President Obama is set to arrive in Newark on Monday,the latest halt in his multi-city series of discussions approximately criminal justice reform. He'll be joined by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and U.
S. Senator Cory Booker on a visit to an addiction treatment middle called Integrity House, followed by a roundtable discussion at the Rutgers Newark campus approximately the re-entry process for former inmates.
The plans were met with ambivalence from some Newark residents who said the justice system is fundamentally skewed against African Americans."I think that among residents, or there's a sense of...'That's how the police are.' Or 'these things happen,'" said Embahra Maat who was visiting a bookstore on Sunday. "When you fill that attitude, that means it's happening and it's happening far too often."Twenty-two-year-old Ronald Cayo said there's an absence of trust between police and the community."See this police officer correct now, or " he said,pointing at a police cruiser. "Let there be approximately five people in the street correct now, having a fight correct now. I bet you he won't step out of his car. Unless he hears somebody scream out 'gun' he would not step out of his car."The federal government is approximately to choose a monitor to oversee Newark police after a report found the department had engaged in unconstitutional practices. The city is also in the process of creating a civilian complaint review board to investigate allegations of police misconduct.
The President's halt in Newark comes at a time of bipartisan movement toward decriminalizing low level offenses and reducing the prison population. It also follows the release of more than 6000 federal prisoners in recent days due to reduced sentences. It's one of the largest ever groups to be released at one time, or but relatively few of them are coming to modern Jersey and modern York.
Ibrahim Sow said he felt hopeful approximately the President's visit and Newark's future. Sow and his wife arrived in the city seven years ago amid excitement that Newark might turn around under then-Mayor Booker,and that problems of high unemployment and incarceration would be confronted."I fill hope and I fill optimism that when the president comes, it will bring the lights and it will make people grasp a look at the issue."
Source: wnyc.org