ONE INDIVIDUAL CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE !

 

"WALL OF ACTIVISM" of Anthony Papa  (photo by Andy Kropa)

"To be successful in advocating an issue is to keep pushing it to the public.  My job as an activist is to continue to find ways to keep the issue in the news so it becomes a repetitive theme, akin to a moving poem or a haunting melody"  Anthony Papa

I have generated hundreds of news stories on criminal justice issues. The power of the written word is essential in reaching target audiences to change or guide public opinion. It is the equalizer in the world of politics where justice is defined by the party that holds power.

 

Recent projects I have helped pushed out to the media

 

Congress to Hold Historic Hearing Tuesday on Draconian 100-to-1 Crack/Powder Sentencing Disparity

White House Pushes Controversial Student Drug Testing Agenda at Summit in Indianapolis on February 19

Spitzer Fails to Show Compassion, Grants Zero Holiday Clemencies to Nonviolent Rockefeller Prisoners

Congress Lifts Washington, DC Syringe Funding Ban

U.S. Sentencing Commission to Decide on Making Crack Sentencing Reductions Retroactive for 19,500 Incarcerated People over Next Three Decades

Time for a New Bottom Line on the Failed War on Drugs

Rockefeller Drug Laws to be Addressed at New York Sentencing Commission Public Hearing on Tuesday

Bush Seeks $1.4 Billion for Mexico’s Drug War

New York Sentencing Commission Report Ignores Rockefeller Drug Law Reform

U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Crack-Powder Sentencing Disparity Case

Al Gore III Faces Up to Three Years in Prison for Drug Possession; Californians Favor Alternatives to Incarceration

New Mexico Medical Marijuana Program to Begin July 1st

Justice Department Report Finds Largest Increase in Prison and Jail Inmate Populations Since Midyear 2000

“Bong Hits 4 Jesus” Decision Weakens Free Speech; Schools Can Censor “Pro-Drug Use Speech” But Criticism of Drug War is Protected

Clean Syringe Funding Ban for District of Colombia Lifted

Gov.’s May Revise Asks Counties to Provide Drug Treatment with Fewer Resources

 

 My NY Times Experience

http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=s&query=%22anthony+papa%22&srchst=nyt&hdlquery=&bylquery=&daterange=full&mon1=01&day1=01&year1=1981&mon2=09&day2=24&year2=2007&submit.x=0&submit.y=0

 

1.            The War on Drugs, Now in Schools

...build trust between students and adults. Forcing students to urinate in a cup is not the way to keep them drug-free. Anthony Papa New York The writer is communications specialist, Drug Policy Alliance.

April 1, 2007 - New York and Region - 152 words

2.            Spitzer's Prison Fight

...lead to a better functioning criminal justice system that will be more cost-efficient for the people of New York. Anthony Papa New York, Feb. 12, 2007 The writer is a communications specialist for the Drug Policy Alliance.

February 18, 2007 - Opinion - 132 words

3.            Don't Misuse the Law To Punish Kingpins

...has become a standard response by district attorneys to block applications for re-sentencing under the new reforms. Anthony Papa New York The writer, a communications specialist for the Drug Policy Alliance, is the author of a book about his experience...

August 13, 2006 - New York and Region - 255 words

4.            Don't Misuse the Law To Punish Kingpins

...has become a standard response by district attorneys to block applications for re-sentencing under the new reforms. ANTHONY PAPA New York The writer, a communications specialist for the Drug Policy Alliance, is the author of a book about his experience...

August 13, 2006 - New York and Region - 255 words

5.            Time Eases Tough Drug Laws, but Fight Goes On

...ounces of cocaine and sentenced to 20 years to life for the crime, which was her first offense. In another case, Anthony Papa, 49, spent 12 years in prison for making a delivery of four and a half ounces of cocaine, in 1984, in exchange for...

April 16, 2004 - By AL BAKER - Front Page - 1465 words

6.            Yearning to Vote

...do so. I was finally accepted by society in my capacity as a citizen. The right to vote is an important part of the rehabilitation process and should be given to those who have paid their debt to society. ANTHONY PAPA New York, Oct. 17, 2002

October 19, 2002 - Opinion - 171 words

7.            Commissioner's Ban on Inmates' Art Sales Ends Annual Show

...in a far more positive state of mind,'' he said. ''It's puzzling to me that anyone would take that away.'' Anthony Papa, a former convict who studied art at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility and who gained wide acclaim after his self...

March 30, 2002 - By ROBERT F. WORTH - New York and Region - 570 words

8.            Westchester Journal; Among the Comfortable, Prison Issues Stir Unease

...victims.'' Among the ex-inmates at the conference, called ''Can Anything Good Come Out of Prison?,'' was Anthony Papa, whose painting talent helped win him clemency on a drug conviction in 1997. A recurrent issue was family ties...

March 27, 2001 - By HUBERT B. HERRING - New York and Region - 740 words

9.            Our Towns; Protesting Time Served As Time Lost

...traffic jam. But there were no complaints about the hour or two lost. These passengers measure wasted time in years. Anthony Papa spent 12 years in prison for making a delivery of four and a half ounces of cocaine in exchange for $500. ''I was...

