President Obama lifted the spirits of prison reform advocates by granting a holiday gift to eight convicted drug offenders, commuting their prison terms and in the process making a strong statement against the mandatory minimum sentences and disproportionately harsh prison terms for crack cocaine charges that have locked up a generation of Black men.

Over the last several years the Obama administration has made efforts to address the sentencing disparities, but advocates say he has not done enough. As pointed out by the Daily Beast, at the same point in his presidency George W. Bush had pardoned or given clemency to 70 people, compared to Obama’s 40.

While studies have shown that blacks and whites use drugs in roughly the same proportions, numerous studies have shown that blacks are much more likely to be sent to prison for possession.

Yesterday’s move by Obama was the first time retroactive relief was provided to a group of inmates who would most likely have received significantly shorter terms if they had been sentenced after the rules changed in 2010.

The president issued a statement saying each of the eight men and women had been sentenced under what is now recognized as an “unfair system,” including a 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses that was significantly reduced by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.

“If they had been sentenced under the current law, many of them would have already served their time and paid their debt to society,” Obama said. “Instead, because of a disparity in the law that is now recognized as unjust, they remain in prison, separated from their families and their communities, at a cost of millions of taxpayer dollars each year.”

The organization Families Against Mandatory Minimums says roughly 8,800 federal inmates are serving time for crack offenses committed before Congress reduced mandatory minimum sentences in 2010.

A significant move was made by the administration in August, when Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that he would direct federal prosecutors not to automatically seek mandatory minimum sentences for low-level, nonviolent drug offenders.