Las Positas College

3000 Campus Hill Drive

Livermore, CA 94551
ssna@zonemail.clpccd.edu

May 9, 2018

Eric Swalwell
Washington DC Office
129 Cannon House Office Building
Washington DC, 20515

Dear Mr. Swalwell

My name is Sky Na, and I am a student attending Las Positas Community College. Over the past
semester in my English class, we have been researching the various topics discussed in the book,
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Due to reading Alexander’s arguments about the
faults in our justice system, my interest in reforming our incarceration system grew. Mass
incarceration is currently a very prominent and problematic issue affecting many people,
individuals, families, etc. nationwide and in California. It requires attention and solutions to be
proposed in order to improve the way the system deals with crime.

In The New Jim Crow, Alexander brings up many startling facts on how people of color are
specifically targeted by the police, the judicial system, and prison organizations: “75% of people
in state prison for drug conviction are people of color although blacks and whites see and use
drugs at roughly the same rate. In NYS, 94% of those imprisoned for a drug offense are
people of color,” (Alexander). Many of these drug offenses are also very minor, such as simply
possessing marijuana while being stopped on the pretense of a traffic violation. Spending years
in prison for simply possessing a small amount of a mild drug is cruel and unjust. These types of
punishments should be reserved for crimes that are much more deserving of them such as crimes
involving murder, abuse, and other types of dangerous behaviors. But how is it that the overall
crime rate of society has decreased so tremendously in this country, yet the numbers of people
incarcerated have exponentially grown so high? In fact: “From 1997 to 2007 the number of
women in prison has increased by 832%,” (Alexander). This statistic is after taking population
increases into account. The conclusion that can be reached from this correlation is that people are
being locked into prisons for crimes that do not quite fit how they are being punished. This
problem seems to remain solely an issue in the United States, and as Obama said: “the United
States is home to home to five percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s
prisoners.” Being the best country at putting large populations of people into prisons is not
something that we should be proud of, but angered by. From my own experience, many of my
friends who are people of color, are warned and instructed by their parents on how to behave
very carefully in front of the police. They have lived through interactions with the police and the
justice system as people of color and realize that they will not be treated the same as their white
neighbors. My own family, although we are not black or brown, but Korean Americans with
more privilege than other people of color, we still have to exercise slightly more caution around
the police than we would if we were a white family. No person should have to make an extra
effort to present themselves in a certain way to avoid terrible consequences just for having a
darker or different skin color, ethnicity, etc.

My main reason for writing to you specifically was to request your support of several legislative
bills that are seeking to reform how people are incarcerated. I am aware that you are known for
your tough stance on crime; however, is that stance what will truly benefit society as a whole?
One change that I am advocating for is the Equity and Justice Package (SB 1391, SB 1392, SB
1393) are a series of bills being introduced by Senators Ricardo Lara and Holly Mitchell. These
bills would prevent some of the gaping flaws in our justice system, such as preventing youths
from the ages of 14 and 15 to be tried as adults. Many youths of color are trapped in the system
from a young age due to how the court does not try them as juveniles, the way they should be
tried by the court. Another flaw that the bills would solve is preventing judges from passing
excessive sentencing enhancements. Sentencing enhancements are how many prisoners,
especially people of color remain in jail for cruel amounts of time for crimes that did not involve
harming another person. If you could show your support for the passing of these bills, it would
advocate for a great deal of beneficial change, coming from a prominent political figure. If you
truly want to show your support for Civil Rights and fight against the injustices that come from
mass incarceration, this would be a great way to do it. To contact me, I can be reached at my
school email: ssna@zonemail.clpccd.edu . Thank you so much for your time and I wish you the
best.

Sincerely,

Sky Na