[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 138 (Tuesday, December 7, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATE OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE
______
HON. BARBARA LEE
of california
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, December 7, 2004
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss the State of the African
American Male conference, a national initiative of the Congressional
Black Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation to focus our
Nation's attention on solutions to the escalating crisis in the Black
community.
This past Friday, December 3, I hosted this national initiative in
Oakland. Included were a visit to a prison college program, free health
screenings at the conference and concurrent solutions-focused
workshops. It was attended by nearly 400 people, more than 60 of whom
were formerly incarcerated individuals.
The focus of the Oakland conference was on solutions for formerly
incarcerated individuals and the challenges that prevent them from
smoothly re-entering our communities. The Oakland Police Department
reports that some 80 percent of the 114 homicides committed in Oakland
in 2003 involved people on parole or probation. For that reason, I felt
compelled to focus the conference in my district on the steps that we
as a community and as Members of Congress can take to begin to reverse
this alarming trend.
The Oakland Conference was an important opportunity for us to examine
closely what were the factors associated with the failure of our
corrections system. I wanted to look at the needs and solutions for
successful re-entry to our communities.
On the morning before the afternoon conference, I invited my
distinguished colleague from the Judiciary Committee, Sheila Jackson-
Lee, and members of the clergy to join me for a visit to San Quentin
College. Offering an Associate of Arts degree, the college program at
San Quentin prison is the only on-site, degree-granting college program
in the entire California corrections system. It is one of only a few in
the United States. It is an extension site of Patten University in
Oakland, California. The curriculum at San Quentin includes courses
such as American Government, literature, ethics and communication.
Without the warden and without other prison officials present, we
spent nearly an hour listening carefully to five prisoners who are
serving sentences of various lengths. These gentlemen described the
rewards of getting a college education while serving their sentences.
Even a prisoner serving a life sentence described the positive
influence it has had on his life and that he encourages other prisoners
to get an education. Another prisoner told us how his bond with his
school-age daughter was strengthened by their sharing each other's
homework. He talked of the pride he felt at being able to help her with
her math for the first time. Yet, these prisoners reported that it is
often difficult to maintain the motivation to make major life changes
when it takes nearly two weeks for them to receive their mail from
loved ones, and costs them $15 for a ten-minute telephone call.
When family and community ties are so essential to a successful
transition, then why do we permit such barriers to be erected between
prisoners and the people who care most about them?
The difficulties these prisoners face during the re-entry process are
further exacerbated by the fact that since 1994, Pell grants have been
denied to individuals who are incarcerated. Why do we permit such
barriers to remain when it is clear that education and job training are
essential to a successful transition to our communities?
These funding cuts are part of a broader trend that began in 1977,
when the California Department of Corrections eliminated rehabilitation
from its mission and since then its mission has been solely to punish.
When I was in the California Assembly, my colleagues and I attempted to
correct this, but were prevented by a prevailing, but ill-informed
``tough on crime'' ideology. It is outrageous and immoral and in my
district in the City of Oakland, we saw the consequences in 2003 in the
114 homicides.
Cost benefit analyses demonstrating the value of college over prisons
are well known and well documented. When it is clear that college is
better than prison, why do we continue to incarcerate more black males
than we educate?
At the Oakland conference, education was just one area of the re-
entry process that we examined. In addition, health screenings were
provided in the areas of HIV, prostate cancer, hypertension, diabetes
and cholesterol, and all tests were free and open to the public.
Provided by National Black Nurses Association, Kaiser Permanente, the
Ethnic Health Institute and California Prevention and Education Project
this component of the program addressed basic health concerns of Black
men.
Congressman Danny Davis, who began the State of the African American
Male initiative, joined Congresswoman Jackson-Lee and me for the
Conference. Solutions Conferences have been held around the United
States in order to create a clearinghouse of best practices. In the
Oakland Conference in my district, Topics for the concurrent Solutions
Workshops included: Re-Entry Programs; Record Expungement; Sentencing
Alternatives; Employment and Training; Health; Housing; Education; and
Funding Sources. When the workshop moderators reported out their
solutions, it was abundantly clear that the expertise and assistance
and innovative programs exist.
Mr. Speaker, I was proud to announce at the Oakland Conference that
one Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Scholarship per year in my
district will be designated for a formerly incarcerated person. I was
also proud to announce that a second event will be held on Saturday,
January 22, 2005 where I will bring together 60 attorneys from the
Charles Houston Bar Association and the San Francisco Bar Association
to provide record expungement assistance to formerly incarcerated
individuals. This will be an opportunity for several hundred people to
get a clean slate.
What is needed, Mr. Speaker is for such programs to become a national
priority.
Rather than setting up people in the correction system for failure by
offering them little means of turning their lives around, we must
restore Pell grants to incarcerated individuals. One of the programs in
Oakland--Project Choice--provides support services to prisoners before
they get out and stays with them. But Project Choice only has funding
to support 40 of the 3,000 people paroled each year to Oakland.
Without programs like San Quentin College, Project Choice and others,
without the support of their families and communities, these prisoners
will return to the life that led them to prison in the first place. As
a nation, we must provide alternatives. This is not only a matter of
public safety, but is truly our moral responsibility. It is our
obligation as members of the human race.
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