Here is a video of Michelle Alexander at Union Theological Seminary. She asks us in looking at the total transformation of the criminal justice system, not only to change individual laws, but to challenge the punitive nature of our system. Mark Mauer of The Sentencing Project has done a study which indicates that the most diverse societies are the most punitive and the most homogeneous are the most compassionate.
She asks us to challenge that mindset. In theological terms, she says that Jesus asks those among us who are without sin to cast the first stone. Alexander implores us not only to put down our own stones, but to stand between other with stones and their targets and disarm those who are about to hurl their stones. Powerful message.