May 10, 2000 - By MATTHEW PURDY - New York and Region - 823 words

11.       SUNDAY: JUNE 21, 1998: THE INTERNET; con.com

...to stuff best suited for motel velvet. Of the many con artistes, one who seems the most ''ripe for hanging'' is Anthony Papa, a harshly angular stylist whose on-line gallery contains such make-no-mistake-about-it works as ''Mandatory...

June 21, 1998 - Magazine - 550 words

12.       Critics Say Rockefeller Drug Laws Pack the Prisons, Force Plea Deals and Hit Small-Timers the Hardest

...convicted, leaving the judge with no alternative but to impose the mandatory sentence. In one such earlier case, Anthony Papa, a radio repairman, got 15 years to life for carrying four and a half ounces of cocaine. He served more than 11 years...

January 19, 1998 - By CHRISTOPHER S. WREN - New York and Region - 1602 words

13.       WESTCHESTER GUIDE

Former Inmate's Art There has been no shortage of accolades for Anthony Papa and his paintings on exhibit at the Northern Westchester Center for the Arts in Mount Kisco through Dec. 7. Articles about him...

November 23, 1997 - By ELEANOR CHARLES - New York and Region - 1163 words

14.       Tony Papa's Creative Block

THE window opened and Anthony Papa sniffed the sultry air and looked out at the city through his...time maybe it will not be about prison. Maybe it will be about Anthony Papa's bright future instead. ''I dislike the term prison artist...

July 6, 1997 - By EDWARD LEWINE - New York and Region - 3685 words

15.       Metro Digest

...repeatedly battered her throughout their seven-year marriage. Six other inmates -- including an award-winning artist, Anthony Papa, whose work has been displayed at the Whitney Museum of American Art -- were freed as part of a gubernatorial tradition...

December 24, 1996 - New York and Region - 632 words

16.       7 Prisoners Get Clemency From Pataki

...as part of a tradition of commuting sentences at Christmastime. The others -- including an award-winning artist, Anthony Papa, whose work has been displayed at the Whitney Museum of American Art -- had been serving long prison terms because...

December 24, 1996 - By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ - New York and Region - 749 words

17.       Survival Found At the Tip Of a Paintbrush;One Sing Sing Prisoner Uses Art as a Defense

In his first weeks and months in a windowless cell, Anthony Papa missed the sky. So he drew a window on the wall, complete with a sylvan landscape. Since then he has painted obsessively, through...

July 28, 1996 - By DONATELLA LORCH - New York and Region - 1701 words

18.       Minor Players, Major Penalties; The Rockefeller Drug Laws Took Prisoners -- for 15-to-Life

...University of New York at Albany, he says, and then ran an upstate drug gang. But there have been plenty of people like Anthony Papa, who ran a small automobile radio repair shop in the Bronx and says he agreed to deliver a little more than four ounces...

March 5, 1995 - By JOSEPH B. TREASTER, - New York and Region - 1729 words

19.       Abroad at Home; Crime and Politics

...brought home to me the other day by a letter to the editor of The New York Times from a prison inmate in New York State, Anthony Papa. "I'm a first-time offender in my 10th year of a 15-year-to-life sentence for passing an envelope containing...

February 20, 1995 - By ANTHONY LEWIS - Opinion - 677 words

20.       Treatment, Not Jail, Saves Lives and Money; Let Rehabilitated Go

...good portion of their sentences and are ready to return to society as productive citizens? I made a mistake when I was young. I needed a wake-up call, not to be thrown into a cage for 15 years. ANTHONY PAPA Ossining, N.Y., Jan. 30, 1995

February 6, 1995 - Opinion - 195 words

21.       To Let Jean Harris Go Sends Wrong Message; Human Lives Wasting

...politicians. Why waste taxpayer money on men and women who have already paid dearly for the crimes they have committed; keeping them in the dark dungeons of New York State is surely not the answer. ANTHONY PAPA Ossining, N.Y., March 21, 1992

April 9, 1992 - Opinion - 131 words

________________

LA Times

A first change in drug sentencing

Re "Justices OK latitude on sentencing," Dec. 11

Finally, the Supreme Court has positively reacted to the cruelty of a bad sentencing law that has been tossed around between legislatures and the courts for 20 years. In that time, an alarming number of people's lives have been destroyed by racially discriminatory crack-cocaine laws that disproportionately sentenced people of color. However, the decision to give judges more power to use sentencing discretion is only a first step in correcting these clearly draconian laws that were constructed because of the politics of the drug war. I hope it sends a clear message to prosecutors that mandatory minimum sentences are a part of an archaic judicial structure that needs to be overhauled in the name of justice.

Anthony Papa

Communications Specialist

Drug Policy Alliance

New York

Getting the Issue in the Media:   I wrote an op-ed.  It was published on the Huffington Post where it made its rounds on the net  becoming a haunting melody!

 

Anthony Papa: Clinton's Crack Cocaine Apology: Too Little Too Late ...

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Bill Clinton News - Los Angeles Times

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Anthony Papa: Clintons Crack Cocaine Apology: Too Little Too Late?

4 Mar 2008 by (Anthony Papa) - http://www.huffingtonpost.com...  
Some critics are quick to say Bill Clinton's statement is nothing more than a political ploy to generate support for his wife's presidential run.
US Presidential race 2008 real-time ! - http://www.electionbid2008.com

 

Newsvine - Clinton's Crack Cocaine Apology: Too Little Too Late?

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Sentencing Law and Policy

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