The drug is a driving force in the chemical warfare that plagues our communities. The recent news of drug overdose deaths seemed like a light at the end of a long and tortuous tunnel. For people like me who have lost a loved one to fentanyl, it offered a glimmer of hope for others.

I have organized around police accountability for over five decades and helped to lead the fight for civilian oversight in St. Louis, MO. I was appalled, but not surprised, to hear that Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway is already proposing cuts to Madison’s agencies that oversee police operations. This is what happens when the police unions get in the ears of elected officials with their veiled threats and predictions of increased crime. Given the history of the city’s police abuse, the community’s demand for an independent and effective Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCOB) is a step in the right direction.

If the ultimate goals are peace and sovereign respect, new thinking is mandatory to re-imagine how we get there.We are past the one year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel. To mark the deadly occasion, Vice-President Kamala Harris planted a pomegranate tree at her home and President Joe Biden lit a candle at the White House. The initial calls for a ceasefire now seem woefully inadequate and definitely ineffective. It’s time to light some fire under Congress.

Police Chiefs and County Sheriffs across the country will tell you with a straight face that it’s the anti-police rhetoric that’s responsible for the precipitous drop in staffing and the inability to recruit. Milwaukee County recently pulled street patrol personnel and reassigned them to the courts. Dane County’s plan is moving ahead to expand its jail despite the disproportionate numbers of African Americans being housed.

The Discovery Flight program is free and introduces young people from 8-18 years old to flying and the history of famed Black Airmen.

CORE’s just demand was to hire four employees to address the racist hiring practices in St. Louis banking institutions. When the bank’s response was that there were not “four Blacks in the city” fit for such jobs, CORE launched a protest that became the longest and most contentious in St. Louis civil rights history.

When the matter of wrongful convictions is discussed, you may hear the frequently cited theory by Sir William Blackstone: it is better that ten guilty people go free than one innocent person suffer. The English legal scholar formulated the theory in 1765 and it became the basis for the noble idea that one is innocent until proven guilty.

Harris as a potential Presidential nominee can only expect success if the Democrats launch a serious, vibrant grassroots campaign that informs and galvanizes all the constituents that trump has marginalized and criminalized.

They also used to be fun and exciting…not anymore. The MAGA folks went into the Republican National Convention with a crazed fervor and have seized the political momentum once again.