Honoring MLK by asking hard questions

In this post on MLK day last year, I asked whether criminal justice reform should be the new civil rights movement and made this observation:

From my sentencing-centric perspective, reflecting on a day honoring Martin Luther King leads me to the view that Dr. King, were he still alive, would be focused on criminal justice reforms. So many aspects of the criminal justice system — from racial profiling to jury selection, from drug sentencing to the administration of the death penalty — highlight that our system is not color-blind (or at least not color-neutral). And, because of felon disenfranchisement and other collateral consequences, the enduring impact of a racially skewed criminal justice system cannot be overstated.

This year, in addition to encouraging everyone to take 15 minutes to watch all of Dr. King's amazing "I Have a Dream" speech (available here), I also want to encourage everyone to continue asking hard questions about how race (and class) can infect the operation of our criminal justice system in light of some of the posts highlighted below:

• Noticing different legislative reactions to meth and crack
• Crack reasonableness review should be as easy as 1, 2, 3
• What is the Sentencing Commission fiddling while the crack guidelines burn?
• Westar reversals ... a sentencing (and class) story?
• Encouraging a critical race examination of post-Booker developments
• Sobering realities of race and the death penalty
• Race and reform
• Racial disparity and sentencing reform
• New (depressing) report on race and increased incarceration