Part One: A conversation with Hedrick Smith
Thoughts on the Democratic Convention and renewing democracy…trust the vote but prepare to be vigilant.
Hedrick Smith: Executive Editor – Hedrick Smith, who conceived this website and is its principal writer and architect, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and Emmy award-winning documentary producer for PBS and PBS FRONTLINE. Over five decades as a reporter, editor, producer and author, Smith has established himself as one of America’s premier journalists. In 26 years with The New York Times, Smith served in Saigon, Cairo, Paris, the American South and as bureau chief in Moscow and Washington. In 1971, he was a member of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team for the Pentagon Papers series and in 1974, he won the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting from Russia and Eastern Europe. From 1988 through 2009, Smith reported and produced more than 50 hours of long-form documentaries and mini-series for PBS and PBS FRONTLINE. One distinctive feature of his television productions is his focus not just on examining systemic problems in modern America but on seeking solutions.Two of Smith’s FRONTLINE programs, The Wall Street Fix and Can You Afford to Retire? won Emmies and two others, Critical Condition (on U.S. health care) and Tax Me If You Can, were nominated. Twice he has won or shared the Columbia-Dupont Gold Baton, or grand prize, for the year’s best public affairs program on U.S. television – for Inside Gorbachev’s USSR in 1990, and a shared award for Inside the Terror Network with other FRONTLINE producers in 2002. Smith is the author of five books and co-author of two others.
His first book, The Russians, based on his experience as New York Times Moscow Bureau Chief in 1971-74, was a No. 1 U.S. best seller, translated into 16 languages. His next book, The Power Game: How Washington Works, became a handbook for many in Congress and was bedtime reading for President Bill Clinton. His current book Who Stole the American Dream? is a probing historical analysis of the roots and causes of rising economic inequality in the U.S. and polarized gridlock in Washington and an outline of potential strategies for the future. More at www.hedricksmith.com
Hedrick Smith sees this phase of the Convention as a way for the Democratic party to have a production with meaning. A way to demonstrate Biden’s relatability and trust. However, given the Republicans’ goal of injecting chaos into the election by interfering with voting, and the effect of the corona virus, there is a danger of vote undercount.
Jill Biden, in D.N.C Speech, Highlights Pandemic Concerns Among Teachers and Parents
Voters Beware: Not of Fraud but an Undercount
How Do Independents Get More Clout in Our Politics? http://reclaimtheamericandream.org/2020/07/how-do-political-independents-get-more-voice-in-our-politics/
Part Two: Prison Reform A Discussion with Maya Shenwar and Victoria Law, authors of “Prison by Any Other Name The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms How well-meaning social reforms created ‘Prison by Any Other Name’”
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-62097-310-3
Criminal justice activists Schenwar (Locked Down, Locked Out) and Law (Resistance Behind Bars) deliver a cogent critique of proposals to end mass incarceration that replicate the surveillance, control, and punishment of the “prison industrial complex” rather than offering genuine justice or rehabilitation. Contending that “innovation, in itself, is no guarantee of progress,” the authors cite studies indicating that house arrest actually increases the likelihood of recidivism, that sex offender registries do nothing to prevent sexual violence, and that diversionary drug treatment programs focused on total abstinence all but guarantee relapse. The authors illustrate their arguments with stories of vulnerable people “ensnared in the carceral web,” including a transgender woman picked up in a “prostitution diversion” program in Arizona, and an African-American teenager held at gunpoint by police officers investigating a string of calculator thefts at his high school in Oregon. Identifying prison abolition as the ultimate goal, Schenwar and Law suggest systemic changes to reduce crime and the targeting of minorities by law enforcement, such as providing adequate health care, food, and housing to all Americans. Their impassioned yet evidence-based polemic exposes flaws in much of the perceived wisdom around the issue. Policy makers and criminal justice reform advocates should consider this bracing account a must-read. Agent: Hannah Bowman, Liza Dawson Associates. (July)
A conversation with authors Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law “outline the way that well-meaning movements ended up funneling people into environments where they faced even more scrutiny and punitive measures”
Many or the prison reforms promulgated in the past hav created more onerous punishments than prison, and are in fact extensions of prisons. . There are currently 3.6 M people on probation, in circumstances that do not allow for improvements for prisoners. The health care and public education systems are not designed to provide a way out for convicted persons. This shows the various needs that must be addressed in the whole system, which we discuss.
