Last week Justice 4 All leaders and our partners had to be clear with Senator Cory Booker’s staff – politics is personal. Senator Booker is moving bipartisan legislation called the #FairChanceAct. At first glance, this sounds like a great thing for families impacted by the Justice System. But in a room with people that collectively had over 300 years of prison time, it became clear that the #FairChanceAct is more about Republicans and Democrats playing nice together than real structural reform. We took that very personal.
One of our partners from All of Us or None had to remind Sen. Booker’s staff that slavery was a policy with bipartisan support. Jim Crow had bipartisan support and yes, mass incarceration had bipartisan support. The United States of America did not end up with 25% of the world’s prison population by accident. Lawmakers in partnership with corporate profiteers intentionally took us down this path.
Together, our coalition shared this message with both Sen. Booker’s staff and White House Staff. And we shared our message to the stage at the Million Man March. Our message was featured on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. John Legend joined our fight by advancing our petition from the Color of Change.
We’re calling on President Obama to ignore the #FairChanceAct and issue an Executive Order to remove questions about criminal histories from all Federal Employment Applications including those who contract with the Federal Government. This is similar to the Ban the Box bill we passed here in MN in 2013. Join us by signing the petition and sharing the video from John Legend’s #FREEAMERICA.
Sign the petition and please share. http://letsfreeamerica.com/
As always, if you have a loved one who is incarcerated, please call them, put some money on their books or send them a letter. If you have someone coming home, welcome and encourage them. Lastly, if you are being locked out of society because of your past, join us as we fight to remove barriers to our future and demand #Justice4All.
Peace,
Justin Terrell
Justice 4 All Program Manager
TakeAction Minnesota
