Fresno Famous

This proposition (Cali Prop 6) is a sneaky one that isn't much discussed. I only just heard about it last week. It's racist, anti-immigrant, and anti-youth. Here is some information about it. If you vote, vote no on 6. Pass it on!

Proposition 6 targets young people, poor and working class communities, communities of color, especially Blacks, Latinos, and undocumented immigrants most harshly. It would increase penalties for numerous “crimes” (such as vandalism, and the sale or use of methamphetamines) and facilitate the prosecution of youth as adults by deeming anyone 14 years or older charged with a “gang-related” felony as unfit for trial in a juvenile court which leads to longer sentences and an unsealed felony conviction for life. It would provide money to local housing authorities to conduct annual criminal background checks for Section 8 recipients and occupants with the intention of withdrawing the housing subsidy of people with recent convictions. It targets undocumented immigrants by denying bail to those charged with violent or “gang-related” crimes and by requiring local sheriffs, district attorneys and trial courts to report immigration status.

How is it possible that 44 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act California’s prison population has gone from 24,000 in 1980 to 173,000 today? This is not because of a rise in crime. The attacks on affirmative action and the mass incarceration complex are efforts to re-enslave Black people and Latinos and to lead a white backlash that never ends against the gains of the Civil Rights Movement. In this initiative, California State Senator George Runner (R-Antelope Valley) and billionaire funder Henry Nicolas III (who is currently indicted on charges of drug distribution, stock backdating and conspiracy) have put an initiative on the November ballot that aims to lengthen prison sentences, expand the number of penalties, and add millions more to the prison, police and probation systems. If approved, Proposition 6 also known as the “Safe Neighborhoods Act” will join California’s Three Strikes and Proposition 21 in helping to engorge the Black and Latino population in state prisons and further drain vital resources from low-income communities using the rhetoric of the “War on Gangs” (read War on Black and Latino youth). Proposition 6 exploits the fear of crime in urban areas in order to position the prison and police system as the one and only solution to the symptoms of urban neglect and structural racism—drugs, crime and violence—and in doing so, further criminalize the youth and communities of the inner city and further take from social welfare programs. The Runner Initiative is called the “Safe Neighborhoods Act.” It should be called the “shatter the families initiative.”

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http://thestrategycenter.org/noonthesix/prop6.html
http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=2956
http://www.votenoprop6.com/