{"id":4659,"date":"2015-12-04T15:56:23","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T20:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.brethren.org\/?p=4659"},"modified":"2015-12-04T15:56:23","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T20:56:23","slug":"justice-in-a-pizza-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/2015\/12\/04\/justice-in-a-pizza-shop\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice in a Pizza Shop"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tStepping off Pennsylvania Avenue for lunch, we opened the door as the smell of tomato sauce and bubbly cheese streamed out into the December cold. It was my first time eating at We the Pizza, one of the many aptly-named DC eateries, and while the rich ricotta on\u00a0my slice of Greek pizza did not disappoint, my new pastor friends from Philadelphia truly made the experience memorable. After ordering two hearty slices of pepperoni, Pastor Keith from the Church of the Overcomer led our merry band of advocates to a booth protected by a six-foot-tall picture of Jimi Hendrix.<\/p>\n

Though they just met the day before, Pastor Keith, Pastor Billy, and Ph.D. candidate Drew Hart carried on like old friends. Laughter erupted between greasy bites of pizza as the three of them shared stories about their work and ministry. Invited by the Interfaith Criminal Justice Coalition, of which the Office of Public Witness is a member, Pastor Keith, Pastor Billy, and Drew were in DC for a national lobby day advocating for sentencing reform in the criminal justice system. Faith leaders from over 20 states attended, and I had the privilege of escorting the Pennsylvania delegation. After visiting with Representatives Fattah and Meehan and Senator Casey, the chance for fellowship and good food was more than welcome.<\/p>\n

But the seriousness of the day was not lost on them as we ate. Drew, who has written and spoken passionately about the problems of racism in Christian theology and mass incarceration, often punctuated the conversation with thoughtful insights about power and privilege. Pastor Billy, whose ministry involves helping persons overcome drug addiction, spoke about a member of his church who was recently released. \u201cHe went to prison for nearly half of his adult life just for doing drugs,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter his \u2018long vacation,\u2019 as he calls it, he put a lot of effort into staying clean and tried to spend time with his father.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was doing really great,\u201d Pastor Billy\u00a0said with a smile. \u201cBut then just like that, his father got cancer and died. He couldn\u2019t cope and started hanging around with a crack addict. He\u2019s back in there now.\u201d All of them have heard too many stories like that one. Two members of Drew\u2019s family have spent time in prison, and Pastor Keith runs a community house to help reintegrate ex-prisoners.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just hard,\u201d Pastor Billy says. \u201cHe really is a good man. He had the keys to the church and could have gone in and been like, \u2018All of that\u2019s worth about $3000 right there.\u2019 But he didn\u2019t. And now he\u2019s back in prison and they are trying to decide if this is his third strike. It\u2019s crazy. The real problem is drugs, but it\u2019s hard because the resources aren\u2019t there to help him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pastor<\/a>
Pastor Billy Thompson, Jesse Winter (OPW), Drew Hart, and Pastor Keith Collins visiting the Office of Public Witness<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have written about mass incarceration<\/a> and the racial disparity in our prison system<\/a>, but stories like these really show the need for sentencing reform. Because of long mandatory sentences and unfair three strike laws, drug use has been over-criminalized to the point that half of all prisoners in US prisons are nonviolent drug offenders. These persons are not dangerous threats to society, but rather are victims of drug addiction. The US spent $60 billion on prisoners in 2012, but the way this money is being used is wasteful and single-mindedly punitive. If more of that money was used on drug rehabilitation and not on incarcerating so many nonviolent offenders, we could curb the problem of growing prison populations while doing a better job at preserving human dignity.<\/p>\n

These were the big goals for the four of us in that pizza shop. The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act that we lobbied for on Thursday makes strides in the right direction. It reduces enhanced mandatory minimums for drug felons and gives judges more discretion when sentencing low level drug offenders. It also makes the reduced mandatory minimums of Fair Sentencing Act retroactive. Significant to Pastor Billy\u2019s story, the SRCA offers anti-recidivism programming to inmates to help them qualify for early release. While many of the previsions in this bill are good, there are many steps left to take for a true overhaul of our criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

Jimi Hendrix famously said, \u201cKnowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.\u201d With Brother Jimi watching over the table, these three advocates found wisdom by listening to each others\u2019 stories, forming bonds worthy of their City of Brotherly Love. With our pizza finished, we left the now-hallowed halls of We the Pizza, braved the breezy afternoon chill, and ventured towards our final Hill visit, hoping one more soul could find wisdom in their words.<\/p>\n

In Christ’s Peace,<\/p>\n

Jesse Winter<\/h4>\n

Peacebuilding and Policy Associate<\/h4>\n

Office of Public Witness<\/h4>\n

Washington, DC<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stepping off Pennsylvania Avenue for lunch, we opened the door as the smell of tomato sauce and bubbly cheese streamed out into the December cold. It was my first time eating at We the Pizza, one of the many aptly-named DC eateries, and while the rich ricotta on\u00a0my slice of Greek pizza did not disappoint,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-peacebuilding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}