Anti-Incarceration Sunday, May 5, 2012

Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.  Hebrews 13:3

Family,

Out of any three African Americans,  chances are that one of you three has a loved one currently under control of the criminal justice system–national, state or local– either in jail/prison, on probation or parole.

There is an epidemic rampaging right before our eyes, ripping through our families, leaving children with one and often no parent to raise them, that is crushing our communities and destroying any semblance of social fabric. It is sweeping young black and brown men of color off our streets, affecting the poor and disadvantaged disproportionately, and increasingly affecting young ladies and women.

What is so insidious, so heart wrenching, about this epidemic is that it is imminently curable . . . if only enough people cared! In fact, if this epidemic was occurring anywhere else but the black and brown and poor neighborhoods of our country, all of our greatest scientists, researchers and, yes, even politicians, would be in a mad rush to find a cure.

I’m not talking about a new flu strain, or STD, or some antibiotic resistant microbe, the epidemic I am talking about is mass incarceration. Today, as the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference has called May 6th, Anti-Incarceration/Justice Sunday, below are a few alarming facts:

• In the 1970’s prison activists were horrified that there were over 250,000 people in U.S. prisons, yet today there are more than 2.3 million people incarcerated . . . the vast majority of them black, brown or poor
• America leads the world in incarcerating our people, at rate of 743 per 100,000, more than Russia, than China
• And racial disparities are astounding and indefensible! Black men are incarcerated at 5 times that of white men and Latino men twice that of white men, and for Black men between the ages of 25 and 29 . . . the number is 15 times that of white men

As tragic as these figures are, it doesn’t end there. Even after our brothers and sisters complete their sentences, parole and probation obligations; there is a blazing red “F” attached to them for the rest of their lives. Depending on where you live, an ex-felon can be legally discriminated against in various ways: voting restrictions, disqualified for public benefits like food stamps, federal housing or student loans, even disqualified for jury duty.

The hard work dismantling our broken justice system has begun. One way you can join the fight is by contacting the Trinity UCC Prison Ministry and The Next Movement committee at prison@trinitychicago.org.

Daryle Brown
Trinity UCC Justice Watch Team

Health Education Needs Your Support!

Family,

There are several bills that need your support to assure they are enacted into law, and that are critical to the health of our children and community:

House Bill 3027 - The Sexual Health Education Bill
This bill aims to modernize Illinois’ sex education law and create a standard for existing sexual health education courses for students in grades 6-12. This education empowers teens with the best prevention tools. Sexual health curricula must be updated and based on the latest scientific information.  HB 3027 would require existing sex ed programs to teach complete, medically accurate, and developmentally and age-appropriate content.

The bill gives school districts the flexibility to choose among numerous eligible curricula, and curricula are required to stress abstinence as the only 100% ensured method of avoiding unintended pregnancy, STDs and HIV/AIDS, but also teach about contraceptive options as a means of prevention. Parents can opt to remove their children from any sex ed class for any reason.

Click Here to sign a petition in support of this bill.

Real Education of Healthy Youth Act of 2011
This is a federal bill that would end funding of the "Abstinence until Marriage" program and redirect the funding to the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), a state grant funding stream. Currently the government is spending $50M a year on this program even though the 10-year study of the program indicated it had no impact on teen behavior. In contrast, PREP has been scientifically evaluated to have a measurable impact.

Click Here to  address a message to your representation in Washington and encourage the support this legislation.

Illinois is Planning to Cut HIV Prevention Funding by 50%!

Governor Pat Quinn and the General Assembly are considering cutting state funding for HIV programs by $4 million, which will a lower state funding for HIV prevention, housing, corrections, minority health, perinatal HIV, and harm reduction programs by 50%.

Based on public health data, 108 additional people could become infected with HIV, resulting in over $40 million in lifetime medical costs. Nearly 1,000 HIV-positive persons would lose access to housing and vital supportive services. We estimate that this reduction will actually increase costs to Illinois by $6.9 million next fiscal year.

Click Here to make your voice heard and contact your elected officials now!

Repeal HIV Discrimination Act

Criminal transmission of HIV laws demonize people with HIV and increase stigma.  When someone is charged with criminal transmission of HIV, their HIV-positive status is disclosed to the community, and often the world, through demonizing press coverage.  Severe sentences perpetuate misconceptions that people with HIV are highly infectious, toxic, and dangerous. Criminal transmission of HIV laws can lead individuals to avoid HIV testing and treatment because they fear being tarred with the same brush.

The REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act (HR 3053) would require the U.S. Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to update guidelines and assist states in changing discriminatory criminalization policies against people living with HIV/AIDS.  Please tell your Congressional representative to co-sponsor this critical piece of legislation.

Click Hear to send a message to your legislative representative.


Thank you for taking a stand on health education and non-discriminatory practices.


Trinity UCC
HIV/AIDS Ministry

Howard Morgan's Fight Should Be Everyones Fight!

