The #JusticeLA campaign, a broad coalition made up of local and national stakeholders and community members and born from the work of family members in Los Angeles who have had loved ones harmed and killed by the Los Angeles jail system has been struggling with the Board of Supervisors on their dissonant plan to invest at least $4 billion dollars into jail expansion in Los Angeles County for almost a decade. The #JusticeLA campaign is partnering with health workers from across the spectrum of service and health advocacy to demand the long overdue end to caging as a response to public health issues. Jails and all forms of incarceration are bad for human health. Achieving humane, high quality and accessible health care for the roughly 170,000 people who are incarcerated every year in Los Angeles, the largest jail system in the world, is an urgent task, specifically because jails and other forms of incarceration are not health care institutions. On the contrary, jails are fundamentally harmful to human health. Understanding people inside primarily as criminals, not patients, jails isolate people from their families and communities, deprive people of control and agency over their bodies, subject people to unsafe environments and cause long-lasting trauma. Recent scholarship has outlined many of these harms on incarcerated people and their communities, showing, for example, how incarceration worsens mental health disabilities (Schnittker 2015) and shortens lives (Nosrati et al 2017). The previously approved $4 billion jail plan poses a significant and urgent threat to the health of those most criminalized, including Black and Latinx people across Los Angeles. The county is already home to the largest mental health facility in the country, Twin Towers jail. Eighty percent of the current jail system population is either Black or Latinx and an alarming 70% of the current jail population reports having a serious medical, mental health disability, or substance use condition. Over one thousand people per year die in local jails across the country. Half of all deaths of people incarcerated in local jails are the result of some type of illness including heart disease, liver disease, and cancer. As the largest jails system in the world, the Los Angeles County jail system contributes to all of these trends as reported by incarcerated people, their families, and by health workers themselves who provide services in the jails and as loved ones return home. Expansion of the function, scope, geography, or size of the current jail system will continue to result in both the reproduction of these harmful trends and/or the reliance of law enforcement contact and justice system involvement for what has historically proven to be inadequate and harmful “treatment.” Negative health outcomes in jails disproportionately affect marginalized communities. For example, roughly one out of every three deaths of Black people in local jails is the result of a heart attack which could be prevented in community-based treatment. While Black people make up less than 9% of the Los Angeles County population, Black people constitute 30% of the County jail population and 43% of those incarcerated with a serious mental health disability. Additionally, 75% of incarcerated women in Los Angeles are women of color. In the seven-year period between 2010 and 2016, Black women were sentenced to 5,481 years of jail time for charges that can be solved using public health strategies that build our communities rather than law enforcement which often undermine them. The construction of a women’s jail will exacerbate these trends and other negative health outcomes as incarcerated women of color will be further isolated from their families and communities. On Febraury 12th, The County has a historic opportunity to break away from the public health crisis of criminalization and incarceration by stopping this jail construction plan and diverting resources towards community-based alternatives that prioritize the dignity and wellbeing of our families and loved ones throughout Los Angeles.

New York City (NYC) must reverse policies that have proven ineffective at creating safe and supportive environments for students. Policing in schools promotes the exclusion and criminalization of Black and Latinx students, rather than their education. NYC should end arrests, as well as the issuance of summonses and juvenile reports, in schools for non-criminal violations and misdemeanors. Research shows that policing in schools fails to make schools safer or reduce bullying or fighting. The presence of police criminalizes typical adolescent behavior, such as disorderly conduct, which is the number one reason for summons in our schools. Experiencing an arrest for the first time in high school nearly doubles the odds of the student dropping out, and a court appearance nearly quadruples the odds of the student dropping out. Police in NYC schools largely police low-level offenses, including normal youthful behavior. In the last year, nearly 85 percent of all arrests, summonses, and NYPD juvenile reports of young people in NYC schools were for misdemeanors and violations. For Black and Latinx students our schools continue to be an on-ramp into the criminal justice system. Policing in schools creates extreme and persistent racial disparities. -Black girls are 10.4 times more likely to be arrested and 6.3 times more likely to be issued a summons than their White peers. -Black boys are 5.6 times more likely to be arrested and 9 times more likely to receive a summons than White boys. -Black and Latinx students account for 92% of all summons and 89% of all arrests. To end racial disparities in arrests, summons, and juvenile reports, the city must commit to ending these practices altogether. Instead of criminalizing young people, New York City should invest in supportive services like restorative justice, mental health supports, guidance counselors, and social workers.

It’s time to put our resources and support behind the educators and schools which continue to teach the overwhelming majority of California’s school children. As you make staffing and personnel choices, we urge you to get the foxes out of the henhouse at the California Department of Education (CDE). The current configuration of the CDE devotes a disproportionate amount of staff and resources to a movement and agenda funded largely by billionaires which is underperforming, unaccountable, segregationist, rife with financial waste, and undemocratic.

