Thank you so much.
I have thrown, not much, but it is quite a number
From public speeches in my life,
I have to tell you that it is none of what I did before
It is like being on this platform now
After hearing these gentlemen and ladies throughout the evening.
When I was in the audience now, I was updating myself
Wishing that everyone I love, and everyone I do not love too
Come here with us and listen to what we hear today.
This is in many ways a confirmation of what we are all about
I mean every one of us.
So, I salute Saint Quentin for this opportunity to hear
I salute the men who have shared their lives
It’s really a bonus, I hope to come out after this meeting
All of us and share it with the rest of the world as a whole.
(clap)
I had planned to talk in part about the extent of criminal justice corruption
And how we should change it, and I have a strong faith in it.
But now I do not need to repeat this.
If I wish to be a confirmation of what my predecessors said.
Public safety is sensitive
We need a criminal justice system, because our system is low.
You do not need to convince anyone. That’s what I want
Talk about something different
How to involve the world in this matter, and how to educate it
On criminal justice, recognizing that it is important for political issues
Health care, the economy, or the Middle East
How can we create a national sense of urgency
On the need for criminal justice reform
Which basically, very recently,
Has never been the subject of political debate except when it comes to militants against crime?
So how do we do that?
To do this, I would like to go back a bit to talk about someone
He was a prisoner here in San Quentin during the 1960s.
His name was Eldridge Cleaver
Some attendees may know him, or at least mention the name
He was a prominent member of the Black Panther Party
One of the things written by this phrase
In the 1960s this was the time of intense social fervor
“There is no longer any neutrality,” he said.
Either be part of the problem, or be part of the solution.
Today, we see this repeated as a bar in front of us
But what if we stopped a little and thought about our lives
The people we know, and the world
I think it’s a very good comment, and I’ll come back later
So, my own background: how did you get here
How did you become a reformer of criminal justice?
I grew up in a fairly affordable middle class family
While I was fourth, my family moved from the Bronx city,
To Long Island, which was then an emerging city
My father was a lawyer.
He cares about issues of insurance and negligence during the day,
At night he was active as a member of the CORE Council for Racial Equality
Civil Rights Organization.
At that time, Long Island was flourishing
Because all working-class families moved from the city to chase
The American dream of owning homes.
But imagine what happened
There was a team of people who did not welcome the idea.
Again and again, people have noticed that blacks are not welcome
When they want to own a house.
Therefore, my father met with a reporter from the newspaper “Newsday”
It is a local newspaper.
And demonstrated their desire to buy a common home.
While a black pair will display the same request after or before
From the owner of the building itself or the seller.
It is often the case that my father and his companion find the house available for sale.
While the black pair finds it unavailable every time
This was in the north, in the 1960s
So, it was revealed and written many articles
And got good changes.
I believe that the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968
This is in part thanks to what my parents and others did with him
And similar activities
Mention days that my father organized a convoy of protesters
Because of a man from our neighbors
He had refused to sell to an African American family.
My parents pushed people to strike
They raised large banners, chanted and were of all races.
Needless to say, the neighbors did not welcome them
I remember well my strange sense mixed between embarrassment and pride together
Being a child goes through such an event
But today, when I remember what happened, I realized how fortunate I was
Seeing my ideals acting courageously
in front of my eyes.
I’ve been very lucky, and I’m sure what I’m doing today is here
It goes back to what happened in the past.
During the 1970s, I returned to high school in New York
In 1974, another incident occurred again in a northern city, Boston.
A federal judge assigned a law to abolish racial discrimination in Boston schools
As you know, Boston is sometimes a very racist debtor
Such as New York City
The reception of most of the black children with their white neighbors was bad
There were particularly violent practices in an area called South Boston
It was a very violent city.
One of our teachers said, “Why do not you inspect what’s going on outside?”
A group of us drove out carrying cameras for shooting
We headed for Roxbury, a neighborhood of black neighborhoods and talked with the black kids.
Then we drove south of Boston and talked to the white kids
For the first time in my life, I face blind intolerance and crude ignorance
In the middle of the conversation, a friend asked me a question about the children
While they were hurling insults and insults
“Have you ever met a black person before you tried the bus?
They replied, “No, it did not happen”
After a moment of silence, a girl appeared down the stairs
“I know, I already knew someone, they are not too bad,” she said.
Then the terrible silence.
Then and without violence from them
The public revolted on it, and described it as “beloved Negro”
during filming
The long silence followed
We turned this photography into a documentary tape and we distributed tapes, we were kids
But it was another step forward
When I reached the stage of choosing my profession I chose to press
Because I understood the power of the press and the power of prejudices
However, as everyone knows here, we do not always plan for our career
So I became a business reporter.
It was like professions at the time
I worked hard and hard, and I did well
I ended up on Wall Street
Where she became a financial analyst and then manager of the hedge fund
I worked in this field 15 or nearly 20 years
It lasted in my work and made my time and effort
I did not read anything but about business and money
So my life went on
I can say that I was a model for an ordinary professional
Finally, she retired about 6 or 7 years ago
I decided to get to know the world again
I was very lucky
I lived in New York and met really successful people
Who have been involved in educational reform and migration reform
Thus, over time I returned to the issue of criminal justice
She recalled everything that had happened since she had stopped pursuing the subject
20 or 25 years ago
Nothing you learned will be new to anyone here
But some things hold back
One of the quick things I learned from my crime as a whole
In criminal justice
It was thought that all causes of confinement today
We were not locked up for it 30, 40, 50 or even 60 years ago
Such as drug addiction, is a health problem.
