Frederick Douglass visited Ireland in the decades before the American Civil War, where he met Daniel O'Connell, Ireland's nationalist leader and a vocal critic of slavery. “I am the friend of liberty in every clime, class and colour. My sympathy with distress is not confined within the narrow bounds of my own green island. No — it extends itself to every corner of the earth," O'Connell said at a meeting of his Repeal Association that Douglass attended in September 1845. Here's a look at how his words influenced Douglass's activism: "Agitate, agitate, agitate."
#Abolition#BlackMastodon#BlackTwitter#CriminalLegalSystem@blackmastodon While I was in Canada I popped into the Toronto Black Film Festival and yep, I found something that inspired an #abolition thread. They were screening a documentary film called “Dancing in A-Yard, which documented a dance program that was established for men in a California prison. Most of the men were serving long sentences, with a few lifers in the mix. Many of them were sent to prison while they were teenagers. 1/5
#Abolition#BlackMastodon#BlackTwitter#CriminalLegalSystem@blackmastodon The men shared two things: they were all in pain and traumatized in the environment where they were raised and growing up none of them believed their lives mattered. The dance therapy allowed them to heal themselves and see themselves, and others around them as humans worthy of being loved. At some point they realized they could touch each other while dancing without triggering any toxic masculinity. 2/5
#Abolition#BlackMastodon#BlackTwitter#CriminalLegalSystem@blackmastodon
Each and every one of the men in the film was on a journey of transformation, but most of them were to remain in prison. Listening to their stories reinforced for me that we have to free our children from the toxicity of white supremacy that removes persons who could be role models from our communities; that re-enforces to them in their schools, in their housing, in their neighborhoods that aren’t worthy of love. 3/5
#Abolition#BlackMastodon#BlackTwitter#CriminalLegalSystem@blackmastodon Maybe if we viewed restoring our communities as a post-war effort, people could understand that tinkering with reform around the edges simply cannot work. If we want to be free, and I realize not everyone wants freedom, but for those who do, we really must give up relying on models infused with supremacy to find our solutions. Let us be bold and revolutionary. Here's the trailer for the doc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQaMgSqjbGY 5/5
"Policing is touted as a solution to all insecurity. But police are themselves a threat. Moreover, police encourage us to see safety in division. They are focused on cordoning off 'wrongdoers' based on race, class, sexuality, gender, and respectability. A main consequence of policing is to separate people. But separating people works to separate us from what does provide a sense of stability, and hope, as well as safety—which is the support of others."
Leonard Peltier has recently experienced a significant loss of vision requiring him to implore the help of fellow prisoners to do basic things like dial phone numbers for him to make calls, type his emails, and even assist him getting around as he cannot see well enough to walk on his own. This all is happening while USP Colemen I continues to be locked down, only allowing prisoners out of their cells for up to two hours. At 79 years of age, it is imperative that Leonard get treatment for his loss of vision right away.
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (Feb 12, 14, 16), The Official Leonard Peltier Ad Hoc Committee will initiate call-ins to these four elected officials:
Senator Dick Durbin: Washington Office: 202-224-2152
Chicago Office: 312-353-4952
Senator Jon Ossof: Washington Office: 202-224-3521
Atlanta Office: 470-786-7800
Senator Alex Padilla: Washington Office: 202-224-3553
Los Angeles Office: 310-231-4494
US Representative Maxwell Frost: Washington Office: 202-225-2176
Orlando Office: 321-388-9808
Please join us during regular business hours (Mon, Wed, & Fri) to make calls to the four elected officials above. Below is a script with bullet points you can use for your calls. To help maximize results for this campaign, we recommend calling both their local and Washington DC offices to ensure the representatives are made aware of this important and urgent request. On behalf of Leonard himself, we thank you SO MUCH for your participation. Please follow us on social media and check our website for important medical updates related to Leonard.
Sample Script
(Make sure to include #1 and #6 in your calls!)
Hi, My name is ______ and I’m calling about immediate medical care needed for Leonard Peltier, whose prisoner number is 89637-132, and he’s in USP Coleman.
Leonard Peltier has suffered a significant loss of vision which poses serious risks, like him falling, and he now depends on other prisoners to be able to perform basic activities.
Leonard has not seen an eye doctor in over 12 years nor a dentist in over 10 years.
The Bureau of Prisons must immediately tend to Leonard’s current medical needs, or they violate the American Disabilities Act (ADA)* and violate Leonard’s 8th Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment.
The BOP must provide preventative medical treatment when not doing so could cause significant and severe health concerns.
Leonard’s blindness can be prevented or treated, and the BOP must provide immediate medical care to do that
Leonard has a hard time eating, and the BOP needs to provide immediate and adequate dental care.
Leonard is at risk of falling and he needs treatment and accommodations, so he is not dependent on other prisoners to do basic things.
----------End of Script--------------
A little more Background:
ADA requires accommodations for a person with any form of disability.
Throughout his incarceration, Bureau of Prisons medical neglect has caused Leonard permanent physical damage which could have been avoided by providing timely and proper medical care.
