It is not my intent to turn Pollinate Asheville into a political blog. But Pollinate Asheville is focused on creating strong and collaborative community. Institutionalized racism is one of the main barriers, and we need to act against barriers.
I’m re-posting this article about Stuart Peterson, printed in the Mountain Xpress on 12/2/09 to raise awareness. At the very least, as citizens in this world, we need to question these actions and not let them sit silently amidst our communities. This is not just one life, but many, affected by policies rooted in racism.The policies behind this ruling are what continue to make our communities ill and segregated. I’m getting more information on what actions we can take to move toward changes in policy. Information on this case is being forwarded to President Obama. I’ll post information here as it emerges if you are interested in being part of the change.
Justice undone?
Harsh sentence for anti-gang educator raises fairness concerns
by David Forbes in Vol. 16 / Iss. 19 on 12/02/2009
On May 8, Stuart Peterson and two other men robbed the F&J Food Mart on Biltmore Avenue at gunpoint. A witness to the gang-related heist described their vehicle to police, and all three were soon caught and charged with armed robbery. It was Peterson’s first felony arrest.
Read more of this article from David Forbes at Mountain Xpress.
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[...] Prevention Project, Stewart Peterson, YWCA by Pollinate Consulting If you were outraged about the Stewart Peterson court ruling, here is a call to action from Dan Leroy, co-founder of Asheville [...]
I have to comment on this. The article does not go into extensive detail,
but if he was convicted of armed robbery, the structured sentencing for that
Class D felony is 38-51 months of active prison time with someone with no
priors and exemplary character.
The intent of the law is to require judges to sentence armed robbers to
significant prison terms, as punishment and a deterrent.
It was stated in the original article, “his mother, Michelle Peterson, told
Xpress. ‘We had some difficult times when he was younger – he didn’t want to
work; he wanted to run the streets.’ ” His ‘body of work’, so to speak, has
a longer history of difficult times and bad decisions, culminating in his
CHOICE to commit a Class D felony, armed robbery. If judges released or
were excessively lenient on every criminal who found God or turned their
life around, our society would have a much higher crime rate than it does
now. While I agree that racism does still exist, I do not see it in this
case. If this young man has turned his life around, when he gets out of
prison for the crime he committed, then perhaps he will show others the
errors of his ways and be a beacon to other impressionable young men and
women–showing them the good and bad choices in his life and how he was able
to overcome them. I will follow this story and hope and pray that this
young man will succeed in his life.
[...] a follow-up from an earlier post about Stuart Peterson’s armed robbery sentencing. I posted this on December 3 and then was part of a community meeting at the YWCA to discuss our justice system and how it works [...]