As a new father, I have learned many tricks for getting my son to fall asleep in the middle of the night. Littering his crib with pacifiers so when he loses one, he can grab another one. Setting the mood with lavender scent and turning on his Ninja Turtle night light that shines stars on the ceiling. Finally, I rock him slowly in my arms, his chest covering my heart, his head on my shoulder, and sing freedom songs.
“We are the children of the ones who did not die.”
“We are the children of a people who can fly!”
“We are fearless, we are strong, we are ready to carry on.”
The last thing my son hears before he falls asleep are the words “We are fearless, we are strong, we are ready to carry on.” My hope is that he learns to always push and fight to help make this world a lil better for all of us. Just like the Leaders of the Justice 4 All Program.
These past few weeks have been busy for the Justice 4 All program. We kicked off the Legislative Session by joining forces with the MPLS NAACP and RTVMN Coalition on Twitter. We trended nationally and reached 1.4 million people with our message to #RestoreTheVote! We rallied with our partners at Voices for Racial Justice as they released the Racial Equity Agenda and again a week later with the MN Second Chance Coalition. We are fearlessly showing up at the Capitol.
TakeAction members who are J4A Leaders drove to Saint Cloud and led a set of political education workshops with students at Saint Cloud State. By the end of the day, 41 people had signed up to join our fight. A few days later, J4A Leaders led a powerful discussion in collaboration with the BRIDGE Prison Justice (incarcerated men at Lino Lakes) led by Kevin Reese. The focus was on the impact of Willie Lynch and the roots of our justice system. Kevin taught a mostly white audience how the brutal legacy of slavery continues to exist through mass incarceration. We are fearlessly telling our story.
The next day, we had volunteers from the NAACP MPLS branch and J4A Leaders hit the phones. We called Minnesotans in 6 GOP districts to build support for Restore the Vote. We generated 32 constituent contacts to 6 GOP Legislators including Speaker of the House Kurt Daudt. Later on that week, we joined allies and shut down the Public Safety Committee that was hearing a bill that would re-open a private prison in Greater Minnesota. This action received tons of coverage and moved Minnesota’s Governor to come out the very next day and state publicly that he will veto any bill with a proposal for a private prison. We are fearlessly demanding Justice 4 All.
What have you been up to? Are you in the fight to end mass incarceration? Are you looking for a place to tell your story? Is your family being set up to fail by the Justice System? Have you had enough?
Join us this week, Thursday at our first Justice 4 All Community Member Meeting. REGISTER HERE. Come and learn about the next phase of our work and how we are building power with allies to #StopCCA, #RestoreTheVote and remove additional barriers to employment for people with criminal records.
Be fearless, be strong… JOIN THE FIGHT!
