Justice

Today, there are two speeches on everyone's minds: the speech that President Obama delivered on the steps of the Capitol, and the famous speech Martin Luther King Jr. gave on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. 

But there is another speech I have in mind on this MLK day, and it reminds us both of King's legacy and of the work that is left to do, for President Obama, for us and for our future. 

Turkey. Mashed Potatoes. Stuffing. Pie. 

It's just about all I can think about right now. 

Thanksgiving is a special day, but the truth is, I'm extremely lucky. I could stuff my face any day I want. If I'm hungry, I go to the grocery store and buy something to eat.

That's how it is for most of us in America, but not all of us. 

This week, we'll be talking a lot about hunger on this blog. I think a lot of us ignore the hunger issue because we think that it's basically taken care of. If you can't afford food, you can get help from the government, right?

Yes. But that's not the full story. 

Educational activists have been saying for years that the s0-called school-to-prison pipeline has gotten out of control.

These folks criticize schools for increasingly outsourcing school discipline to the cops. The children or teenagers in trouble then routinely enter the juvenile justice system, or in some cases go to jail. A recent study from Texas, a state long criticized for these kinds of discipline practices shows black boys and special education students suffer disproportionately from this type of discipline.

Last week, the United States Justice Department stepped into the middle of this issue when it brought a case against Meridian, Mississippi for allegedly violating children's Constitutional rights. The Justice Department actually used the words "school-to-prison pipeline" in it's court filings. It said the Meridian pipeline stepped afoul of those Constitutional Amendments that prohibit cruel and unusual punishment (Fourth Amendment), violating due process rights (Fifth Amendment) and equal protection under the law (14th Amendment).

Following last week’s release of national poverty numbers, the Census Bureau released state specific numbers this week. Besides a drop in the uninsured, it doesn’t look good. 

Our colleagues at Marketplace wrote a comprehensive article about poverty rates across the country. The number that we’re most interested in, though, is the increase in children living in poverty.