Congressional Black Caucus Chair and U.S. Representative Karen Bass, Senator Cory Booker, Representative Val Demings and Senator Kamala Harris Address One of the Most Important and Urgent Issues of Our Time - Criminal Justice Reform in America

BET News presents “AMERICAN INJUSTICE: A BET TOWN HALL.” Hosted and moderated by award-winning broadcast journalist, Soledad O’Brien, this critical and timely primetime special brings together some of the most influential voices in Congress to explore the future of criminal justice reform in America. The panel of political heavyweights includes presidential candidates Senator Cory Booker and Senator Kamala Harris, and other key members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) including Rep. Karen Bass (CBC Chair), and Rep. Val Demings. This one-hour special speaks to the stark racial disparities that plague America’s criminal justice system and offers solutions. The town hall event airs Sunday, March 24 at 9:00 PM ET/PT on BET.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190318005575/en/

L-R: (host) Soledad O'Brien, Senator Kamala Harris, Representative Val Demings, Senator Cory Booker, Representative Karen Bass (Bennett Raglin, GETTY Images)

“BET Networks is committed to bringing conversations and stories of systemic issues of race and justice across our nation to light through platforms like our powerful ‘Finding Justice’ series, our upcoming leadership symposium and this important ‘American Injustice’ town hall conversation in partnership with members of the Congressional Black Caucus,” said Scott Mills, President of BET Networks. “We are taking this on in a way no other brand and network can. We look forward to taking the conversation beyond our screens and into action as we work towards addressing and telling the untold stories of transgressions to Black Americans.”

In America there are currently over 2 million people locked up in jail or prison and more than 4 million under correctional supervision, and America’s crisis of mass incarceration disproportionately impacts black and brown communities. In December, President Trump signed into law the “First Step Act” aimed at reforming some of the sentencing disparities in America’s Criminal justice system. While the bill is a “first step” toward reform, there is still much more work to be done.

In addition to the “First Step Act,” this BET Town Hall examines several other issues in the Criminal Justice system still in urgent need of reform including juvenile justice and the school-to-prison pipeline, the cash bail system that too often preys on low-income minorities and a probation/parole system that in too many cases works as a system to re-incarcerate offenders. This BET News special addresses these issues and offers tools to empower people to advocate for criminal justice reform at the local level, in their communities. To drive audience engagement and give context to the issues discussed, clips of BET’s original docuseries “Finding Justice” will be included throughout the special.

Tune in Sunday, March 24 starting at 8:00 PM ET to a new episode of “Finding Justice” focusing on voter suppression, followed by “AMERICAN INJUSTICE: A BET TOWN HALL,” at 9:00 PM ET/PT and be part of this crucial conversation by socializing your thoughts with the hashtag #FindingJusticeBET

BET PRESS:Jamie Owens212-205-3165jamie.owens@bet.net

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