race

Crack, Mass Incarceration and Black Trauma: Jeffrey’s Story

Jeffrey Calhoun has been shot seven times and sent to prison three. Had he not been granted clemency by President…

August 20, 2020

Drive to Free Black Woman With Marijuana Life Sentence Exposes “Habitual Criminal” Laws

“Give a mother the chance to hold her child again.” So reads a petition, launched on August 15, to free…

August 19, 2020

Don’t Blame Protests for COVID—Defund Police for Communities’ Health

Hundreds of thousands have gathered across the country this summer to protest the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor,…

August 19, 2020

Kamala Harris Was Mocking “Schools Not Jails” Not So Long Ago

When Kamala Harris was still San Francisco’s district attorney in 2010, she delivered a talk at the Commonwealth Club where…

August 13, 2020

Study: Overdose Deaths Stratified Among Latinx People

At first glance, national data suggest that Latinx people are suffering fewer fatal overdoses compared to other racial groups. Upon…

August 12, 2020

Black Residents Subject to 97 Percent of Marijuana Arrests, Citations in Albany

While the state of New York decriminalized marijuana possession for personal use in 2019, its capital, Albany, has been reserving…

August 6, 2020

End Civil Asset Forfeiture to Defund the Drug War

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it,” as…

August 6, 2020

New Jersey Bill Could Belatedly Release One in Five People From Prison

On July 30, the New Jersey state Senate voted in favor of a bill that could free about 3,000, or…

August 3, 2020

“Trail of Death”—A Short Film About COVID, Nicotine and Racism

This short documentary, concerning COVID-19, smoking, vaping and racism in America, was co-directed by Filter Senior Editor Helen Redmond and…

August 3, 2020

The Political Fight to Avoid an Evictions Catastrophe

The next crisis is fast approaching: one of evictions. On July 24, the federal four-month moratorium on evictions expired. It…

July 30, 2020