Religious leaders challenge war on drugs

A coalition of "Religious Leaders for a More Just and Compassionate Drug Policy" is challenging the way faith communities are being drawn into the "war on drugs." In a recent press release they explained their concerns.

"On May 10, the U.S. Drug Czar stood with Dr. James Dobson and his Young Life Christian Ministry and applauded this program for its fight against drugs. General McCaffrey claimed that religious institutions are the most effective vehicles for keeping youth off drugs. McCaffrey also cited the Fellowship of Christian Athlete's 'One Way 2 Play' program, The Salvation Army's drug treatment programs, and various church, mosque and synagogue involvement in 'drug-blighted areas.' The General concluded that 'for all of us, remaining drug-free is a matter of faith.'

"McCaffrey's co-optation of faith-based language to lend support to his 'war on drugs' is particularly offensive to one group of rabbis, imams, priests and ministers who have joined together in an organization called Religious Leaders for a More Just and Compassionate Drug Policy.

"The Rev. Howard Moody, coordinator of the organization, responded to McCaffrey's enlistment of religious groups by noting that the General's war on drugs is in fact a 'war on our youth' who are addicted to illicit drugs. 'Instead of giving them help and treatment, we send them to prison for long terms,' he explained. 'Our own kids are the "prisoners of war" in this immoral and unwinnable conflict. Its victims and casualties, especially African-Americans and Latinos, grow every year, filling our newly built prisons.'"

Religious Leaders recently issued a "manifesto of conscience" calling for "a more equitable and humane way for treating those who abuse licit and illicit drugs," and are gathering signatures. The text is available at <http://religious leaders.home.mindspring. com>.

Granny D links ecology, finance reform

Granny D (Doris Haddock), the 90-year-old woman who walked across the country speaking for campaign finance reform, was arrested April 21 in the Capitol Rotunda with the John Muir Democracy Brigade, a group merging finance reformers with environmental activists (The Nation, 5/15/00).

"At a press conference Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature, said a broad consensus is developing about the menace of global warming. 'The only people that seem not to get it work in that building behind us, [which] may have something to do with the millions and millions of dollars that flow into that building from the interests that do not want to change the status quo.' After telling the group, 'We must declare our independence from big money,' Granny D led the 32 demonstrators into the Rotunda, bearing large banners proclaiming CAMPAIGN FINANCE CORRUPTION LEADS TO ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION."

Earlier this year, the National Campaign for a Peace Tax Fund newsletter printed excerpts from Granny D's 90th birthday speech:

"For those of you who have lived a long life and think you are finished with it, I tell you that, if you will pray for courage and look to the needs of your community rather than yourself, a great energy and happiness will come to you. Indeed, your community needs your wisdom and your patience.

"In a time when people are so stressed in their lives and are so unaware of what it means to truly live well, to live free, to live with enough leisure and confidence to be the stewards of their own lives and communities, in this time, we strangely find ourselves having to explain why it is a bad thing if multinational corporations control our elections, and why it is a bad thing if our elected leaders no longer represent the interests of the people.

"Where do we march to make a fight of this? Not against our government, but against those inside and outside of it who have set up their cash registers in our temples of democracy."

Locked-out workers at the Detroit News and Free Press marked the fifth anniversary of their strike against the papers July 13, 2000 with rallies at the Detroit News building and at the papers' printing plant in suburban Sterling Heights (shown here). It was at the printing plant five years ago that thousands of unionists defied police, blocking the gates to keep Sunday papers from being delivered. The Witness' Jeanie and Bill Wylie-Kellermann became involved in the controversy when they organized a group of religious and civic leaders called Readers United in an effort -- sometimes involving civil disobedience -- to bring both sides to the bargaining table. With a recent ruling by a three-judge federal appeals court that the strike was not caused by management's unfair labor practices (saving management from owing workers as much as $100 million in back pay), the unions are renewing their call for a boycott of the papers.

Anti-Indian groups

Honor Digest recently published a listing of organizations working against Indian interests.

"A national umbrella group called Citizens for Equal Rights Alliance ... has its own newspaper, website, email, and congressional spokespersons. Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA) is an unabashed mouthpiece for these groups.

"Connecting with other right-wing groups into a coalition called the 'Alliance for Freedom,' the anti-Indian groups meet in Washington, D.C. once or twice a year to converge on Congress They urge that reservations and sovereignty be terminated, and legal precedents are overturned. CERA recently formed a non-profit charitable organization called Citizens for Equal Rights Foundation (CERF), so that people can get a tax deduction for contributing to the hate agenda and messages.

"It's not just Congress that is a focus for these groups. They frequent the halls of state legislatures and actively field candidates for election at every level of government.

"Preying on the ignorance of mainstream press and Americans in general, CERA and its cohorts are able to gain airing of false information. One example is the 'all Indians are now rich from gaming' myth. This makes good press copy. The fact that tribes are using some of the gaming revenue to reacquire homelands is especially galling to the anti-Indian forces.

"Here are some of the groups targeting the sovereignty, treaty rights, human rights, land interests and survival of American Indian tribes: Citizens for Equal Rights Alliance (CERA), All Citizens Equal (ACE), Protect American Rights and Resources (PARR), United Property Owners of Washington (UPOW), Upstate Citizens for Equality (UCE), Proper Economic Resource Management (PERM), Hunting & Angling Club, Arizona Coalition for Public Lands, American Citizens Together, Seneca County Liberation Organization, and, in Canada, the Organization of Fishermen & Hunters (OFAH)."

Prisoners counted out

Census rules for counting prison inmates will drain federal assistance from urban areas most in need of it, Tracy Huling and Marc Mauer write in The Chicago Tribune (3/29/00).

"The census counts inmates, mostly residents of inner-city communities, as part of the populations of towns where they are incarcerated. The combined impact of this

regulation and the near doubling of the prison population since 1990 could yield a substantial shift in government dollars and political power from urban to rural areas.

"Prisons have become a growth industry in rural America and the majority of new prisons are now built in rural communities.

"Not surprisingly, the benefits that rural communities derive from the census count come at the expense of urban neighborhoods, whose members represent a substantial portion of the inmates in rural prisons. In New York State, for example, while 89 percent of prisoners are housed in rural areas, three-quarters of the inmate population come from just seven neighborhoods in New York City. These neighborhoods, and prisoners generally, are disproportionately composed of low-income minorities -- half of all inmates are African-American and one-sixth Latino. Thus, the urban communities hardest hit by both crime and criminal justice policies are now similarly disadvantaged by losing funding and political influence through the reapportionment process."l