Big news: After weeks of public pressure, prison profiteer Tom Gores just resigned from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) board
Over the last few weeks, Color Of Change joined forces with Worth Rises to launch a public campaign demanding the LACMA remove prison profiteer, billionaire, and Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores from its Board of Trustees. And last week, Tom Gores resigned in shame.1
This is an important victory, John: It means we are putting prison profiteers on notice: we won’t allow anyone to profit from the violence of the prison industrial complex. It means we are demanding phone justice, toxifying the prison telecom industry, and holding predatory billionaires like Tom Gores accountable.
Here’s what you need to know: Gores is the founder and CEO of Platinum Equity, a private equity firm that owns Securus Technologies. Securus is a prison and jail telecommunications firm that rakes in more $700 million annually by price-gouging predominately Black, Brown, and low-income families with incarcerated loved ones — charging upwards of $15 for a 15-minute phone call. This is the system Tom Gores props up and directly profits from.
By pressuring Gores off of the LACMA board, we just put all prison profiteers on notice: We won’t let you sit on cushy boards or make decisions about our communities while profiting from our pain. And we won’t let you enjoy accolades while your racist, exploitative practices tear families apart.
On top of Securus, Tom Gores owns the Detroit Pistons. Gore’s affiliation with the NBA legitimizes his reputation as a business owner and investor in the exploitative prison telecom industry. As the owner of the Detroit Pistons, a predominantly Black team, in a historically Black city, it’s hard to believe a “philanthropist” like Tom Gores is naive to systemic inequity. And we won’t stop fighting until billionaires like Tom Gores stop profiting off of Black pain.
That’s why we’re calling on every organization affiliated with Tom Gores to lead boldly in this moment. To build a more equitable world for Black people, we must demand accountability from institutions that provide power and prestige to racial capitalists, who commodify Black suffering.
Tell Tom Gores: Divest from prisons and jails now. We will hold you accountable!
This is how we win, John. We win justice by holding powerful actors accountable through public pressure, direct action, and not letting up. That’s how we pressured Tom Gores to leave the LACMA board. Now, we must demand divestment from prisons and fight for our loved ones behind bars.
That’s what we do — we win justice for Black people, and this victory with LACMA sets a precedent that we intend to amplify: prison profiteers don’t deserve a seat at any table.
Help us continue the fight — demand action from @TomGores now.
Until justice is real,
Scott, Erika, Malachi, Marybeth, Ernie, Ariel, Leonard, Madison, Ana, Erikca, McKayla, and the rest of the Color of Change team
References:
1. “Tom Gores resigns from LACMA board over prison phone investment”, Laurence Darmiento, Los Angeles Times, October 9, 2020 https://act.colorofchange.org/go/274824?t=10&akid=47282%2E4731121%2ErmWXsa
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