Happy Anniversary. Not.

Anniversaries are usually happy occasions.

This one, last month, was not.

In September we “celebrated” the 25th anniversary of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. It was designed as an in-your-face piece of legislation to show that Democrats could be just as “tough on crime” as Republicans.

Here’s what it did: It imposed longer prison sentences, created more death penalty offenses, cut Pell grants for education, and provided billions to states to build more prisons. It incentivized states to create three-strikes laws, enact mandatory minimums, and eliminate parole. This was supposed to reduce violent crime.

Here’s what it actually did: It created the world’s largest population of incarcerated men and women. It targeted (and devastated) Black and brown neighborhoods. It separated families, destabilized communities, further institutionalized poverty, disenfranchised voters, and created a generation of children who would grow up with one or both parents behind bars.

What it did was shred the fabric of millions of lives. What it did was bring shame to the United States, making us #1 in a category no enlightened, free, democratic society ever wants to place first in.

And what it continues to do is to fly in the face of decades of research that shows that longer prison sentences don’t work to cut down on crime, that educational opportunities are the most important part of any rehabilitation efforts, and that children whose parents are incarcerated are physically, emotionally and educationally at greater risk than other kids.

This piece of legislation does not work. Our system, does not work.

To mark this anniversary, let’s commit to serious, informed, focused conversation about deep reform of this so-call justice system. Let’s elect officials willing to work hard for actual justice. Let’s vote to spend our state tax dollars on restorative justice programs and educational opportunities not more prison cells.

Let’s do this.

If you want to know what living your entire adult life is like when you live it in behind bars, I invite you to read my book, A Grip of Time.