"The House I Live In"

Much thanks to a wonderful fellow student for letting me know about an upcoming event that promises to be fascinating. This year's Sundance grand jury prize winner, "The House I Live In," directed by Eugene Jarecki, will be screened on April 19th in New York City. The event is presented by Philanthropy New York at the Paley Center and a discussion with the director will follow.

The documentary film discusses the devastating effects of our "War on Drugs." Please click here to register. For more information on the film and for trailers, please visit the official website.

Event on the Rockefeller Drug Laws

Structural Competency

Interesting series of talks this Friday at NYU, featuring many familiar Mailman names (Link, Phelan, Fullilove, Hopper). Check it out.


STRUCTURAL COMPETENCY:
New Medicine for the Institutional Inequalities that Make Us Sick
Jonathan Metzl and Helena Hansen, Organizers
Friday, March 23, 2012. 10:30am-5pm. NYU Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, 20 Cooper Square, NY, NY, 10012.
Event is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Please RSVP at structuralcompetency@aol.com

What's Happening in NYC Jails?-- March 29th, Brooklyn

Trayvon Martin

Most of our readers have probably already heard about the tragic murder of 17-year-old black teenager Trayvon Martin by vigilante George Zimmerman in Florida. For anyone who has not already learned about the tragic killing of Trayvon Martin, this Mother Jones article covers some finer details than other articles published in the last day or two, and includes the 911 audio recordings. The Huffington Post has also compiled multiple articles and media related to the young man's murder. These articles are disturbing to read and the audio files even more so to hear; however, the story must not be ignored or disappear following this news cycle.

APRIL 3rd: PLAGUE OF PRISONS TALK

Michelle Alexander: Crash the Justice System

"AFTER years as a civil rights lawyer, I rarely find myself speechless. But some questions a woman I know posed during a phone conversation one recent evening gave me pause: “What would happen if we organized thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of people charged with crimes to refuse to play the game, to refuse to plea out? What if they all insisted on their Sixth Amendment right to trial? Couldn’t we bring the whole system to a halt just like that?”"