Many, but not enough, have heard of the travesty of justice that is represented by the Howard Morgan shooting. First a few facts:

• Howard Morgan is a former Chicago Police Officer, and following that career, spent 13 years as a Railroad Police Officer.
• On February 21, 2005, Mr. Morgan was forced from his vehicle and shot by police officers 28 times, 21 of those shots were into his back . . . miraculously he survived.
• As unbelievable as it may seem, he was charged with four counts of attempted murder, along with other firearm charges (he was a police officer and was carrying a weapon legally).
• In 2007, he was acquitted of 3 charges and the jury was hung on the remaining counts; the judge declared a mistrial.
• With evidence and a witness in his favor, and the appearance of double jeopardy, he was tried on the remaining charges this year and is currently awaiting sentencing:
• The state could only produce 3 of 25 bullets removed from his body - the other bullets could have proven he was shot with his own gun
• He was never tested for gun residue to confirm he fired his weapon
• The state never produced the bullet proof vest the office claimed had been shot into

If Howard Morgan had died of his many gunshot wounds this would have been just one more case that got sweep away from the public's vision. The fact that he lived to tell the story should serve as a wake-up call to us all. We should demand justice for Brother Morgan, as well as for ourselves. We should demand Howard Morgan's release, while also demanding our police live up the slogan of "To Serve and Protect." It's time for our police to work with our communities to remove the few bad apples that give them all a bad reputation and that generates the haze of distrust that reduces citizen/police cooperation to near zero.

It is in the interest of us all to bring true justice to bear on this case. To cure the larger issue is certainly going to take time and resources. To begin, however, please click here to go the the Free Howard Morgan website and sign his petition demanding justice.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."  

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King

Daryle Brown
Trinity UCC Justice Watch Team

Are We Serious?

When Pastor Moss informs us of how industries, companies, governments, or even individuals, are taking advantage of the poor and disadvantaged among us, do we pay attention? And if we pay attention, do we change our behavior to try to tip the scales back towards “justice?”

Initially, in the fall of 2010, Pastor Moss identified the scandalous tactics being implemented by the Koch brothers, using their billions to manipulate both people and governments to serve their insatiable greed. Pastor warned us that the Koch brothers, owners of the “largest company you’ve never heard of,” were the secret funding source behind the Tea Party, and a staunch opponent of environment regulations. Since that time our congregation was encouraged to boycott Koch Industries’ brands so as not to finance our own destruction. Did we?

Now, thanks to insightful reporting by Bill Press of Tribune Media Services, we find that the Koch brothers have collected over 49 million dollars in “Anti-Obama” funding, and another writer indicates they have pledged 60 million dollars of their own. They are the principle funders of 57 right wing political action groups, including Americans for Prosperity, which alone spent $45M in the 2010 elections! Some key issues that AFP supports:

• Repealing the Affordable Health Care Act
• Repealing the Dodd/Frank Act that provides rules and regulations to reduce the chance of another banking system collapse
• Opposition to the Clean Air Act's ability to address greenhouse gas emissions
• Elimination of tax credits and subsidies for "green" technologies
• Elimination of estate taxes (now only paid on the value of estates that is over $5 million)

If providing health care for all is a priority, if we are to be good stewards of the earth God has given to us, if we want a fair tax system and accountable banking system, we must be willing to work for it. Yes, it is a hassle keeping track of various boycotts and other socially conscious actions, and sometimes it feels like we are tossing beans at an elephant, but consistency is critical. If you haven't joined in the boycott of Koch Industries' products, please do. And, for those of you that are already taking part in this important action, please continue.

DO NOT BUY

• Brawny or Mardi Gras Paper Towels
• Angel Soft, Soft ‘n Gentle or Quilted Northern Toilet Paper
• Mardi Gras, Sparkle, Vanity Fair, Dixie or Zee Napkins
• Dixie Plates, Bowls or Cups
• Stainmaster Carpet
• Any products from Georgia Pacific (building products)

Together we make a difference.

Daryle Brown

Trinity UCC Justice Watch Team

A Lesson in Making a Bed

Have you ever thought about workers who make the beds in hotels?  Two weeks ago I had a conversation with a housekeeper from a Hyatt Hotel about making beds. While changing the linen on my 12 inch high queen-size bed at home, I revisited our conversation in my mind.

I remembered the housekeeper telling me about the injuries she and other housekeepers sustain in their wrists and back from changing beds in 15 rooms during their regular shifts. (a majority of the rooms have two queen size beds with mattress 15 to 18 inches high). To change my bed at home, I was using one fitted sheet and one flat sheet, however I remembered she told me, “we don’t have fitted sheets, only flat sheets.”  So just for a moment I imagined, lifting each corner of a mattress, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, year after year in 15 rooms every day. She shared the story of changing of beds with me to get to the really important point, which is how necessary it is for the workers at Hyatt Hotels to continue receiving their healthcare benefits, for themselves and their families.

These workers, members of UNITE-HERE, Local #1, have been in contract negotiations for more than 2 years and last week Hyatt threatened to cut off their healthcare benefits effective Feb. 29, 2012. It is critical that the community demonstrate our support of these workers and their cause

Please join these workers in their struggle to convince Hyatt they need their health benefits as we rally stage a rally at Hyatt's Headquarters:

Thursday, Dec. 15^th, 3:00p.m. 

Global Hyatt Headquarters

71 S. Wacker Drive

Chicago

Thank you in advance for your prayers and direct engagement, as we support our brothers and sisters in their fight for economic justice.

Mary Crayton . . . a Steelworkers Daughter

Trinity UCC - Justice Watch Team

The Last Note From Troy Davis

To All:

I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.

As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.

I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.

So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.

I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,

“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”

Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!

Pastor Moss' Reflection after hearing of Troy Davis' Execution . . .

The tragedy of our justice system is the uneven, discriminatory application of the punishment.

The evil of the death penalty is state sponsored death, supported and sponsored by known human imperfection.

The sin of our nation is our hubris in claiming Christianity in one hand and the religion of retaliation in the other.

The ignorance of our americanized faith is that we do not recognize our Savior was a death row inmate, executed unjustly for a crime He did not commit.

Lord Help us, 
Then motivate us.

Amen