|
Five years ago, Race Forward launched Mass Freedom, aiming to bridge the movements to end mass incarceration and mass deportation. Today work to end the criminalization of people of color continues.
Recently, Race Forward, Mass Freedom, in collaboration with Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC) and Grassroots Asians Rising (GAR), convened Abolition in Our Times: Gathering of Pacific Islander and Asian American Communities.This gathering brought together AAPI organizers to delve into abolition work with the goal of collectively learning about the history of abolitionist movements in Pacific Islander and Asian communities and to discuss the possibilities for an abolitionist futures.
Read more about the findings and insights of this work, and view a repository of learning resources and AAPI organizations working with an abolition focus. We invite you to become involved in the conversation by sharing this work with your own communities through social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In line with the values of the Mass Freedom project, Race Forward and other Kellogg Racial Equity Anchor collaborators have signed onto a letter from the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG) urging President Biden to adopt a pardon process that includes immigration.
The NIPNLG's letter reads: “To not repeat the tragic errors of prior criminal justice reforms, it’s necessary to address the same “tough on crime” policies that increased the racial disparities in the criminal legal system that led to mass incarceration, which also resulted in the laws that mandate detention and deportation. Immigrants are often doubly punished by the legal system –– first by the sentence that results from their conviction, and second with detention and deportation by ICE. Black and Brown immigrants especially suffer through over-policing and being charged and sentenced more harshly. Collectively, we demand that the Department of Justice not deny our communities the opportunity to undo the harms of racist criminal laws compounded by the penalties and consequences of racist immigration laws." Read the full letter and sign on here.
Continue following Mass Freedom, and check out some of our previous work, including our FRED Talks (Facing Race Elevating Democracy) video series, and Colorlines’ ongoing Criminalization coverage.
| 
