Donald M. Payne: “I would like to thank my colleague from the Garden State of New Jersey. She has come to the Congress and hit the ground…”

“I would like to thank my colleague from the Garden State of New Jersey. She has come to the Congress and hit the ground running. As great a legislator as she was in New Jersey, she is doing a magnificent job here in the Halls of Congress. Mr. Speaker, we have touched on many different topics, many different issues, and it is just really a difficult circumstance that these individuals face, you know; tremendous barriers to reentering society and pursuing education and gainful employment. When these men are incarcerated, their children suffer, too. Nearly 2 million children grow up in homes where one parent is in jail. Of course, lowering the incarceration rates means we need to reevaluate the war on drugs. One out of every three African American men will be incarcerated at some point in their lives. Most of these arrests are drug related. According to the National Urban League, mandatory minimums and disparities in crack cocaine sentencing incarcerates countless African Americans for an inhumane length of time, and that made the U.S. the world leader in prison population. {time} 1945 Now, is that something that this country wants to be known for? This has created a modern-day caste system in America. The incarceration rate for African Americans convicted of drug offenses is 10 times greater than that of White Americans, even though Americans engage in drug offenses at higher rates.…”