Mental health, alcoholism,
School violence among children.
Now there are police who take children from classes to prisons
Prison for immigration, we are making this
Which has been commonplace in our country for thirty years
Is the absence of people in the prisons
The reasons behind this are complex, and it is very difficult to unseat them
They have been discussed by people, who are more successful than me
They preceded me in the hope that they would receive any response from them
I realized that the problem was not in the fact that it was bad enough
But the problem in the absence of a national sense at all
Where are the protests on the pages of the daily newspapers?
Then I woke up in the mirror, “What was I doing?
(Laughter of the public)
I did not make any bad, but I did not lion any good also.
I even enjoyed my pleasant holidays and became a family
I became a normal American citizen, just an American in various forms
But I felt there were millions of people like me
Who want to understand and follow what is going on but who will care
Let us say: it is the power of the press
I always believe in the power of reporters and the news
Power Storytelling Events
Hence the idea of the “Marshall Plan”
According to my conclusion, what we need
It was not just one of the things we heard about
At home, whether inside or outside the prison
But we need a national dialogue
We are forced to broadcast the spirit of emergency
In my opinion, the best way to do that is to tell stories
Conduct investigations,
Reveal the truth in front of people.
Our history, especially the modern ones, is full of examples for the press
Great effect:
Remember the Vietnam War, and the reporters are men and women involved
Not to do anything but to document what they saw
At a time when we did not really fight that war
All these images and articles helped to stir up public opinion
Against war
Or remember the civil rights movement and how crucial it was
With correspondents at the Edmond Betis Bridge in Selma, in 1965
When demonstrators gathered on the bridge
And they were exposed to kicking and beating.
The event had a profound impact on changing the perception of Congress and the North
What is happening in the south
In my opinion, journalism is truly an amazing tool for social change.
So what is the Marshall Plan?
We launched it a year ago.
A non-profit press organization project
We count heavily on the support of institutions and individuals
We are investigating the living conditions in the prison
Juvenile justice, immigration or the death penalty.
We issue a daily bulletin on behalf of the opening statement The Opening Statement
Which have become indispensable for many of the workers
in the field
We also have a section called “Life Inside”
It is a weekly column dealing with life in the interior.
Today, I do not know how many of you have had the opportunity to visit the site
We published the second article
Larsen Thomas reports the San Quentin prison
(Public applause and applause)
He is not alone, but we have a lot of writings from the prisoners
I have to stop here, because yesterday our editor Bill Keller and Kelly Pine
And some of our staff, accompanied by a visit with the newspaper “San Quentin News”.
I do not really have to justify the Marshall Plan
Or justifying journalistic work
But to meet these men from colleagues and comrades of the struggle
Where we share ideas
It was really amazing because I think it’s in such a small world
What the San Quentin News does here is understandable to you here
Place of distribution
All this is in line with what we aim to achieve
I do not think there is anything more powerful than this
If you really want to understand the Marshall Plan just take a look
On the newspaper “San Quentin News”
(Public applause and applause)
So, we realized that we were really influential
We talked about some of the things we have accomplished
Our editor Bill Keller conducted a dialogue with the President of the United States.
He talked about criminal justice reform and Black Lives Matter
And published the first national headlines
I am very proud of what we do but there are still 2.25 million people
Behind bars and a lot of laws need to change
This is only the beginning of work
So what are we going through now?
This audience does not need to convince me to engage
Or real interest in this issue
Because I think we are all this morning
Or by evening, we will be very excited about it.
However, there are still things to be done
If you are interested in humanitarian affairs, you certainly know many wonderful organizations
Where people work with prisoners, and with former prisoners
And conduct investigations that require our support.
If you are an employer,
It happened that a former prisoner,
You are changing someone’s life
But may save one’s life.
So, we have a lot of things to do
I would like to go back to my father’s story: he is about 85 years old now.
Lives in Tucson, Arizona
Since he left the Council for Racial Equality, he has never ceased to do so
He recently resigned from the presidency of an organization
The needy represent men, women and children
Of the prisoners at the ICE Immigration and Customs Administration
He is very proud of what we are doing in the Marshall Plan.
And always tell him that what we do is a continuation of what he has done.
We have heard many times today about the importance of role models and their role
I am lucky to have such an example.
So, let’s go back to Eldridge Cleaver:
Unless we are part of the problem, we are part of the solution
One of the Marshall Plan’s principles is that part of the solution lies in the spotlight
Sparkle and ignite the wick
Then we invite you all, gentlemen, to complete the march to make the difference
I am very proud and grateful to have the privilege of this opportunity
To talk to you all
But most importantly, I hear everyone from the audience.
It was a really wonderful day, thank you very much for your good listening
I also thank San Quentin and Delia Koehn
It was a memorable evening.
(clap)
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