New York state decriminalized possessing small amounts of marijuana 40 years ago, but a disproportionate number of black people continue to be arrested in Buffalo every year. The unequal enforcement is a result of the "war on drugs." Exposure to the criminal justice system has severe impacts on employment, mental health, family stability and financial security. Mayor Byron Brown has the ability to make marijuana the LLEP, or "lowest level enforcement priority" for the Buffalo Police Department. This means that instead of arresting black and brown folks for marijuana, police will be able to focus on building positive, trusting relationships with communities of color, making us all safer. On the commemorative year of decriminalization, tell Mayor Brown that you support him in LLEP (#BuffaloLLEP)!

Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith's comments on November 2nd, 2018, regarding her willingness to sit “on the front row” at a “public hanging” if invited are not only deeply offensive, they provide further evidence of her blatant disregard for her oath to uphold the Constitution. Senator Hyde-Smith’s failure to stand up to the injustice of hanging deaths in the past and her approval of such violence presently, should bar her from serving as a U.S. Senator or in any government position in the state of Mississippi. She has refused to acknowledge the insensitive and deeply offensive nature of her remarks. A leader who cannot thoughtfully reflect on her actions and their potential harm is unfit to lead.

The people of New Jersey need your help. In 2017, 94 Percent of Black voters cast their ballots for Governor Murphy. Without this support from the Black community, it is unlikely that Phil Murphy would be New Jersey’s governor—53 percent of white voters supported his opponent. But nine months into his administration, Governor Murphy has not focused on critical issues facing the 94 percent: 1) Transforming New Jersey’s youth justice system: New Jersey has a shameful system of youth incarceration in which a Black child is 30 times more likely to be incarcerated than a white child—the highest disparity in the nation. 2) Restoring the right to vote to people with criminal convictions: New Jersey denies the right to vote to nearly 100,000 people who are in prison, on parole, or on probation. Although Black people make up 15 percent of New Jersey's total population, Black residents represent over 60 percent of the people who lost the right to vote due to a criminal conviction. 3) Closing the racial wealth gap: In New Jersey, one of the wealthiest states in America, the median net worth for New Jersey’s white families is $271,402—the highest in the nation. But the median net worth for New Jersey’s Black families is just $5,900. We must ensure that Governor Murphy keeps his promises to the Black voters that put him in office.

Valerie Seeley is a survivor of domestic violence and in 1988 she was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison for killing her abusive partner while defending herself from a violent attack. In 2017, Valerie was granted clemency and released from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County, New York. Her release came after spending 17 years in prison for protecting herself. Governor Cuomo, like all state governors, has the power to grant clemency to people who have been convicted under state law. Valerie is the ONLY domestic violence survivor that has been granted clemency by Gov. Cuomo. In the last eight years Gov. Cuomo has ONLY commuted 12 sentences in total. Survived & Punished, has joined forces with Color Of Change to demand that Gov. Cuomo free all criminalized survivors of gender violence. In New York state history only three survivors have been granted clemency. Gov. Cuomo has the power to change that immediately. Today, there are many people behind bars in NY state prisons simply for fighting to survive. We must protect, not criminalize survivors of domestic and gender based violence. Women and gender nonconforming (GNC) folks have historically been incarcerated for domestic violence and Black women and GNC survivors of abuse are rarely granted the right to protect and defend themselves against their abuser, even less than other people. Throughout the country millions of women, girls and GNC people who are incarcerated are also survivors of domestic/ gender based violence. We must end the criminalization of survivors, we must protect Black women and we must free all people incarcerated for simply surviving. Demand Gov. Cuomo #FreeThemNY. Learn more about #FreeThemNY--http://freethemny.com/

Florida Secretary of State Kent Detzner is playing politics while the people of Florida need to make sure they are safe. No one in the state of Florida should be forced between preparing for the storm and being able to vote in November. Instead of announcing confusing policies and half-measures demand that Secretary of State Detzner extends the voter registration deadline for everyone in Florida. Hurricane Michael is the strongest storm to make landfall in Florida in 13 years. But, a hurricane shouldn't also wipe us out of the democratic process. Folks in Florida already navigate an election system deliberately designed to discourage their participation. Now, the state of Florida is forcing Black folks and other potential voters to choose between their personal safety and their right to vote. By choosing to not extend the voter registration deadline for all Floridians, the Secretary of State excludes eligible residents from the normal number of days they should have had to register if it weren't for the unusual and unpredictable hurricane weather. This means the state of Florida is forcing Black folks and other potential voters to choose between their personal safety and our right to vote. Don’t let voter disenfranchisement be yet another hurdle faced by Florida residents post-Hurricane Michael. By signing our petition you are going to tell Florida Secretary of State Kent Detzner that the state of Florida and the rest of the nation are watching and will not allow him to play politics with people's lives. Officials like Detzner depend on anonymity, and bluster from people like Trump to hide their role in keeping Black voters away from the polls. Tell Detzner that this storm shouldn't deny Black people their freedom to vote. Demand Secretary of State Detzner to extend voter registration until October 16th so that Floridians hit by the storm aren’t also wiped out of the democratic process. The time Floridians had to register to vote was cut short by this hurricane. Sign now and demand voters be given a fair amount of time to register.

