Dear Friends, One of the highlights of my job as Director of NRCAT’s U.S. Prisons Program is getting to promote our work to diverse audiences across the country. In March, this work took me to Austin for the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) gathering which draws nearly 350,000 people each year. While there, I was able to represent NRCAT on a panel exploring the relationship between advertisers and activism. I spoke specifically about my participation in a 2023 advertising push by the End the Exception Campaign, which focuses on prison labor as a legally sanctioned continuation of slavery. The panel drew a diverse mix of advertising executives, writers, filmmakers, and organizers. Donate today and help support NRCAT’s work of getting the media and popular culture to pay more attention to our stories as movement activists fighting to end the torture of solitary confinement. In February, I had the pleasure of being featured on Ben & Jerry’s podcast called Into the Mix. In the episode, “Cents an Hour: Prison Labor & the Exception in the 13th Amendment,” I provided a history of prison slavery and how labor dissent on the inside is kept at bay with the threat of solitary confinement. If you’re curious about my own experience while incarcerated, and how prison labor further dehumanizes and exploits people in our nation’s prisons, I recommend you give it a listen. Educational opportunities in the media like this podcast allow us to reach new audiences – putting real faces, voices, and stories to the harsh realities of torture in the U.S. Your donation to NRCAT today supports our work to make these connections and brings us closer to our goal of ending torture. This Torture Awareness Month, your contribution will be doubled thanks to a match from a few of our generous donors, up to our goal of $30,000. Thanks as always for your support. Sincerely, Johnny Perez
Director, NRCAT’s U.S. Prisons Program | |
