Watched the WI last Bernie event. Heard a lot about the criminal justice system and removing

[Jitter65]

marijuana from the controlled substance list. I agree with this and decriminalizing it. I won't argue about the criminal justice system being unjust and discriminatory because it really, really is. But something else comes to my mind about the Crime Bill signed by Bill Clinton and voted FOR by one Bernie Sanders with no apologies and for which Hillary is not held as responsible for its passage if not its very existence.

While I understand and appreciate the BLM movement i am somewhat amazed by their lack of historical perspective as well as their failure to hold BS to the same standards...at least with respect to the Crime legislation ..as they do Hillary. I lived through that era and I know for certain that it just wasn't just white people in suburbia calling for tougher law enforcement against crime. It was the black mothers and fathers and grandparents who were calling for help against the terror they felt within their own neighborhoods (remember neighborhood watch?). It was the robbing and mugging of their elders and the enticing to the dark side of their innocent children that made many of them overlook the potential consequences of a law that was UNJUSTLY executed and enforced. (I had two members of my immediate and three members of my extended family shot and killed or overdosed on the street or in an alley of our neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Chicago, LA and Cleveland.)

I was afraid for my own children. And damn it, we did get some relief in some quarters from the incessant threat of being mugged or robbed after the bill was passed and the community policing began.

But it all went badly wrong when the law was not justly enforced and when it allowed black youth to be targeted while allowing white youths who were equally as criminal go unpunished or never even charged or arrested for the same behavior and crimes that black and Latino youth were arrested and booked for. Many white teens and other whites were never even arrested especially if it was known they were on their second of three strikes.

So yes, it turned out to be a bad law and the "three strikes" provision was the worst of it with its mandatory minimums. But if whites had been apprehended, arrested, and booked according to their criminal involvement that law would have been overturned within 18 months of enactment. Remember, skinheads and bikers ran huge criminal drug operations but were seldom even looked at by law enforcement.

The bill that passed was going to pass with or without Bill Clinton's signature since he had previously vetoed two previous and more harsh bills. He negotiated for the community policing provisions and the mid-night basketball and other provisions that actually were put in the bill to try to prevent the need for such drastic law enforcement. But that history is conveniently overlooked as is Bernie Sander's role in passage of the legislation. And remember, most of the Black Caucus at that time voted for the bill. As I recall, Lewis and Conyers voted against the bill and the further militarization of the police forces, but of the Caucus voted for it.

Some black activists who are all too happy to stoke the fires of hate against the Clintons are the main ones who do not want to be reminded that Bernie did, in fact, vote for this bill. But then, we know Hillary made him do it.

[Lucinda]

1. Thanks for the perspective! Much appreciated.

[Luminous Animal]

2. Actually, Bernie made some very impassioned speeches against the bill and explained at the time of

the vote, why he was reluctantly voting for it; because it contained the Violence Against Women Act.

In his speeches against it, he clearly explained that it would result in an increased prison population, specifically PoC and poor people.

And he was right.

Hillary, on the other hand, though unable to vote on it, actively lobbied for it.

[Jitter65]

4. That part could have been introduced as a separate bill. Bernie voted against other bills

with measures he didn't like. But no one holds him responsible for this vote like they do Hillary (who also gave an impassioned speech on how difficult her Iraq vote was).

[riderinthestorm]

5. Nope, they tried to get it as part of a separate bill

and failed.

Bill Clinton actually vetoed it twice trying to detach it and failed.

Hillary Clinton actually delivered impassioned speeches FOR the Iraq War on behalf of Bush.


https://m.

[Luminous Animal]

7. Yes. It should have been but that is how some members of congress are roped into

voting for bills that they would otherwise not vote for.

Link to Hillary's impassioned speech, please.

[Jitter65]

11. Don't have video of speech...but this should do.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2016/02/hillary_clinton_told_the_truth_about_her_iraq_war_vote.html

snip...

"She added, “This is a difficult vote. This is probably the hardest decision I have ever had to make. Any vote that may lead to war should be hard, but I cast it with conviction. … My vote is not, however, a vote for any new doctrine of preemption or for unilateralism or for the arrogance of American power or purpose.” A vote for the resolution, she argued, “is not a vote to rush to war; it is a vote that puts awesome responsibility in the hands of our president. And we say to him: Use these powers wisely and as a last resort.”

[Viva_La_Revolution]

6. Sanders Voted for 1994 Crime Bill to Support Assault Weapons Ban, Violence Against Women Provisions

Sanders Voted for 1994 Crime Bill to Support Assault Weapons Ban, Violence Against Women Provisions
https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-voted-for-1994-crime-bill-to-support-assault-weapons-ban-violence-against-women-provisions/

Details

[Jitter65]

10. Actually he voted to pass the legislation. His reasons for speaking against it were enough

to vote against it, but he didn't.

[Kentonio]

12. And if he had, people would instead be accusing him of voting against the Violence Against Women bit

[riderinthestorm]

3. The black community wanted it. The black caucus voted for it.

The Crime Bill contained the VAWA provisions and at the time there was no way to separate it out.

Exactly what would you be saying if Bernie had voted against VAWA? It's a no win situation and unfortunately it's the way legislation goes some times. Rarely is it a "clean" vote.

FWIW, not that I believe anything will change your mind, he was passionate in his arguments against the Crime Bill's worst elements.

https://m.

[Luminous Animal]

8. I was very active in CopWatch Oakland and the Women's Economic Agenda Project at the time...

both organizations active and organizers within "the black community" and both were vehemently against it.

[riderinthestorm]

9. Thanks for the input.

Im relying on anecdotal evidence from then and now as voiced by the OP (and other "brave" ones).

Always happy to be educated.