Tag Archives: justice4all
Justice 4 All Monthly Community Member Meeting
Posted March 28, 2017
Justice 4 All is off to a great start this year, because of folks joining our fight to resist attacks on our freedom and liberation, and because we are building an amazing fair hiring campaign together. We need you here with us to get stronger, continue to have important conversations, and be in powerful community.
RSVP for this at this link: https://secure.everyaction.com/_x7_A5ww1kuel0ZfLSMnzw2
Free event. Food provided. Let us know if you need free childcare.
Contact Tommy Franklin, J4A Organizer, tommy@takeactionminnesota.org 651 500 8503… Continue reading »
Justice 4 All Community Member Meeting
Posted January 12, 2017
We can no longer afford to ignore the problem of mass incarceration, because it is coming for us all. The voiceless must be heard in 2017, and we have a unique opportunity to resist, get our stories (the truth) out there, and build together.
JOIN THE FIGHT at our next Justice 4 All Community Member Meeting!
Justice 4 All Community Member Meeting
Posted August 26, 2016
Join us for our monthly J4A Community Member Meeting. Building stronger community and voices in the fight for criminal justice reform to create a fair Minnesota.
A Call to Justice
Posted July 29, 2016
We don’t have a Justice System, we have a crime and punishment system. One that protects the profits and property of the wealthy, and divides and controls the rest of us. If we do nothing, this system, steeped in racism, sexism, and built to enhance corporate power, will continue to target and dismantle our families. All over the country, people are standing up and demanding justice. Here is what the Justice 4 All program has been up to this month, and what we have coming up.
The Leaders of the Justice 4 All Program repeatedly joined BLM, AFT and allies in the streets, shutting down highways and taking arrests. We supported artists who were weary from marching and therefore decided to take their heartfelt expressions to the Minneapolis streets by painting a powerful mural. J4A Leaders continued our work on Voting Rights restoration and met with the Secretary of State’s office. Lastly, we brought our partners together for an event in North MPLS focused on fun and supporting our family members who are incarcerated.
Together with C.E.O. (Change Equals Opportunity), Mad Dads, the Office of Black Male Student Achievement, we hosted a 3 on 3 stop-the-violence basketball tournament along with our J4A Community Member Meeting.… Continue reading »
It hurts us all
Posted June 1, 2016
My name is Ben Whalen. I’m a white guy who grew up middle class from the suburbs. I’ve lived a fairly privilege life. For a long time, I was ignorant of the systemic injustices present in our justice system. I bought into the dominant narrative that only “bad guys” go to jail and get what they deserve for the crimes they committed. It wasn’t until I moved to the Twin Cities after college and got involved in advocacy and community organizing groups that I started to question that narrative. I now have multiple friends with criminal records who’ve told me about the challenges they face to find housing and jobs long after they’ve served their time. I’ve listened to the stories from my friends who are people of color about how police arrested them, beat them, and assumed they were criminals because they “fit the description.” I’ve had friends who were exercising their right to protest, advocating for police accountability, who’ve been met with similar treatment from the police. I’ve now read about and listened to experts on mass incarceration explain how it perpetuates systemic racism. After all of this, I cannot remain silent.
In college, I had the opportunity to visit South Africa and learn about its history and culture.… Continue reading »
Session is Over…
Posted May 26, 2016
Session is over, and for the past nine weeks, J4A Leaders set out to change who decides and who benefits. We put in hours of volunteer work, we told our stories boldly and came together in powerful and meaningful ways. We repeatedly proclaimed that we believe in a Minnesota where people have the power to make the decisions that affect our communities, our lives and our futures. Here is a sample of what we did together.
We Won Some Stuff: Shoulder to shoulder with allies, we supported a modest sentencing reform package that will reduce the prison population significantly over the next five years. We continued our fight for the restoration of voting rights and while it did not pass as a law, due to a variety of dynamic and strategic work done by allies, the bill did advance in the Senate for the 3rd time. Finally, we fought side by side with allies to prevent a privet prison from opening in Appleton MN and were successful.
We Built: This Session, J4A Leaders connected our work to Minnesotans across the state. We started out the year at Lino Lakes Prison building with our partners at Voices for Racial Justice and the brave men incarcerated at Lino Lakes Correctional Facility.… Continue reading »
“If they come for me in the morning…”
Posted May 3, 2016
Angela Davis said “If they come for me in the morning, they will come for you at night.” A reminder that none of us are safe from systems steeped in ideas of racial, gender and economic oppression. Not white folks, black folks, not other people of color, not men, women or transgender folks. Not poor or middle class, we all stand to lose from a crime and punishment system designed to protect the profits and property of the wealthy and divide and control the rest of us, so we better come together. The only way to create the change we seek is to build a statewide multiracial movement.
The Justice 4 All Program (J4A) has been working on building our part of the movement during the month of April.
We started things out at Saint Cloud State University. J4A Leaders led a powerful discussion on the impact of the Justice System, and students left ready to take this work to the streets. Much more to come in Saint Cloud.
Three times this month we publicly debated Republicans on the issue of Justice Reform. We were live on MPR with GOP Rep. Tim Miller, author of the proposal to reopen a prison in Appleton MN.… Continue reading »
A call to action
Posted April 5, 2016
James Badue is a member of the Justice 4 All Program at TakeAction Minnesota. He is helping to lead the fight to remove barriers to employment, housing and democracy for Minnesotans impacted by the Justice System. As J4A members gear up to take on new fights, James offers this powerful reflection on the announcement from Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman that there will be no indictment in the shooting of Jamar Clark.
As I sat at the table of Muddy Waters in South side MPLS with Tommy Franklin (Justice 4 All Organizer), Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman’s announcement played live on his laptop. The aggravation of knowing the results before he announced it sat in my chest as I recalled the murder of a friend of mine who was shot and killed by the police on his graduation day. Then Trayvon, Mike Brown, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Walter Scott, Eric Garner, and all the other unknown brothers and sisters who have been murdered by the police with no justice.
In this city, there is no justice, it is just “us”.
Having recently been freed from the walls of imprisonment in 2014, I, like many of us, know what being held accountable for our actions means.… Continue reading »
Expand the Vote Door Knock
Posted October 8, 2014
Let’s make sure our community’s voices are heard! The lives of people of color getting better depends on US casting ballots to make sure our concerns are priorities for the people we elect. We can’t wait to EXPAND THE VOTE and build community power with you.
Questions or comments? Contact Kandace Montgomery, Justice 4 All Organizer (Northside Based). kandace@takeactionminnesota.org, 207-459-6320… Continue reading »
