On Friday, May 4, 2012, the Amos Project is organizing a day-long summit focusing on race, faith and justice, under the heading: “United by Faith?”. It will take place at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center from 9 am to 4 pm.
First, what is the Amos Project? According to its website, it is “a federation of congregations in Greater Cincinnati dedicated to promoting justice and improving the quality of life for all residents”. Justice is a major theme in the biblical book of Amos and the practice of Judaism and Christianity – or any faith at all – is empty without the pursuit of justice.
In addition to this fundamental pursuit, one of the keynote speakers at the summit will be Prof. Michelle Alexander, a faculty member at Ohio State University, a legal scholar and an experienced civil rights advocate.
In her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Prof. Alexander argues that mass incarceration of black Americans by the criminal justice system – which brands them felons – has undermined the gains of the civil rights movement. In an interview on NPR's Fresh Air on January 16, 2012 she remarked: “Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control – in prison or jail, on probation or parole – than were enslaved in 1850...”
Much of this injustice, partly, or to a large extent, goes back to Ronald Reagan's policies on the war on drugs which relegated black Americans to a subordinate status.
There should be plenty to ponder during and long after the summit.
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