Coronavirus (COVID-19) is now officially classified as a pandemic and the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases Director has stated, “it’s going to get worse''. Across media outlets, the prevailing safety precautions include “wash your hands" and “stay home”. However, residents in this state are not guaranteed to have access to these basic necessities. Water shut-offs, evictions and homelessness significantly worsen the threat posed by COVID-19. If more residents are evicted during this period, COVID-19 could start to spread more rapidly among those who become homeless. We cannot afford to have more emergencies on top of the current emergency. We urge Governor Tom Wolf to follow the lead of Detroit and San Jose - to stand with your constituents, to stop preventable illness and displacements and implement a rent freeze and moratorium on all evictions, utility shut offs, and job layoffs in the state of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Mutulu Shakur is a father, grandfather, healer, and human rights activist who has been in the United States Bureau of Prisons (bop) for 36 years. He is most known for being the step-father of Tupac Shakur and convicted of the liberation of Assata Shakur from prison. What many do not know is that in 1973, Dr. Shakur, along with Republic of New Afrika members, Black Panthers, and the Young Lords combined community health with radical politics to create the first acupuncture detoxification program in America. This form of radical harm reduction was in sharp contrast to harmful government programs that stagnated the lives of Black and Brown communities throughout the South Bronx. This acupuncture clinic rose to prominence and, despite funding challenges, still functions to this day. Some of those who benefited from the program became acupuncturists themselves. Dr. Mutulu Shakur's legacy is cemented within this profound story of community healing and activism. We recognize that Dr. Shakur's convictions and the events surrounding it, horrifically, can not be undone. Those actions occurred many decades ago and he has taken full responsibility for his life and his actions. Today, it serves no public good for his sentence to be extended through denying his parole, which should be based on the time he has served. Throughout Dr. Shakur’s 36 years in prison, he has maintained an excellent record of conduct and been a positive influence on those around him. He has had no violent disciplinary infractions. He has completed and taught courses, participated in programming, and remained employed. As a peaceable elder, he has also served as a mentor and teacher for many young people in prison. Dr. Shakur has received a diagnosis of life-threatening advanced bone marrow cancer. He had already been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and glaucoma. In 2013, he suffered from a stroke that required several months for recovery. In 2019 he experienced increasing pain; after months of medical neglect, advanced bone marrow cancer was diagnosed. Now, he is suffering from extensive painful bone lesions, caused by the growth of the bone marrow cancer in parts of his spine, ribs and pelvis. Dr. Shakur is 71 years old, poses no threat to public safety, and needs treatment and recovery in humane conditions immediately. We fear for his survival and his life.

Baltimore is the latest city with plans to invest thousands of taxpayer dollars into a rebate program that will allow it to spy on its own residents. Just last week, councilman Eric Costello, introduced legislation that would give Baltimore residents up to $150 to install a private doorbell camera system, like Ring or Nest, in their homes. The catch? To receive the money, residents first have to sign up for the police department’s CitiWatch Community Partnership program. This will allow the police to identify and target all the homes that have those camera systems installed. In order to qualify, residents must also agree to point the camera into a public space for at least two years. The dangers of a program like this are too many to list. In major cities across the nation, the police have already used this kind of footage to carry out sting operations, make targeted arrests, and push legislators to enact “broken windows” policies to imprison countless poor people throughout the country. That’s why any council member who claims to care about their constituents will refuse to allow this legislation to move any further. We know mass surveillance and broken window policies don’t keep our communities safe. With no oversight for the use of this footage, Black Baltimore residents run the risk of winding up in a unregulated police database, or even arrested and prosecuted, due to the disproportionate use of this technology against our people. Police violence against Black people is at an all-time high and we cannot allow lawmakers to ignore how surveillance partnership programs with law enforcement so often result in potentially violent interactions with the police. The city should not be paying residents to spy on each other, they should be investing that money in resources that actually keep people safe: things like good schools, quality mental health care institutions, trauma centers, and employment opportunities. It’s time for Baltimore City Council to protect their constituents, not put them in harm’s way. Sign to make your voice heard today. Tell Baltimore City Council to say no to mass surveillance!

It's an important thing to honor Congressman John Lewis who is the son of Alabama and show that Alabama has changed to understand the importance of civil rights for all people, especially since Congressman Lewis spilled blood on that bridge in 1963.

