You fought hard and the entrenched corrupt interests in Chicago still decided to back an unnecessary and inherently violent police “training” facility to be built on the West Side of the city. How tired you must be feeling after all of these months of struggle. Perhaps some of you are even wondering this evening whether your organizing was worth the time, energy, heart and spirit you devoted to it. After all, the City Council’s vote is one you didn’t want to see happen. You were hoping for a different outcome. 

So isn’t this a loss? Didn’t you fail to win? A surface assessment of the campaign would say that the answer is yes. But you have been strategic, thoughtful and critical throughout this campaign so I know you know that surface assessments are not the full story. They are not THE truth. Organizing is mostly about defeats. Often when we engage in a campaign, we lose but any organizer worth their salt knows that it’s much more complex than a simple win-lose calculus. 

Here’s what I know… Rahm and his cronies were hoping to ram through a proposal for a $95 million police “training” academy under the cover of darkness with no community input. A group made up mostly of young Black and brown people decided that this was wrong for a number of reasons. You then spent the better part of 18 months SHOWING people in Chicago and beyond through your actions that the power structure in the city would be in for a titanic fight to resist their plans. How did you do this? You researched their plans and proposals, you learned about zoning laws on the fly, you litigated when you were excluded from public meetings, you mobilized thousands, you engaged in political education, you developed the leadership of hundreds of new young organizers, you truly centered the ideas of young people of color, you conducted participatory action research, and you SHUT SHIT DOWN. Through your actions, people quite literally the world over expressed their solidarity with your fight. They saw themselves as directly implicated in the vision of the world you have so beautifully inhabited all these months. All of these are wins.

Even if I didn’t know many of you personally, I would be in awe of what you did. But because I know many of you, I feel even more admiration because I know what you’ve sacrificed to wage this fight. I know about long strategy sessions, missed weekend relaxation, moments of doubt, and most of all consistent commitment. 

#NoCopAcademy is an abolitionist organizing campaign and through your work, you’ve helped others understand what it means when we say that abolition is a practical organizing strategy. You told a story about policing as an inherently violent and death-making institution that WILL NOT be “reformed” by training cops “better” or in fancier digs. You pointed out all of the resources that this cop academy will swallow up and told the city that those resources should be diverted to life-giving institutions. You asked the right questions like: “Why are we feeding an institution that leads to the premature death of so many Black and brown people (especially young ones)?” The responses that you got were inadequate. Your opponents were exposed as uninformed, corrupt and craven. You embodied #NoCopAcademy organizer Benji Hart’s analysis of abolition as a way “to transform our reactions to individual traumatic events into codified political commitments.” You showed that abolition as a project is about building a vision of a different world: one where everyone has their needs met and where #BlackLivesMatter. 

There are people and perhaps some of you are among them who are asking “what now?” For the core organizers of this campaign, there’s time to come to your answer(s). The question should not be directed at you it should be directed to the rest of us. Now that you witnessed and perhaps supported this campaign from afar, what will you do now? What are the lessons from #NoCopAcademy that can be applied to your communities? How will you show up the next time your municipality tries to ram through a proposal without community input under cover of darkness? Will you boldly say no in the same way that #NoCopAcademy did? Will you organize your communities to fight?  Will you refuse the apathy that overwhelms the need for more of us to be engaged in struggle? 

For myself, I say thank you to the #NoCopAcademy organizers. You have sustained my hope. I choose to emphasize the fact that you fought as a win because what we choose to emphasize determines our lives. Your protest, your refusal to be run over, your local actions added to those of others the world over will slowly tilt this world towards more justice. People will share the story of this campaign and be inspired by it to launch their own.

I leave you with an excerpt from one of my favorite poems “the New York Poem” by Sam Hamill:

… a mute sadness settles in,

like dust, for the long, long haul. But if

I do not get up and sing,

If I do not get up and dance again,

the savages will win…

After you have time to rest, I hope that you will get up and sing and also dance. We will be here, right by your side, singing and dancing too. The savages will NOT win…

My love to you all.

Please join me in the coming weeks for several events that I am co-organizing.

March 15 — “The Torture Machine” with Flint Taylor — Flint is a long-time Chicago attorney and partner at the People’s Law Office. He has a new book out. The Torture Machine takes the reader from the 1969 murders of Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton and Panther Mark Clark—and the historic, thirteen-years of litigation that followed—through the dogged pursuit of commander Jon Burge, the leader of a torture ring within the CPD that used barbaric methods, including electric shock, to elicit false confessions from suspects. Come to the Strand to hear about the book, the Reparations law in Chicago and more. 

March 21 — “A Call to Negro Women” – A Discussion Circle — This will be a discussion about a proto feminist formation of the early 1950s called the Sojourners for Truth and Justice. The discussion will focus on how STJ embodied Black Left Feminism and previewed concepts like intersectionality. Space is limited for the discussion.

March 27 — The Long Term — please join me for a reading and book launch for The Long Term. I really think this book is good and appreciate the space it gives to currently and formerly incarcerated people to tell stories about the impact(s) of long-term incarceration. 

April 27 — A National Gathering About Building Accountable Communities. — Please join us for a day long conversation focused on the question of how we can support people to take accountability when they cause harm. More information will be posted in the coming weeks about how to register, content of the day etc… 

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. As part of my work with Survived & Punished, I developed a curriculum unit with contributions from others focused on the criminalization of domestic violence survivors. It is our hope that people will use the unit for political education and consciousness-raising in October and beyond. The curriculum can be accessed here at no cost. Complete the survey and make sure to copy and paste the link to download the curriculum before exiting.

After what has been a very emotionally taxing and potentially triggering week for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, I’m also sharing an activity that I hope will provide an opportunity to honor and uplift the victims and survivors of gender-based violence in our communities.

My comrade artist Ruby Pinto created a set of silhouettes that can be used to create a wall of remembrance/wall of honor to uplift and remember victims and survivors of domestic violence this October.

by Ruby Pinto

The goal of this activity is to memorialize victims of domestic & sexual violence and to honor/uplift survivors.

by Ruby Pinto

Read more »

by Gail T Smith, Love & Protect

As we focus on the Survived and Punished #FreeThemAllNational Week of Action, it’s eye-opening to consider state legislation introduced with the intent of providing a legal remedy to unjust incarceration of survivor-defendants who were criminalized for things they did because of serious abuse. Illinois and New York both introduced bills in recent years, with three important things in common: incarcerated survivors of violence, and those released after serving long sentences, are selflessly and courageously advocating for the new laws and for their sister-survivors. Second, both laws are very narrowly drawn, designed to assist a limited number of survivors who meet strict guidelines. Third, prosecutors in both states keep domestic violence survivors from winning relief from harsh prison sentences, disregarding the impact of domestic violence and the right of self-defense. On average 3.2 women in the U.S. are killed daily by an intimate partner, yet survivors are punished if they manage to stay alive by fighting back or by committing offenses under coercion by their partners. Prison reenacts the control, violence and abuse that survivors went through before arrest, imposing a new nightmare.

Attorney Alexandra Roffman, who worked with incarcerated survivors in Illinois, says, “I feel very privileged to be working with this community of women. They are so connected and committed to each other. The collective group of them are invested in testing this law to make it better, even if it doesn’t work in their individual cases. It’s humbling and beautiful to see such community built in such awful circumstances.” Similarly, women inside Bedford Hills prison in New York worked on the initial drafts of legislation. The Violence Against Women Committee inside as well as those released from incarceration continue to fight for the bill’s passage, support other women and gender non-conforming persons who could benefit, and with love, generously educate the public through events and media advocacy. As Valerie Seeley, released after 17 years in NY prisons, said, “I want the system to change, and that’s what my focus is right now – to help other women and children not to go through what I went through.”

The Illinois law took effect January 1, 2016. It has not yet resulted in the release of any survivors. New York’s Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act has passed the state Assembly several times but has never made it to a hearing of the Senate’s Codes committee, despite very strong support by state senators. Former prosecutors who head the Senate’s Codes Committee have refused to call the bill in committee. Advocates say that this feels like the senators are telling them that they had no right to stay alive in the face of deadly violence.

In New York, the proposed Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Actgives judges flexibility to prevent unjust sentencing of survivors who meet these guidelines:

• At the time of the offense, the survivor was a victim of domestic violence subjected to substantial physical, sexual, or psychological abuse by a partner or relative,
  • The domestic violence was a significant contributing factor to the participation in the offense,
  • Sentencing under the normal sentencing guidelines would be unduly harsh.

The NY law also would permit resentencing for survivors who were sentenced before the law took effect, who meet the above guidelines, who are incarcerated, and whose prison sentences are eight years or more. Survivors convicted of first degree murder, aggravated murder, any sex offense, or any terrorism offense are not eligible.

In Illinois, Public Act 099-0384amended the Criminal Code section stating grounds to be considered in withholding or minimizing a sentence of imprisonment. It adds a ground, to be weighed at sentencing, that:

• At the time of the offense the defendant is or had been the victim of domestic violence, and
  • the effects of the domestic violence tended to excuse or justify the defendant’s criminal conduct.

It provides an opportunity for survivors to petition for relief from the original sentence under the following guidelines if they can show each of these allegations are more likely than not:
(1) they were convicted of a forcible felony;

(2) their participation in the offense was related to previously having been a
victim of domestic violence as perpetrated by an intimate partner;

(3) no evidence of domestic violence was presented at the sentencing hearing;

(4) the movant was unaware of the mitigating nature of the evidence of the domestic violence at the time of sentencing and could not have learned of its significance sooner through diligence; and

(5) the new evidence of domestic violence against the movant is material and noncumulative to other evidence offered at the sentencing hearing, and is of such a conclusive character that it would likely change the sentence imposed by the original trial court.

The Illinois legislature’s passage of the bill is an indication that they recognize the need for justice for survivors of Domestic Violence, as attorney Rachel White-Domain notes. So far no one has had a re-sentencing hearing, and advocates hope that the legislature may be willing to consider further solutions to carry out the purpose of greater justice for survivors of life-shattering violence. In all but one case, Illinois prosecutors have moved to dismiss petitions for new sentencing hearings. Survivors sentenced more than two years ago may not be granted resentencing because they are unaware of the law in time to file petitions and missed the deadline for filing under the statute of limitations. Prosecutors insist on enforcing the statute of limitations, or value sustaining the finality of an order over achieving a just sentence. They have opposed re-sentencing hearings because they disregard women’s experience of the seriousness of the abuse or say it is insufficient to change the sentence. This causes additional trauma for women treated as persons whose lives are not worthy of defense.

The struggle to make the criminal legal system even a bit more responsive to the realities faced by survivors of violence will take a concerted effort by all of us through multiple kinds of efforts. #FreeThemAll.

Gail T. Smith is the founder of CLAIM (Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers), which provides legal aid, client education, and public advocacy amplifying women’s voices. As an attorney she has worked to promote reproductive justice and reduce incarceration. She served as Director of the Women in Prison Project, Correctional Association of New York from 2016 until April 2018. She is a member of Love and Protect (Chicago) and Survived and Punished NYC. CLAIM made Illinois the first state in the nation to ban the use of shackles on women during pregnancy, labor, and childbirth. Gail currently works as a consultant.

“White People Hate Protests” has been in the works for a couple of years. I, like many of you, have been soooooo annoyed and tired of revisionist history about public support of protest, particularly among white folks. It continues to be mentioned time and again that before his assassination Dr. King who is CONSTANTLY invoked by some white people as the most magical of Negroes today was one of the most HATED people in the U.S. This gets mentioned often as a rebuttal to claims made especially by white moderates that they wish everyone would “just act like King” so that they (white moderates) could then comfortably “support” their causes. This is pretty much bullshit.

So last year, I finally had enough. I posted on Facebook that I would welcome support from anyone who wanted to help me to create a small zine titled “White People Hate Protests.” A couple of people reached out and offered their help. First, Simon Daniel helped me by researching some public opinion polls from the 1960s which I used in this publication. Next, Dr. Carolyn Chernoff offered her help by writing an introduction and also doing the layout for the zine. Dr. Tamara Nopper and Josh Begley read this zine at various stages and offered helpful feedback. Finally, Kelly Hayes agreed (on very short notice) to offer some closing thoughts for the zine. My sincere gratitude to all of them.

While this zine was a team effort, all of the errors and mistakes are mine. So whatever you’re unhappy with, take it up with me.

I expect that no one who is white is going to come at me with “Not All White People.” I know this because this zine is of course generalizing AND is a particular statement on whiteness and white supremacy. I hope that white people will share this with other white people. I think that it can be used as a conversation starter, as a teaching tool, as consciousness-raising etc…

While I conceived this zine with white people in mind as an audience, I believe that everyone would appreciate its contents. We’ve made the publication available in two formats: one that can be easily viewed online and a booklet that can be printed. Feel free to print copies of this and leave them in public spaces in your communities including your places of worship, schools, libraries, supermarkets, everywhere.  I have no illusions that everyone will fully appreciate that protests are always unpopular but I do hope that more people will after reading this zine.

Here’s the link to access the zine: https://tinyurl.com/whiteshateprotests . You can also CLICK HERE to access it.

Please share it far and wide.

UPDATE (December 14, 2019): I have heard via email from the author of this poem, CarolJean Kier.

I was so touched and delighted to hear that my poem, “No Lady, Prison Didn’t Improve me None’ is resonating with a younger generation.
I am the seventy-five year old author of this poem and worked for several years with Chicago Connections, a prisoner support group.The group was active in Chicago in the late 1960s.  This poem first appeared in a feminist publication, Black Maria which, I believe, was printed in River Forest Illinois.  The Seed found and reprinted it as “anonymous.” I wish that I could hear your delivery and hope that you will attribute it to me.
Many thanks,
CarolJean Kier

ORIGINAL POST: Many years ago, I read a poem written by a person incarcerated in an Illinois women’s prison. The untitled poem was written in the mid-70s by an anonymous prisoner and published in a now-defunct newspaper called the Chicago Seed in 1981. It really stayed with me when I read it and I decided to publish the poem on this blog in 2014.

No Lady
Prison didn’t improve me none.
There was ten of us girls in the county jail
five white, five black awaitin’ trial for sellin shit.
The white girls, they all on probation.
Us black girls, we all go to Dwight. Me, three months gone.

I’ve sometimes read the poem out loud when I’ve given talks about the evolution of the prison industrial complex. It’s an excellent text to use with young people to discuss what prison was like in the 1970s and what it’s still like today.

A couple of years ago, I decided that it would be wonderful to create a zine of the poem that could be shared with current incarcerated people and others who might be interested. Last year, Neta Bomani, a young artist who I connected with on Twitter, offered to help by making a zine.

Today, I’m happy to share “No Lady” with everyone who would like to make it available in their communities. I am particularly hopeful that those who have connections with people in women’s prisons will make copies to share with them. Both Neta and I hope that the zine will travel across the walls. This is why we produced this publication.

by Neta Bomani (2018)

Three things:

1. If you share the zine online or elsewhere, please attribute it to Prison Culture and to Neta Bomani (designer).
2. If you mail copies to prisoners, please let us know at [email protected]. We want to track the reach of the publication.
3. I plan to make copies of this zine available to people incarcerated in New York State prisons. If you would like to help cover printing and mailing costs, you can contribute to my Paypal here. All support is appreciated.

You can download two versions of the zine below:

1. Printable Version
2. Web-Friendly Version to View Online

My sincere gratitude to Neta for their partnership and beautiful work. Please help that work reach incarcerated people. Also check out more of Neta’s work on their website and connect with Neta if you have paid work and commissions.

Updated in 2018

Directory: bit.ly/localbailfunds

This list of local community bail funds includes the forty-plus funds that are part of the National Bail Fund Network. These community bail and bond funds are doing the daily work of freeing people by paying bail/bond and are also fighting to abolish the money bail system and pretrial detention. 

 Note that this directory is currently limited to community bail funds that are regularly paying bail/bond within the criminal legal or immigration detention systems for community members as their central action.

The directory does not include the many legal defense funds that allied organizations hold that may include bail support and the numerous community-based organizations that periodically pay for bail and bond.

From 2017…

As is my custom, I fired off a tweet this morning and then I was like, hey this might be a good idea :).

Instead of tomorrow being New Year’s Eve, I’m renaming it National Free The People Day. Donate the amount you’re going to spend on one drink to a community bail fund/effort. [I just made this up, LOLOL! But let’s go with it]. You can still drink too 😂😂😂

— Louise Patterson Stan (@prisonculture) December 30, 2017

I’ve been supporting efforts to #EndMoneyBail and #EndPreTrialDetention for years. There is some progress being made on both fronts. I want to particularly lift up the efforts of the Chicago Community Bond Fund (full disclosure: I’m a founding advisory board member). You can read our end of year report here to learn more.

If you are interested in participating in National #FreeThePeople Day Bailout on New Year’s Eve, you can donate the cost of a drink (or more) to a community bail fund or effort. To help, I am sharing some local funds and efforts. I’ll begin by sharing the ones I’m actually familiar with and have donated to in 2017.

1. Chicago Community Bond Fund

2. Massachusetts Bail Fund (your donations are DOUBLED through 12/31)

3. National Bail Out (your donations are DOUBLED through 12/31)

4. Philadelphia Community Bail Fund 

The following are bail funds that I am familiar with but did not donate money to this year.

4. Brooklyn Community Bail Fund (your donations are DOUBLED through 12/31)

5. Bronx Freedom Fund

6. Richmond Community Bail Fund

7. Minnesota Freedom Fund

Here are some other local bail funds/efforts.

8. Memphis Community Bail Fund

9. Northwest Community Bail Fund

10.  Immigrant Bail Fund

11. Louisville Community Bail Fund

12. Tuscon Second Chance Community Bail Fund

13. Free the 350 Bail Fund (Wisconsin)

14. The Connecticut Bail Fund

15. Eastern Iowa Community Bond Project

16. Nashville Community Bail Fund  

17. Columbia County Bail Fund (NY)

Also there’s a great app called Appolition that will round up your small change and donate it to the National Bail Out.  More details about the app are in this recent article. You can sign up for Appolition here.

The New Inquiry has developed Bail Bloc which is a cryptocurrency project against bail. You have to download some software onto your computer. Don’t ask me how this works but it apparently does and it costs nothing but electricity to power your computer (?) to participate. Read more here.

Thank you for your interest in helping to free people from jails across the country. Let’s put this last day of 2017 to good use. If you donate, let others know through the #FreeThePeopleDay hashtag.

Last week, I shared an article in Salon Magazine about the plight of incarcerated and criminalized people in women’s prisons. One finding was particularly striking to those who read and circulated the article:

“According to a recent study, 86 percent of women who have spent time in jail report that they had been sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. As well, while women represented just 13 percent of the jail population between 2009 and 2011, they represented 67 percent of the victims of staff-on-inmate sexual victimization.”

No one who has any contact and/or experience with jails and prisons would be surprised that they are filled to the brim with victims/survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Those of you who know my work know that I have spent many years supporting criminalized survivors of violence through various organizations and interventions. Most recently, I co-founded Survived and Punished with several comrades.

Every Holiday Season, I partner with various groups to support their efforts to give gifts and necessities to the people they support. This year is no different. To kick off, I am partnering with STEPS TO END FAMILY VIOLENCE to help them ensure that some women jailed at Rikers Island receive holiday gifts.

The Criminalized Survivors Program at STEPS to End Family Violence supports survivors of intimate partner violence, and other forms gender-based violence, who have been criminalized for their efforts to survive or resist abusive partner behavior. Hundreds of women, as well as trans men and gender non-conforming people, are currently detained at the Rose M Singer Center at Rikers Island–all survivors of the trauma of racist state violence–and the majority identifying as survivors of some form of relational trauma. The Criminalized Survivors team at Rikers provides emotional support to survivors facing criminal charges that are directly connected to their survival, opportunities to connect with other survivors through dynamic group work, and robust legal advocacy and court support in collaboration with defense teams.

Every year, STEPS holds several events at the RMSC Visit House for participants in the program, where survivors can enjoy good food, music and dancing, an open mic, and more. The upcoming Holiday Family Reunification event on December 12 is an opportunity for survivors to spend a day with their children and other family members. The Criminalized Survivors team supports approximately 60 women (including trans women) and TGNC people per year who are detained at Rikers or facing charges in the community.

All donations of items to the wishlist will go directly to criminalized survivors.

Here’s how you can help STEPS and the criminalized survivors currently incarcerated at the Rose M Singer Center at Rikers Island for the holidays:

1. Donate items from the Amazon Wish List. Please make sure items arrive by December 10. Select Julia Shaw as the address to mail items.

2. STEPS will be providing food for STEPS to End Family Violence 31st Annual Family Reunification Celebration on Rikers Island on December 12. Cash donations are very welcome. Donations can be made HERE. Please select “STEPS to End Family Violence” under Gift Designation, and in the notes section to write “STEPS Rikers Family Reunification Event 2017.” Any contribution will go directly to purchasing food, supplies, and gifts for this event, and any extra funds would go directly to supporting other events and activities with STEPS participants at Rikers (such as the Mother’s Day event).

3. If you live in NYC and would like to drop off items directly to STEPS, you can do so. Here’s what they need:

“We are always in need of soft cover journals, soft cover fiction and non-fiction in English and Spanish, soft cover puzzle books, pajamas in all sizes (they have to have patterns and are not supposed to have colors that could be considered gang colors, like red, blue, green. Sometimes we can get PJs in and sometimes not), underwear and socks. We are also always in need of court clothes in all adult sizes–slacks, blouses, jackets. Anyone who wants to donate items is welcome to connect directly about drop off/pick up. Our building in East Harlem closes at 6pm every day, which can make drop off challenging, but we’re always happy to make arrangements to meet people off site if that’s easier.” You should contact Julia Shaw ([email protected]) and/or Nancy Diaz ([email protected]) if you want to make a direct drop off of items.

If you are interested and able, please donate from the wish list and also make cash donations to support criminalized survivors of violence at Rikers Island. Thank you so much.

One of the most effective means to directly impact mass incarceration is to end cash bail and pretrial detention. There is a burgeoning local and national movement to do just this. Join in the movement by educating your communities about bail reform through organizing local teach-ins. Earlier this year, Several organizations partnered to create a curriculum resource about transformative bail reform. You can download that resource here.

If you are a college student, you are well positioned to contribute to the growing movement to end cash bail and pretrial detention. Take a first step by organizing a teach-in in your community this fall. Below are some tips and ideas for how to do this.

Teach-ins are educational, interactive forums where people come together to focus and discuss a topic. They are meant to be practical, participatory, empowering, and action-oriented. Lectures, forums, discussion panels, and free debates can all be part of teach-ins. Teach-ins are often held on college campuses, but can also be hosted at libraries, houses of worship, and community centers. Teach-ins are an important tactic for personally engaging people, and building an effective, responsive movement.

ORGANIZING PRACTICALITIES: 

Gather your organizers. A small group of students or volunteers can organize the teach-in. Set a date for your first meeting, and start inviting people.

Educate yourselves about the issue. Watch this video discussion about bail reform from an abolitionist perspective hosted by Critical Resistance. Read the following one pager about key points in bail reform. Check the resources section in the transformative bail reform curriculum linked below.

Structure the program. First, determine what you want the teach-in to look like. Length of the teach-in can be an all-day Saturday event, a half-day week-day event, or an evening event of 2-3 hours. Weekend events may be preferable, as people can set aside more time and will be fresher than after a workday. Possibilities include speakers, panel discussions, films, and facilitated dialogue with a speaker. The first half could be devoted to discussing the issues, and the second half devoted to response, with a networking intermission in between. You can have several speakers or center your event on 1-2 speakers.

Outline the content. Use the following Transformative Bail Reform curriculum as the basis for mapping out your teach-in event. There are suggested activities and a list of resources included here.

Set a date. Set the date(s) well in advance—a 30-40 day planning horizon is suggested, to line up speakers and reserve a meeting space. Choose a date or dates that works well for your group, speakers, audience, and semester schedule.

Reserve a space well in advance.  Public spaces often are booked well in advance, so make this an early priority. Options include universities, colleges, libraries, houses of worship, union halls, and community centers. Choose a site with sufficient seating for the anticipated turnout, that is easy to find, readily accessible, and with proper sound / lighting systems. If the event is an all-day event, make sure there are restaurant options nearby or you will need to provide food. Many places will donate the space or offer a discount if you tell them it is a free public education event.

Arrange speakers well in advance. Look for speakers who can communicate the bail/pre-trial detention issue well in everyday language, not jargon. Possibilities include formerly incarcerated people & their families, professors at your local university’s law school or criminal justice program, local leaders taking a stand for criminal punishment reform, and anti-criminalization advocates with local organizations. Some speakers will charge fees – ask your school if it has funds reserved for invited speakers.

Find co-sponsors. Co-sponsors will help promote the event through their own networks, and can help with the organizing. Make sure responsibilities and time-lines are clearly defined for each party. Co-sponsoring organizations can set up tables in back to provide attendees with an opportunity for further engagement.

Handle various details. Arrange lunch if needed and / or snack table—ask local businesses to donate, or have organizations pick up costs. Arrange for facilitators, setup and cleanup crews, an AV/light person (they should confirm the system in advance), a photographer, a video person, someone to pass around sign-up sheets, tabling volunteers, and a coordinator to confirm volunteer commitments two days ahead. Create a sign-up sheet, a take-home follow-up action sheet, and a program schedule sheet if needed.

Publicize. Create posters, flyers, leaflets, sidewalk chalk, Facebook event page, and radio announcements. Post on website calendars. Personally invite key people (local leaders, government officials, professors), and remind them within a few days prior. Posters around campus should be placed within a week of the event, and may need to be stamped. Have tables in the student union in the days prior. Go door-to-door in the dorms. Hand out leaflets personally at key locations on campus. Ask professors of large classes if you can briefly announce the teach-in at the beginning of their class. Ask professors to give extra credit for attendance.

Cover your costs.  Make the event free, so that all can attend. If funding is not available to cover costs, a cosponsor that is a 501c3 nonprofit org can ask for donations. If you decide to provide lunch, then suggest a donation amount in an announcement.

Build future support and follow-through. Ideally, teach-ins should be part of a larger movement-building process, not a one-off event. Maybe this bail/pretrial detention teach in can be the basis of more organizing on the part of event organizers and your broader campus community. Capture the energy of participants who are eager to respond. Have a table with literature, and a letter-writing table. Pass around a sign-up list, asking for names and email addresses. Send a follow-up email to those who signed up thanking them for their attendance and desire to respond. Plan a fundraiser for your local bail/bond funds.

Ky Peterson – Survived and Punished from BCRW Videos on Vimeo.

Ky Peterson should be free, but right now he is in prison for defending his life.

In 2011, on a fall evening in Americus, Georgia, Ky Peterson, a young Black trans man, was walking home from a convenience store when he was attacked and knocked unconscious. When he came to from the blows, he was being raped. Fearing for his life, Ky fought back. In the midst of the struggle, Ky shot his attacker, killing him.

Though he survived, Ky feared for his life again, knowing too well the police and criminal legal system’s brutal record on anti-Black racism, transphobia, and criminalizing survivors of sexual and physical violence. He was right.

Neither police nor prosecutors believed Ky was a victim.

Instead, he was charged with involuntary manslaughter with a twenty year sentence, fifteen of those years to be served in prison. Abused by the courts and neglected by the public defenders assigned to his case, Ky was coerced into signing a plea deal.

Ky’s community mobilized. They appealed to the court to reduce Ky’s sentence, which exceeded Georgia’s limits for involuntary manslaughter. Five years later, in 2017, Ky was granted a re-sentencing hearing, but the judge denied his request for parole. Instead, his sentence was changed from involuntary to voluntary manslaughter, providing the state of Georgia legal justification for the twenty-year sentence. In prison, Ky faces an isolation known for magnifying psychological torture and physical and sexual violence at the hands of corrections officers.

Ky has now been in prison for over five years with fifteen years left on his sentence. His community continues mobilizing in his defense.

by Micah Bezant

Free Ky, Free Them All

Ky is not alone. Prisons are filled with survivors of physical and sexual violence, as well as survivors of state violence. Black and Brown people, immigrants, low-income and no-income people, women, queer and trans people, and people with disabilities are routinely criminalized for daily acts of survival.

Take Action: Community Self-Defense

We know from the successful campaigns to free Joan Little in the 1970s to the more recent campaign to free Marissa Alexander that grassroots mass mobilizations work. That’s why the Ky Peterson Defense Committee, including support from organizations Freedom Overground, Survived and Punished, Black and Pink, and Southerners on New Ground, are organizing to free Ky from prison.

NYC student activists are collaborating with Freedom Overground and Survived and Punished on a letter writing campaign to demand that Georgia Governor Nathan Deal pardon Ky and release him from prison.

If you live in New York City, you can join these activists at a letter writing party next Wednesday, August 16.

If you don’t live in NYC or you can’t make it next Wednesday, check out the Freeing Ky Support Guide from Freedom Overground to organize a letter writing party in your own community and learn about other ways to support Ky and others locked up in prison. You can also learn more by visiting the Freedom Overground website. Please use these resources and share them widely.

If you are on social media, you can help build momentum to support Ky’s freedom by posting a photo of yourself with a message of solidarity, using the hashtag #Justice4Ky and tagging @KyPeterson1 on Twitter and The Free Ky Project on Facebook.

Many people like Ky Peterson, Joan Little, and Marissa Alexander are in prison all over the United States, doing time for defending themselves and surviving.

Visit the Survived and Punished website to learn about ongoing campaigns for freedom and to support the work.

Download the Survived and Punished toolkit for resources on starting a defense campaign.