End mandatory sentencing

The editorial demanding the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal and abolition of the death penalty [in the November 1 Militant] points out how more and more laws have been passed that ultimately restrict democratic rights. I don't think this can be overstated. And yet there should also be demands for an end to mandatory sentencing and life without parole — death by incarceration.

Even if the death penalty were to be abolished, how many hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Blacks, will still be forced to die in prison? Even more subtle is the fact that many people cannot get jobs or housing because they have been arrested for misdemeanors or without cause at all — many are victims of the so-called War on Drugs. A criminal background record can mean a death sentence. These are the people who will die on the streets, again, mostly young Blacks.

As the editors point out, this is not only a race question. It is no accident that despite crime rates dropping, the prison population continues to escalate; and despite so-called record profits on Wall Street, layoffs continue and low-wage jobs dominate our "record employment." As the most oppressed layers of society will lead in the struggle to liberation, this fight for Mumia and against laws that take away democratic rights is in the interest of the majority.

P.K. 
Inver Grove, Minnesota 
 

Put book ads on website

I think the new Militant website is a wonderful resource but I was wondering if it couldn't also be used to help in the campaign to broaden out the availability of Pathfinder books. The printed paper regularly features ads of different Pathfinder books that relate to the political topics in the articles. If there is any way to also include similar ads on the website it would introduce Pathfinder to many more fighters.

Kari Sachs  
Newark New Jersey 
 

Can't trust those cops

The Seattle Times ran this story with the following opening lines:

"Key documents compiled by a citizen panel that looked into the Seattle Police Department's internal-review process have disappeared just before they were to be made public.

"The documents disappeared after Mayor Paul Schell's office handed them over to police—breaking a promise by the citizen panel to the people it interviewed that their statements would be confidential."

So much for confidence and trust in government and the police.

J.K. 
Seattle, Washington 
 
 
 
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