The hundreds of people bailed out by our community bail funds and community organizations who have returned to their homes and families show that when you bail people out and bring people home, even if they are charged with an act of violence, the vast majority of them aren't re-arrested and come back to court, get to keep working and raising their families, and contribute to their community and our economy. Far too many people are held in our jails out of fear accused people won't return to court or will cause harm - but our local numbers and national statistics show otherwise. We won't be able to close more jails, save millions more dollars, and invest our precious tax dollars in community resources rather than months or years of incarceration unless we stop setting bails on our neighbors in the poorest big city in America.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro is one of five members of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons and is the main road block to freedom for rehabilitated people who are trying to come home after decades of incarceration. AG Josh Shapiro has cast himself as a forward-thinking Attorney General who supports innovative approaches to criminal justice and is part of the #resistance to the Trump administration. The Board of Pardons plays a crucial role in Pennsylvania’s criminal justice system--allowing people serving life and other long term sentences to be released after they’ve been rehabilitated. Sadly, AG Shapiro has repeatedly blocked the Board from fulfilling this function by being the most frequent ‘no’ vote against rehabilitated people who present no risk to society. Josh Shapiro has voted against people whose prison wardens came to testify for them. He has voted against people who had the support of the victims family. He has voted against people with serious health conditions and little time left to live. Many of the people who Josh Shapiro has voted against are elderly prisoners who languish in prisons at a tremendous cost to society. Many are people who have turned their lives around after many years of incarceration and take part in productive and positive efforts from behind prison walls. Some are members of faith communities. All of them are someone’s child, friend, parent, or beloved family member. AG Josh Shapiro cannot claim the mantle of a forward thinking attorney general and be the main road block to freedom at the Board of Pardons. We call on Mr Shapiro to keep the Board of Pardons functioning as it was designed to by voting in favor of the reformed citizens that the Chair and other members of the Board recognize as worthy of mercy and release. If the Chair of the Board of Pardons, Lieutenant Governor Fetterman, is voting in favor of someone we see no reason why AG Shapiro should be the one to deny them. We call on Josh Shapiro to stop upholding the practice of mass incarceration and support the release of those who have paid their debt to society.

On November 17, 2019, West Memphis police officers accosted and attempted to arrest Shawanda Brookshire, a 33-year-old Black woman who had lost her 4-year-old daughter in a car accident the day before. The incident occurred while Shawnda stood outside a LaQuinta Hotel in West Memphis, Arkansas - mere hours after she’d seen her daughters body for the first time at a local funeral home. Officers drove up to Shawnda, who was on the phone, grieving - demanding proof of stay. Shawnda complied - showing her hotel key card, informing the officers that her daughter had just died and that she wanted to be left alone. The offending officers then demanded identification, which she said she left in the hotel room. The officers exited their vehicles, began to intimidate and surround Shawnda, prompting her to panic and call her family for assistance. One of the officers threatened arrest when she began to scream in fear. He then attempted to trip her and he fell to the ground. Aggravated, a second officer slammed Shawnda to the ground, handcuffed her, and placed the weight of his knee on her back. When Shawnda’s family and hotel staff attempted to intervene, verifying her residency at the motel and the circumstances surrounding her grief, they were threatened with arrest and ignored. Shawnda was thrown in the back of a police car while her family insisted she committed no crime and demanded her release. The United States has a long history of police violence against innocent civilians, particularly in impoverished Black and brown communities. The distrust resulting from the unequal treatment of minorities within the criminal justice system has spurred a rising tide of anger, frustration, and despair among people of color, especially the poor and working class. The city of West Memphis, Arkansas, is 61.4% Black, and Black people constitute 2 out of 5 of West Memphis residents living below the poverty line. These socioeconomic factors increase the likelihood of harmful interactions with law enforcement, which in turn reinforce the social and economic disenfranchisement--and consequently, the dehumanization-- of poor Black families. This incident is far from unique. What should have been a short, routine interaction respecting Shawnda’s civil rights, as well the dignity that a grieving mother deserves, in fact resulted in the isolation and assault of a woman in her most vulnerable emotional state. We demand accountability from the West Memphis PD. Shawnda deserves justice.

The West Tampa area is a historically African American community and is in serious need of healthy food access. The recent transformations taken place over the last 3 years have placed residents in a food desert situation. Most residents do not have access to healthy food options. According to the US Dept. of Agriculture, there are 2.3 million people who live more than 1 mile away from a grocery store and do not have access to a vehicle. Here in Tampa, the communities of West and East Tampa neighborhoods have limited access to grocery stores with affordable healthy food options. At present, there's an average of 3 miles between the closest grocery store offering fresh produce in the East & West Tampa areas, creating barriers to healthy food access for a large portion of the community members who lack reliable transportation. If the City of Tampa can allocate $4 million over the past two years to the maintenance of three public golf courses, surely they can allocate funds to provide our community's most underserved constituents access to healthy food cultivation practices, education, and consumption. A collective of community members and local organizations such as the Tampa Heritage Initiative have collaborated to build a plan to implement community garden development, education programs and food delivery within underserved areas. With the funds allocated to the Garden Trust, the City of Tampa will be providing sustainable healthy food access and practices to historically underserved communities. In this, creating part-time employment, local business partnerships and teaching opportunities for members of the Tampa Bay community. Join us in calling on Mayor Jane Castor and Councilman Guides to establish a Special District Garden Trust for the purpose of eliminating food deserts in the underserved communities of West and East Tampa. **Special districts provide specialized services to persons living within the designated geographic area and may contract to provide services outside the area. Special districts often cross the lines of towns, villages, and hamlets but less frequently cross city or county lines. --Resources-- https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/42711/12716_ap036_1_.pdf?v=41055 https://www.tampagov.net/sites/default/files/budget/files/FY2020-budget1.pdf

