Two years ago last week in front of an audience of 300 people, Target announced their support for Ban the Box and the adoption of the policy for their company. Justice for All (J4A) leaders and our allies fought long and hard to make that happen and earlier this week we had another victory with President Obama.
On Monday, Nov 2nd, 2015, President Obama issued an Executive Order to Ban the Box for all Federal jobs. This is something we have been working on with allies for months. Last week we had the opportunity to tell Senior Advisor to the President Valarie Jarrett the Target story and backed it up with 100,030 pettition signatures and letters from men incarcerated at Lino Lakes.
Fred Hampton once said “Those who dare to struggle, dare to win. Those who dare not struggle… Don’t deserve to win.” I am proud to say, that in J4A we dare to struggle and that is why we win.
Why do we take on BIG fights (Target, the White House, Restoration of Voting Rights)? We dare to struggle because anything else would be submission to a Justice System that targets our families for profit and demolition.
We dare to struggle because even when we win we know there is more work to do. Winning brings more people into the fight and changes the story about what is possible. Losing only reminds us that the struggle is real and that we need to press on.
Monday we had a victory. Today, I will contact the White House with our allies and start fighting for Ban the Box tomapply to Federal Contractors. The struggle continues.
As always, if you have a loved one who is incarcerated, send them some love. If you got someone coming home, welcolm and encourage them. If your struggling because of your background, keep struggling. You are not alone, the Leaders of the Justice 4 All Program are with you and we can win together.
