From The Flag To The Cross: Fascism American Style: Live Event

From The Flag To The Cross: Fascism American Style is the title of a newly published book edited by Zachary Sklar and our own Michael Smith. The book draws from seven key interviews with prominent socialist thinkers in the United States and Canada. They include Margaret Kimberly, Henry Giroux, Dianne Feeley and Bill Mullen. Last month publishers OR books held a live book launch event taking place at Live On Avenue C in the East Village. Speakers included economist Rick Wolff, New York-based writer Margaret Kimberly and economist Kshama Sawant.

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What Is Pretrial Justice?

On any given day, roughly 7,000 people are held in New York City jails"mostly at Rikers Island"awaiting trial. Many are there not because theyve been convicted of a crime, but because they cant afford bail or have been remanded to custody. Critics argue that New Yorks approach to pretrial detention is both unjust and unsustainable and that meaningful reform is long overdue. Detaining people before theyve been found guilty turns the presumption of innocence upside down.

This system hits Black and Latino New Yorkers hardest. Lower average incomes and heavier policing in their neighborhoods make them far more likely to be jailed pretrial. Beyond the human toll, pretrial detention drives up expenses for staffing, security, medical care, and administration"all paid by taxpayers. And the social costs ripple outward. Lock-up before trial separates families, jeopardizes jobs, housing, and pressures individuals into pleading guilty simply to go home.

Recently, the Pretrial Justice Institute joined forces with NYUs Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, and the Bronx Defenders to convene directly impacted people, public defenders, advocates, and service providers to reimagine a more just system. Their report, A City Without Cages: Creating Pretrial Safety and Liberty in NYC, outlines what that future could look like.

Guest - Guisela Marroqun, Executive Director of the Pretrial Justice Institute in New York. There, she leads cross-sector efforts to advance racial equity and transform pretrial systems. Before that, she was Senior Director of Programs at the New York Womens Foundation.