How and when a person votes is a personal decision and is their right to exercise how and when they choose. As an activist I've worked with grassroots organizations to register voters and increase voter turn out. In order to increase voter turn out, it is important to understand why registered voters aren't voting. After simply asking this question to several citizens, it is clear that some people choose not to vote because candidates aren't speaking to issues they feel are important. That is their choice and their right! The right to vote is granted to citizens by the Constitution of the United States. It should not be taken away, suspended, or revoked because the Secretary of State has determined that a citizen does not vote enough. When the Secretary of State decides to purge voter registrations, the responsibility to remedy the problem is placed upon the citizens. The citizens often don't know a problem exists until they go to vote and are denied their right, which ultimately leads to voter suppression. This practice speaks to a broader discriminatory history within the country of using a person's past to discriminate and oppress. Federal law does require voter rolls to be maintained for accuracy. However, other states have found more equitable ways to do this without disenfranchising specific populations. Please share and sign this petition to let Brad Raffensperger, GA Secretary of State, know that we need to end the practice of using past voter participation to clean up voter rolls. If one citizen is denied their constitutional right to vote, that is one too many.

I can remember countless weekends that my dad took my family to American Beach. So many people from around the area have so many memories and still traditionally go to the beach - which is why when I heard a man chained himself to the beach in protest to what Nassau County is, in essence, privatizing the beach, I became upset. I realized that with so much history that surrounds that beach for my family, that if the county succeeded it would shut out any future generations in my family to enjoy the beach as well. But not only does America Beach have a history in my family, but the beach also has a deep history rooted in the Black community as well. The tradition of African Americans camping on American Beach dates back to the inception of the community in 1935. We’ve been hosting campouts at Burney Park on historic American Beach since 2015. Other groups such as the Night Sanders and Florida Beach Cats have been camping as far back as 1998. This beach is a historic landmark, because Abraham Lincoln Lewis, Florida's first Black millionaire, purchased 200 acres, which is now American beach. His company the Afro-American Life Insurance Company designated American Beach as a place for people of color to have a space to come for relaxation without humiliation. Over the years the beach has brought so much economic development to the area and joy for so many families. It means so much to many, so much so that A.L. Lewis' great-granddaughter, affectionally known as the "Beach Lady," gave tours and taught about the history of the beach until her death in 2005. Limiting the access and privatizing American Beach will be another way Black people will be locked out of cultural inheritance and way to erase rich Black history. July of 2019 we hosted our largest gathering to date. Over 100 men, women, and children gathered to camp, commune with nature and learn about American Beach’s rich history. It was a beautiful, peaceful gathering without incident. A focal point of the weekend was, as always, respect for and stewardship of the natural environment of American Beach. Soon after the July campout, we discovered the beach committee, formed at the request of Nassau county commissioners to address complaints regarding differing issues at Nassau counties four beach access points. We were shocked and dismayed to discover the conversation leaning towards major changes in beach ordinances that would severely impede our ability to carry on a long tradition of campers on American Beach, although the vast majority of the complaints related to incidents at Peters Point, another Nassau County beach. Up until the September 26th meeting we had been led to believe that an actual system would be put in place to manage beach camping, parking, driving, etc. At the September meeting however, an abrupt change in the dialogue occurred and a decision was made to abdicate the responsibility of managing these issues and instead the proposed solution was put forth to recommend to the county commissioners the elimination of ALL camping, night driving and parking on ALL four access points, from 9 pm to 6 am by unanimous vote. Click to read the minutes and agenda of the beach committee meetings https://www.nassaucountyfl.com/DocumentCenter/Index/958 The rights of citizens to camp overnight on Nassau County Beaches are at risk. While we are concerned with camping rights on American Beach, the beach committee recommendation and upcoming BOCC vote and decision will affect a variety of beach issues on all four beach access points; such as driving, camping, parking, fines, etc.