For instance:
· In 1986, Leonard suffered a stroke which resulted in him losing 80% of the vision in his left eye. When International doctors were allowed in to examine him, they concluded this could have been easily avoided if Peltier received regular timely medical care.
· In 1996, Leonard Peltier had two surgeries to treat his two abscessed teeth. He nearly died from blood loss, was kept in solitary confinement during “recovery,” and ultimately suffered permanent damage to his jaw.
#BlackMastodon#BlackTwitter#Abolition@blackmastodon The problem in Oakland highlights the difficulty of working with the police who don't really have any interests in helping communities reduce crime. It's not in their financial benefit. Also, because of the way municipal government works when money is tight or re-election time comes around, the cuts will be made against the most vulnerable every time because they don't have political power. These systems are not built to accept reform. 2/2
#BlackMastodon#BlackTwitter#Abolition#AcademyDC@blackmastodon Here's my first abolition thread for the new year. One of the toughest problem s for our communities is crime within the community and we all know Black and Brown communities experience high levels of gun violence and its related crimes. But even within this context community based solutions are important and can be more effective then using the police to enforce security rather than help create safety. 1/3
#BlackMastodon#BlackTwitter#Abolition#AcademyDC@blackmastodon
There's a series running on Howard University's PBS called "Do Betta DC, " and it's a community based approach to various techniques for dealing with violence. They use media and entertainment training (how to do podcast, radio shows, make music) to hook the youth into rethinking life possibilities and how they can move about in the world. 2/3
Today in Labor History December 25, 1831: The Great Jamaican Slave Revolt, the largest slave uprising in the British West Indies, began on this date. Samuel Sharpe, a black Baptist deacon, led the revolt of 60,000 enslaved people. The 11-day uprising began as a General Strike, but quickly turned violent. 14 whites and 207 enslaved black people died in the siege. However, another 340 rebels were executed afterward. The rebels had been inspired by the abolitionist movement in London and had intended to call for a peaceful uprising. The rebellion was depicted in Andrea Levy's 2010 novel, “The Long Song,” and in Herbert de Lisser’s The 1929 novel “The White Witch of Rosehall.”
Today in Labor History December 24, 1807: Elizabeth Chandler, poet and abolitionist, was born on this date. In 1825, when she was only eighteen years old, her poem, "The Slave-Ship", was published, leading Benjamin Lundy, a well-known abolitionist and publisher, to ask her to write for his periodical, “The Genius of Universal Emancipation.” Chandler called for better treatment for Native Americans and the immediate emancipation of slaves. She was also responsible for popularizing one of the most famous abolitionist images, the kneeling female slave with the slogan "Am I not a Woman and a Sister?"
Just in case most of you missed Interrupting Criminalization's virtual program last week on 1MillionExperiments I'll provide some highlights. Marieme Kaba and Eva (sorry I forgot her last name were talking about how the project started so long story short:
if you want something different from the status quo which keeps people locked under the oppression of the police, then you have to build something else.
1/3
#Abolition#BlackMastodon#BlackTwitter@blackmastodon
2) If you are going to build something new, be prepared to fail. Not everything will work and many things won't. You have to keep thinking and creating and trying until you can get something to stick. It will be a process, not an event.
safety and security are not the same thing. Safe communities are what people are trying to build. Security is what you have to rely on when safety is missing. The police are security, not safety. 2/3
#Abolition#BlackMastodon#BlackTwitter@blackmastodon
4) Get used to the fact not everyone will agree. Even abolitionists don't all agree on tactics. AND you may not get big grant $$ because what you are trying to do actually attacks the systems grant funders are trying to tinker with but essentially uphold.
Be bold...be visionary...be community connected and orientated...stay in for the long haul. 3/3
Today in Labor History December 2, 1867: British author Charles Dickens gave his first public reading in the United States at Tremont Temple in Boston. He described his impressions of the U.S. in a travelogue, “American Notes for General Circulation.” In Notes, he condemned slavery and correlated the emancipation of the poor in England with the abolition of slavery abroad. Despite his abolitionist sentiments, some modern commentators have criticized him for not condemning Britain’s harsh crackdown during the 1860s Morant Bay rebellion in Jamaica. During his American visit, he also spent a month in New York, giving lectures, and arguing for international copyright laws and against the pirating of his work in America. The press ridiculed him, saying he should be grateful for his popularity here.
Today in Labor History December 2, 1859: The authorities hanged abolitionist John Brown in Charleston, Virginia for his leadership of a plot to incite a slave rebellion. Victor Hugo, who was living in exile on Guernsey, tried to obtain a pardon for him. His open letter was published by the press on both sides of the Atlantic. His plea failed, of course. On the day of his execution, John Brown rode in a furniture wagon, on top of his own coffin, through a crowd of 2,000 soldiers, to the gallows. The soldiers included future Confederate general Stonewall Jackson and John Wilkes Booth. Walt Whitman described the execution in his poem “Year of Meteors.”