The State of New York has the opportunity to correct history with Legislative Bill S8553/A1001 by renaming October 10th as Indigenous People's Day in the State of New York. This is an overdue first step towards recognizing and celebrating Indigenous culture. Indigenous people are not a relic of history, they are still an active part of New York’s culture and communities. The yearly celebration of Christopher Columbus for his "discovery of the Americas" is painful and a gross distortion of history. Columbus introduced the transatlantic slave trade to the Americas and left behind a violent legacy of the oppression, rape, enslavement, and mass murder of Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples. Columbus' legacy and colonialism still harm our communities to this day and should not be celebrated or held up as an authentic or positive representation of "Italian-American heritage". History books misrepresent the happenstance encounter as a “discovery”. But the reality is that Indigenous peoples throughout the western hemisphere had long called this land their home. Native people paid for -- and continue to pay for -- this encounter with their labor, land and lives, and the ripple effect, across continents and peoples, is reflected in the devastating history of colonization. We continue to celebrate and acknowledge the millions of Italian Americans who have contributed immensely to US culture and history. All we ask is that we celebrate the rich ancestral tradition of those Italian Americans who were not responsible for a painful legacy of genocide and slavery. Columbus is not the hero the Italian American community deserves. The great contributions to our state by the Italian American community should be represented by someone among the countless Italian Americans who fought to make life better for others. This day should be recognized as a celebration of the strength and resiliency of indigenous cultures and peoples who survived Columbus. Native peoples are still very much present in the Americas but struggle against being erased from our history then and now.

Flint is being poisoned with lead and community members are still being disparaged and dismissed by the state of Michigan. Gov. Snyder promised the people of Flint that the state would conduct home inspections to assure their safety from further lead poisoning. Instead of following through people in the city of Flint are reporting the state inspectors simply looking at houses from the outside and assuming they’re safe. A report from the University of Michigan has determined what we’ve known since the beginning of this lead crisis-- Gov. Snyder is responsible for the lead poisoning of thousands of Flint’s children. Instead of acting when the people of Flint first reported lead poisoning the Governor and state agencies he controls insulted residents while poisoning their children. Now the same agencies under Gov. Snyder are doing the bare minimum to address the pain and damage they caused. Black people in Flint deserve genuine efforts to prevent their children from being poisoned by lead. Lead poisoning in young children leads to issues in learning and behavior. Gov. Snyder and the state of Michigan has already irreparably damaged the lives of thousands of Black children. By neglecting to carry out lead inspections in earnest Gov. Snyder and the state are continuing to attack our families and our future. Real inspections of homes in Flint would give Black parents the best chance of making sure their children can have the best possible future for themselves. Flint, Michigan is ground zero in showing the ways environmental racism is used to attack the Black community. Gov. Snyder and the state of Michigan knew they were poisoning Black children and did not care. Only once people in Flint organized and advocated their way into the national conversation did the state pretend to show concern. Now, Gov. Snyder and Michigan have decided to do the bare minimum and punish the people of Flint, again.

Black women deserve to experience a workplace free of racial discrimination and racialized microaggressions.

Donald Trump has already attempted to use the lie of voter fraud to intimidate voters with his now-defunct commission. Now his administration is using United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Robert Higdon, an appointee of President Donald Trump, to issue subpoenas on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), requesting massive troves of voter data from state election officials and 44 North Carolina counties. ICE has no role in election administration and this request is clearly designed to intimidate Black and Brown folks in the state, and bury North Carolina’s election officials in paperwork. This massive request would require our elections officials to produce millions of documents, including sensitive voter information — all with weeks to go before elections begin. As State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement attorney Josh Lawson told the assistant U.S. Attorney handling the case, complying with these requests will make it difficult for county officials to prepare for the approaching general election. This request also continues in the tradition of intimidation and bad faith bureaucracy that has become increasingly common in North Carolina. In response, the N.C. State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement has voted to fight back — giving the N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein the green light to challenge this excessive federal overreach designed to interfere with our state's elections and intimidate voters. It's our turn to fight back — add your name to the growing list of North Carolinians demanding United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Robert Higdon drop these outrageous requests altogether.