Michael Swayze's Community Resources

Category: Politics

  • Thank You Juan Cabanela

    Every once in a while we need to stop what we are doing and say “thank you” to a fellow human being. This country is filled with men and women who day in and day out are doing remarkable things. The other day – on Labor Day – in fact, it became known to me that a particular website is no more.

    For a number of years a website known as Contacting The Congress was operated by a public citizen, Juan Cabanela. While checking for broken links on this site it was discovered that his website had been shut down after twenty-one years of operation. Imagine, a website operating for twenty-one years, providing a very up-to-date citizen’s congressional directory, due to the efforts of one individual. Amazing.

    Juan Cabanela was not a politician or a paid political operative seeking to capitalize on his Contacting the Congress website. Instead, he is a faculty member in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Minnesota State University.

    Although his site was shutdown last week, he has left us a dozen links to the U.S. Congress, so we won’t feel so lost or abandoned. Thank you, Dr. Juan Cabanela, for your activism and your efforts these past two decades.

  • Disparities in New Jersey Prison System

    A report by the Sentencing Project provides a mixed picture of the social justice system in the state of New Jersey.

    The report states,”Truly meaningful reforms to the criminal justice system cannot be accomplished without acknowledgement of racial and ethnic disparities in the prison system, and focused attention on reduction of disparities. Since the majority of people in prison are sentenced at the state level rather than the federal level, it is critical to understand the variation in racial and ethnic composition across states, and the policies and the day-to-day practices that contribute to this variance. Incarceration creates a host of collateral consequences that include restricted employment prospects, housing instability, family disruption, stigma, and disenfranchisement.”

    Key findings include:

    • African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 5.1 times the imprisonment of whites. In five states (Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin), the disparity is more than 10 to 1.
    • In twelve states, more than half of the prison population is black: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Maryland, whose prison population is 72% African American, tops the nation.
    • States exhibit substantial variation in the range of racial disparity, from a black/white ratio of 12.2:1 in New Jersey to 2.4:1 in Hawaii.

    On a positive note, New Jersey has witnessed and been a leader in reducing its prison population. Since 2000 the state has reduced the number of individuals in prison by 28%. It also has Re-entry Task Forces in a majority of counties. For more information on these community, county based groups contact the NJ State Parole Board by writing to: NJSPB_Public_Info_Office@spb.state.nj.us.

    You can take action to help reduce racial disparities in our criminal justice system. Ask your State Senator to support bill S677. The text of S677 is available online.

    Special thanks to NJ Advance Media reporter, S.P. Sullivan for his recent article, “Racial disparity in NJ prison rates highest in U.S., report finds”.

    The Sentencing Project is a national non-profit organization engaged in research and advocacy on criminal justice issues.

  • Voter Registration Deadlines Approach For Presidential Primaries

    The 2010 Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United changed the way election campaigns are conducted. Some even say it has severely damaged our Democracy. In 2014, 36 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the United States, the lowest turnout since World War II. In New Jersey only 20.8 percent of registered voters went to the polls last November, a record low.

    Voter registration deadlines are quickly approaching. Information is provided below on the election registration process in the tri-state area. The deadline to register in New Jersey is Tuesday, May 17 for the June 7 Primary Election. New York’s registration deadline is March 25; Pennsylvania’s is March 28. The Presidential Primary in New York will be April 19 and in Pennsylvania, April 26.

    Each state has their own set of election laws, procedures and deadlines.

    New Jersey voter registration is handled on the county level under the direction of the
    New Jersey Division of Elections. To become a registered voter an application form must be complete and mailed or delivered to your county
    Superintendent of Elections/Commissioner of Registration.
    The voter registration application is available for downloading. To determine your registration status visit the NJ Voter Information Home Page. Applications are also available when visiting an office of the Motor Vehicle Commission or your County Welfare Agency.

    New York residents can register with the New York State Board of Elections by visiting their Register to Vote webpage. To determine if you are registered visit their Voter Registration Search page.

    Online voter registration has been available in the state of Pennsylvania since August, 2015 under the authority of the Pennsylvania Department of State’s votesPA webpage. A voter can check their status by either visiting their voter registration status page or by calling 877-VOTE-SPA (868-3772).

    Remember to register to vote – soon.