MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Bernard Noble and his daughter. (Image: Public Defenders of Orleans Parish)

You have to crawl down deep into the sewer system and trudge through raw sewage, pinching your nose to try and reduce the stench, to even begin to comprehend the injustice of sentencing a Black 49-year-old father of seven to 13 years in jail for possessing what amounts to two joints worth of marijuana.

The sludge of waste matter on the ignoble side of the US justice system is thick with racism, a perverse "war on drugs" and bias against the poor.

Bernard Noble, a resident of New Orleans, is now in a Louisiana prison because the raw sewage of a morally corrupt "criminal justice" system is still freely flowing in so many parts of the United States.

The Orleans Parish public defenders have been campaigning to free Noble, stating on their website:

Bernard Noble, a 49-year-old native of New Orleans and father of seven children, is currently serving 13.3 years for in the Jackson Parish Correctional Center in Jonesboro, Louisiana.

His crime? Possession of 2.8 grams of marijuana - roughly enough marijuana to roll two joints. Less than is now legal in a growing number of states. For this, Bernard Noble has been separated from a family he has worked actively to support, overpaying his child support, and being the kind of father we all hope a man will be.

Attempting to reduce Noble's mandatorily imposed sentence, the trial judge stated "Mr. Noble's inevitable incarceration will be a greater punishment for his children than for himself." And yet, after the trial judge's reduced sentence was appealed, Mr. Noble was slapped once again with the mandatory 13 years.

The corrosive corruption of "justice" inflicted on Noble is cruel: ruining a life - and those of his family - while wasting enormous public expenses that could be best used to actually create a safer community.

The site BeNobleFreeNoble.com (which supports a twitter campaign, #benoblefreenoble) explains that because Noble had been arrested twice before for nonviolent drug violations, he was subject to a state-legislature-mandated 13 year sentence. Such "three strikes you're out" laws are a travesty of justice, a monumental pandering to racial, class and drug bias that is nothing more than a state-sanctioned bow to the legacy of slavery.

Can you imagine a New Orleans suburban White teen who regularly smokes marijuana going to jail for 13 years? It ain't going to happen, because this is all about prejudice and a mass incarceration system that has been heavily influenced by the ante-bellum South.

On BeNobleFreeNoble.com, it states:

Mr. Noble is a father of seven children, whom he not only supports regularly, but has done so to the point that he has overpaid his child support to his children out of state.

Mr. Noble's youngest child suffers from autism, and another of his young children suffers from rheumatoid arthritis for which there is no cure.

Mr. Noble is a high school graduate, has a commercial driver's license and a business license he used to start two businesses, a janitorial service and a restaurant.

Don't expect Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) to grant Noble clemency anytime soon. Presidential aspirant Jindal is a right wing tool of grandiose ignorance who would never take an action that would alienate the votes of prejudiced Southerners or the GOP right wing.

Bernard is not an exception to the so-called justice system: he's just a glaring example of how ludicrously unjust it is. Yes, the entire mass incarceration system is a gross injustice, but if changing the system appears overwhelming, don't despair.

The public defenders of New Orleans are standing up for him: "Help us spread the word online through our website www.benoblefreenoble.com, Facebook page and Twitter@LAReform #benoblefreenoble #blacklivesmatter and sign the petition!" You can join them and express your opinion about this ruthless imprisonment of Bernard Noble. You can also go to BeNobleFreeNoble.com and "get loud."

You need to start somewhere; otherwise the reactionary forces of injustice will continue to prevail.