My son, Gary White, should be at home with his wife and his three little girls right now. Instead, he is serving a 20 year prison sentence after an investigation full of police misconduct that happened under supervising Officer Brian Seyfarth’s watch. On a night in November 2017 on his way to the store, my son, Gary White accidentally hit a white woman, Megan Gunter Smith, who had just run straight into traffic. Multiple witnesses stated they would've hit the woman as well since she ran directly into traffic. Not realizing he hit a person (he thought it was an animal), Gary parked his car in a nearby Walmart parking lot. He went back to the scene, called his family, then stayed at the scene until the police arrived. But once they arrived, Officer Thomas Borum illegally drew Gary’s blood without his consent. He then stored that blood in a police locker for days, a clear mishandling of evidence. Officer Borum’s supervisor, Officer Brian Seyfarth, is running for election as Adams County Sheriff next week and intends to represent the people of Natchez, Mississippi. Yet, he has yet to make a public statement about why he allowed this police misconduct to happen under his supervision. In March of 2019, the courts used the blood that Officer Borum illegally drew from Gary to pile on additional charges, bringing his sentence from 2-3 years to 20 years. Gary is now in jail. His family has had no rights to visit him in county jail for almost 7 months and he was being deprived of water, food and air conditioning in his cell. As of last week, Gary has been moved to the Parchman State Penitentiary. The situation will most likely only get worse in Parchman. This conviction comes on the heels of 2 recent accidents in which black citizens in Natchez were killed by white motorists with no charges and no trial. But when a white woman was killed in an accident that several eyewitnesses have come forward to say wasn't Gary's fault, the punishment was swift, severe, and and completely life-altering. The message that this racial disparity in law enforcement sends is clear: Black people's lives matter less that anyone else's in Natchez, Mississippi. Mississippi has the 3rd highest incarceration rate in the country. Mass incarceration, over-policing and wrongful convictions of Black and brown communities in Mississippi are part of the systemic issues that have led to such a high statistic. We need to demand transparency and accountability in these cases to bring about a fair trial. As Officer Borum's supervisor, Officer Seyfarth failed to live up to his responsibility to ensure that evidence was not mishandled in the pursuit of justice. Let him know that no one who turns a blind eye to racist corruption in his own department is fit to serve in public office. Demand that Officer Brian Seyfarth make a public statement about the mishandling of evidence that happened under his watch immediately!

A Philadelphia Inquirer investigation recently uncovered a brutal attack that took place at Riverside Correctional Facility, the city women's jail. In 2016, Zack, a transgender inmate at RCF, was mocked, humiliated, and subjected to sexual harassment and assault by jail staff, including improper searches of his gential by correctional officers. While handcuffed and shackled, he was also pepper-sprayed four times by a correctional officer while others watched. . The officers responsible –Officers Lawrence Wiesenski, Tahira Brew Littlejohn, Monique Jones, and Sgt. Nakia Anderson—are still working at RCF. The article and video of the incident can be found here: https://www.inquirer.com/news/transgender-pepperspray-genital-searches-philadelphia-jails-20191023.html The story also showed that Riverside Correctional Facility's correctional officers pepper spray inmates, the vast majority of whom are Black and Brown women and queer and trans folks, at over double the rate that they do at men's jails in Philadelphia: "In 2018, Riverside, which averaged 466 prisoners per day, logged 124 instances in which jail guards used pepper spray on its detainees, according to internal prison reports. At Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, Philadelphia’s largest male jail, which had an average daily population of 2,140, guards used pepper spray 252 times." We demand that: Commissioner Blanche Carney hold each of these correctional officers accountable by firing them immediately. Humiliating, harassing, and assaulting incarcerated people should never be tolerated. Commissioner Carney and the Department of Prisons conduct an immediate Prison Rape Elimination Act audit of their practices at all city jails, as well as a comprehensive review and overhaul of their use of force policies, including a detailed report to City Council explaining this ugly, offensive abuse of women and trans people in our community. We need action now! Firing these officers and accounting for this abuse should not be a difficult decision for Commissioner Carney, who in 2018, expressed the importance of "ensuring that all staff persons treat inmates with respect and dignity." Why is this important? Right now, Officers Wiesenski, Littlejohn, Williams, Jones, and Sgt. Anderson, are still employed by the Philadelphia Department of Prisons, being paid by taxpayers. They still interact daily with incarcerated people at RCF. Those incarcerated at RCF are not safe with these officers on staff. We cannot risk allowing any of these officers to continue to attack, harass, and humiliate incarcerated people at RCF without any accountability. They cannot continue to be compensated after viciously attacking someone from our community. Our community, our city, the people incarcerated at RCF deserve better. Fire Officers Wiesenski, Littlejohn, Jones, and Sgt. Anderson now, and Commissioner Carney, produce a comprehensive audit report on this detailed abuse of Philly's incarcerated women, trans folks, and all incarcerated people for Council and the public to see, so we can take action to stop it permanently!