do this decade to end the incarceration epidemic?” Franklin asked. “Only to hold our elected leaders accountable to the will of the people and to make the will of the people heard throughout the land. Out of respect to Dr. King and to all of the unsung heroes who fought for civil rights in the 1960s and in the decades before and since, it is literally the least we can do.”
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