SHATTERED LIVES: PORTRAITS FROM AMERICA"S DRUG WAR
It was an unwinnable war which cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars each year to fight, resulted in countless civilian casualties, and stretched on for over twenty years in spite of widespread grassroots opposition. Its enemy was often indistinguishable, its victories short-lived and dehumanizing, its ultimate objective deliberately obscured by government rhetoric and influenced, even dictated, by private interests.
This description of the Vietnam War could just as easily be applied to the War on Drugs waged today on the streets and in the homes of ordinary citizens. Indeed, the authors frequently refer to the striking parallels between the Drug War and other dark chapters in American history, including Vietnam and Prohibition. Norris, in her preface to the book, compares the wholesale imprisonment of thousands of nonviolent, first-time offenders of all ages and backgrounds, whose only "crime" in many cases was innocent association with the wrong person, to the scapegoating and concentration camps of the Holocaust.
The pages of "Shattered Lives" are filled with statistics, charts, historical facts, and legal citations. However, it is the stories of the victims themselves, accused, sometimes unjustly, of drug offenses and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, and the stories of their families and loved ones that are at the heart of this book.
A photo of each person accompanies his/her name, age, a summary of the case, the sentence, and crime, ranging from five years for marijuana cultivation (in the case of Rev. Tom Brown, founder and pastor of Our Church, which used cannabis in its religious services), to three life sentences plus 20 years (given to Danielle Metz, 31, mother of two small children, convicted because she wouldn't testify against her husband), for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, continuing criminal enterprise, and money laundering--all nonviolent offenses!
Shattered Lives is a book about people. Its avowed purpose is to put a human face on the Drug War by publicizing the stories of its innocent victims. A collaborative project which grew out of a series of traveling exhibits on human rights that the authors organized in 1995, it includes photos, poems, even children's drawings that dramatize the staggering statistics and bring to light the human costs of the Drug War.
It is the story of 18-year-old Esequiel Hernandez, the first American civilian killed by military troops on U.S. soil since the Kent State massacre in 1970, who was shot dead by a camouflaged Marine while tending his family's goat herd in Redford, TX. It is the story of paraplegic Jimmy Montgomery, originally sentenced to life for possession of two ounces of marijuana used to control spasms and stimulate his appetite. He was released on medical parole only after being re-imprisoned, treated with addictive drugs, put into solitary confinement, and handcuffed to a prison bed without adequate medical treatment for infections to his lower body, an ordeal which ultimately resulted in the loss of a leg.
It is the story of Clyde Young, whose entire family was arrested (including Clyde's mother and 90-year-old uncle) for marijuana cultivation after he had refused to sell his land to a wealthy businessman, J.P. Altmire. (No drugs were ever found.) The trial judge, Altmire's friend and former lawyer, refused to admit Altmire's defamatory letters as evidence in the family's defense and allowed convicted drug offenders to testify against them in exchange for lighter sentences--an all-too-common practice in many drug cases today.
Reading through the stories of these heretofore nameless and faceless victims, one experiences emotions ranging from shock and incredulousness to anger and frustration. Fortunately, however, one is not left feeling helpless or hopeless. The final chapter of the book deals with humane alternatives to the draconian Mandatory Minimum Sentences (which slap penalties of 5, 10, even 20 years or more on first-time, nonviolent offenders); the drug conspiracy law (which provides extended sentences merely for associating with a dealer, or knowing about a situation and not reporting it, even if a crime is never carried out!); and the Civil Asset Forfeiture laws (which allow the government to seize private property without charging anyone with a crime).
The authors of Shattered Lives don't ask the reader to condone drug use, nor even suggest elimination of prison sentences for drug-related crimes. They simply call for Americans to question the policies and tactics of the Drug War and the prison industrial complex that it feeds. They make their case simply by giving us the words and pictures of those who have paid and are still paying the price with their own shattered lives.
--SHATTERED LIVES, Creative Xpressions, P.O.Box 1716, El Cerrito, CA 94530; <www.hr95.org>; Phone/Fax Chris Conrad (510) 215-8326; $19.95 + $3.95 S/H.