Ten years ago, days before Christmas, President Bill Clinton changed my life forever. I was in federal prison, serving the seventh year of a 24-year sentence for a first-time nonviolent crack cocaine offense.
Clinton's mercy and acknowledgement that my sentence was unjust led him to grant me a commutation. Had he not done so, I would be in prison until 2016. On December 22, the anniversary of my release, I will join others in a fast for justice to honor those in prison who deserve the same relief from their long sentences for low-level drug offenses.
Many things have changed in the last decade. I graduated from college, attended law school, got married, raised my son who was born while I was incarcerated and gave birth to a daughter. I also established my own foundation to give hope to children of incarcerated parents.
Having a spokesperson like Ms. Pradia can only help this cause. And while I am entirely against federal mandatory minimums, I don't agree with Ms. Pradia that this necessarily means that President Obama should be out performing social justice with his commutation power... at least at this point. This is not to say that it would not be in the interests of social justice were he to do so. The mandatory sentencing scheme is clearly racially skewed with it's punitive emphasis on crack versus powder cocaine. And in a post Booker world, there is certainly a question as to what the federal sentencing scheme appropriately is today. But can you imagine the outcry if Obama were to begin commuting the sentence of black crack cocaine convicts? Okay, to be fair, can you imagine the outcry if Bill Clinton did so? Oh you say, but Bill Clinton DID commute Ms. Pradia's sentence. True. However, 10 years ago today when he issued this commutation, Bill Clinton was in the final month of his presidency and knew he would not face the political backlash for doing the right thing. That's important to keep in mind when reading such persuasive arguments as that from Ms. Pradia on what Mr. Obama should do. We can't let this be a liberal echo chamber without an understanding of the political realities. None of this shit happens in a vacuum.
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