“We’re still
dealing with slavery in the form of mass incarceration.
We’re not on a
plantation but in a prison.”
- Fulton Leroy Washington
 |
F. L.
Washington, Emancipation Proclamation 2014
|
Fulton Washington’s
story highlights a "normal" in American society, the incarceration of
black fathers, a derivative of slavery of the black man. Here I
simply provide a window into the media of a man whose life sentenced was
transferred as part of President B. Obama's Clemency Initiative
of 2014. Under this new initiative the DOJ invited petitions for
commutation of sentence from nonviolent offenders who, among other criteria,
likely would have received substantially lower sentences if convicted of the
same offenses today. As of January 19, 2017, the President granted commutation
of sentence to a total of 1,715 individuals.
Sources:
