More at afsc.org/healingjustice
A few picks from AFSC staff this week:
Will The Ferguson Commission’s Final Report Just Collect Dust On A Shelf? via Huffington Post
On Sept. 9, a 16-member group is having its final meeting, and it will turn in its final report to Nixon by the end of the year. But if history proves true, it’s likely the report will go relatively unnoticed and not effect any major change in the community.
The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration via The Atlantic
American Politicians are now eager to disown a failed criminal-justice system that’s left the U.S. with the largest incarcerated population in the world. But they’ve failed to reckon with history. Fifty years after Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s report “The Negro Family” tragically helped create this system, it’s time to reclaim his original intent.
Community Groups Work to Provide Emergency Medical Alternatives, Separate From Police via Truthout
US communities are experimenting with alternative emergency, first-response models that aim to minimize contact with the police.
photo: Ben Reid
Dear son, This much is clear after NY grand jury.
Lewis Webb is a program coordinator in AFSC’s New York office. He has leadership roles in The Campaign to End the New Jim Crow, the Healing and Transformative Justice program, and the Quaker Network to End Mass Incarceration. Here he reflects on the Dec. 3, 2014 decision by a Staten Island grand jury to not indict police officer Daniel Pantaleo, who used a chokehold on Eric Garner, 43, an African-American man who was selling individual cigarettes on the street. Eric Garner died on the sidewalk. The coroner ruled the death a homicide. He suffered from asthma, and Daniel Pantaleo’s chokehold, which compressed his windpipe, killed him.
During the summer of Eric Garner’s death, 14 young people from across New York City gathered at the NY/NJ offices of the American Friends Service Committee for a month of training on why and how to advocate for change in the injustices most impacting their lives. During one of our discussions, I was asked by a 17-year-old young man, “What’s gonna happen to that cop who killed Mr. Garner?”
I’d watched the video, and it was as clear as day to me that he should be arrested, charged, and convicted of some form of homicide, so that’s how I responded.
Today, it’s as clear as day that I overestimated the value of black lives. It’s clear as day that the grand jury’s decision not to indict delivers a resounding and repeating message that black deaths at the hands of police are inconsequential.
What are those campers thinking now? What does that blue uniform represent? Where do they go for justice? How do they protect themselves? These are the questions I and we must have answers for. One of those campers was my son Jovahnny, so here’s my answers for him:
Jovahnny, the truth is that as a black young man, you won’t get a fair shake. You, like Mike Brown, are “demonized” for how you look; you, like Trayvon Martin, are feared because of how you dress; you, like Tamir Rice, are immediately viewed as a threat; you, like Akai Gurley, must be extra careful about where you go.
Jovahnny, the police see you first as a suspect, so be careful. Don’t resist even if you’ve done nothing wrong; don’t walk with your hands in your pockets; don’t – and the list goes on.
Jovahnny, you can’t expect justice anywhere.
But, Jovahnny, it’s as clear as day that your life matters.
You must strive for a lasting peace that values you by undoing racism, ensuring economic justice so that you can survive. You must change the culture of policing from one of confrontation to one of cooperation. You must transform the systems that make it more likely that you and your friends go to prison than college.
Jovahnny, this is how we must respond to the death of Eric Garner. Our message must replace the message from the grand jury. Our voices must be clearer and stronger. Our actions must be better. We must make it a clear as day that there is a better way.
Oh and Jovahnny, be careful.
Dad.
EXCERPT:
“As the healing justice program director in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, I was recently asked to participate in a restorative circle to help heal a community situation in a nearby suburb. It was in those circles that I had the opportunity to more consciously consider the harm that stems from our need to be “good.” … . .
[… ]
All of the parents categorically denied racism as a factor in their son’s behaviors. “Just look at my FB page” one father pleaded. “You’ll see it’s not true.”
While it’s very difficult to hear when we’ve caused harm, the white parents’ determination to position themselves as “good” resulted in a minimization of the serious harm their sons had caused. In their refusal to acknowledge race as a factor, they denied the family’s reality (which was that race was a factor in the harassment).
Their apology, then, was insubstantial. Their words lacked credibility and the occasion for all present to have a transformative experience was lost. In talking with the family later, they reported having mixed feelings about the process and didn’t believe that many of the families were truly sorry. The opportunity for true healing to occur had been wasted.
Our new blog post asks some challenging questions about healing, reconciliation, forgiveness and safety through the story of a Quaker congregation and how they grapple with welcoming a former sex-offender into their community. http://bit.ly/HealingExperiment
