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8 Reasons President Obama’s Move to Free Blacks from Prison Is Not What It’s Hyped Up To Be

US Supreme CourtObama Signs “Not So” Fair Sentencing Act

In 2010,  President Obama signed the so-called Fair Sentencing Act to address the disparity of harsher sentencing for crack cocaine offenders (who were more likely to be Black) compared to powder cocaine offenders (who were mostly white). The sentencing disparity didn’t end, however—it was merely reduced. The ratio went from 100:1 to 18:1.

 

Black prisoners behind bars

The Obama Administration Fought to Keep Thousands of Black People Behind Bars

In a recent article, Margaret Kimberley, a writer for the Black Agenda Report, writes that just two years ago, “the president had an opportunity to free at least 5,000 [Black] people from federal prisons.”

They were all imprisoned before the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act. Yet, even though Obama’s Administration, including Eric Holder, admitted the laws were unfair, they fought against and successfully appealed a federal court ruling which would have given those persons, mostly poor and mostly Black, the right to request re-sentencing. For some strange reason, the entire U.S. mainstream media were unanimous in keeping quiet on this Obama administration victory.

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