A new message from your friends at People For the American Way.
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Dear People For supporter,

This Juneteenth, the People For family is down in Atlanta, one of the
cradles of the civil rights movement, for our Big Ideas Summit. This
gathering of dynamic movement leaders from our networks including clergy,
young elected officials, and others has been inspiring ... and I’m
inspired to share some thoughts with you as we commemorate this holiday
about freedom.

On Juneteenth, we celebrate freedom in the most fundamental sense –
freedom from enslavement. But the road to freedom remains long and fraught
with challenges. Freedom was the objective at the heart of the civil
rights movement. And to this day, the journey towards full freedom is
still ongoing and incomplete for African Americans. I thank you for being
part of this journey with all of us at People For the American Way.

My mind is on the word “freedom” today, in part, because it’s a term that
has been hijacked and co-opted by the same bigoted forces on the Far Right
who seek to deny freedom to so many of their fellow Americans.

The Far Right uses the rallying cry of “freedom” every chance they get,
casting things that seem absurd to you and me as grave affronts to their
personal freedom. Paying taxes is an affront to their “freedom.”

Another affront to their “freedom?” The notion that their ability to own
military-grade weapons outweighs the right of a child or a teacher to go
to school without losing their life to a bullet, or the right of elderly
Black people to shop at a grocery store or attend a Bible study at their
church without becoming the latest casualties of a mass shooting.

The real affront is that many – certainly not all, but many – of these
people who mobilize around these perceived threats to their “freedom” are
white supremacists who feel their “freedom” is threatened any time that
historically marginalized people are able to take another step forward, to
get one step closer to taking equal part in the American dream.

So this Juneteenth, I call on all of us in the movements for justice ...
for democracy ... for fundamental human rights and the equal protection of
those rights under the law to reclaim the word, the concept, and the
rallying cry of freedom.

And that includes the freedom not to be killed by the very people whose
job it is supposed to be to keep our communities safe.

Which leads me to one specific Big Idea that People For unveiled this week
from our Summit in Atlanta: [ [link removed] ]our new “All Safe” road map to reimagine
public safety, stop police killings and better protect our communities on
all fronts.

“All Safe” is the product of many months of painstaking research and
innovation, and presents a true blueprint for transforming public safety
at the local level that we’re working with mayors and other local elected
officials to implement in their cities and towns. It proposes a
four-pronged approach to reducing police violence:

* Restructure Public Safety Systems

* Hold Officers Accountable for their Actions

* Remove Unfit Officers

* Improve Recruitment Practices

I hope you’ll check out the [ [link removed] ]All Safe: Transforming Public Safety report
today — and talk to your local elected officials about how to implement
these public safety strategies that make us all safer.

There is much work to do in the fight for freedom, justice and equity for
African Americans, and I believe that there is no better day to commit
ourselves to this work than Juneteenth.

I'm proud to work alongside you as we strive to make a better future for
our nation and the world.

Take care,

Ben Jealous, President

 

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Thanks for your support.

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