Democratic governor candidate Ameya Pawar on Tuesday proposed legalizing and taxing marijuana; releasing nonviolent, low-level drug offenders; and eliminating cash bail to change a criminal justice system he said is rooted in racism.
The 47th Ward alderman, speaking at the South Side Community Art Center in Bronzeville, said the so-called war on drugs decades ago was a strategy to separate and divide “black and brown families” from other progressive elements as crack cocaine filled economically troubled neighborhoods. He contrasted that with the opioid epidemic now afflicting white suburban families that’s been characterized as “a public health crisis.”
Pawar, who has used the issue of institutional racism as a theme for his campaign for next year’s Democratic nomination, is running as a populist progressive. He said “ending the war on drugs as we know it” was one of several planks for dealing with crime, including addressing issues of poverty, toughening gun regulations, broadening social treatment programs and ending mandatory minimum criminal sentences, which allow little judicial discretion.
“Criminal justice reform is the most important element of what will lead to a more just and fair society. That’s our vision. That is our charge. That is what government is supposed to do,” Pawar said.
“Now I’m sick and tired of watching our communities fight one another over scraps. I’m tired of watching (President) Donald Trump and (Gov.) Bruce Rauner tell poor white people that the reason why they don’t get ahead is because black and brown people get more than their fair share,” he said.
Pawar vowed as governor not to let state government or local police be used by Trump and federal authorities to “perpetuate their racist war.”
In addition to saying he would commute prison sentences for low-level, nonviolent drug offenders, Pawar also called for reducing “minor” possession of controlled substances from a felony to a misdemeanor.
“The basis for commutation is, if we can today provide services for the same issues that ravaged black and brown communities 35-40 years ago, then there’s no reason why people should be in prison if we’re willing to provide treatment today,” he saidPawar, who supports enacting a graduated income tax, also said legalizing and taxing marijuana would raise “hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the state.” The alderman said he would spend some of the money on “addiction treatment and safe injection sites.”
And he called the cash bail system a form of “criminalizing poverty” that “must go away.”
In addition, Pawar called creation of a program to automatically expunge some criminal records “the best way, when paired with job training or economic opportunity, to create a pathway forward.”
“The reforms that I’m proposing are critical to restoring legitimacy to a system that many feel (is) illegitimate,” he said.
Pawar unveiled his crime platform a couple days after Democratic businessman Chris Kennedy did the same. The winner of the March primary takes on Republican Gov. Rauner in November 2018.
credit:chicagotribune.com
