Saturday, February 19, 2011

Mark Ganzer's Blog: Feb 18 - 20, 2011 From Montgomery to L.A. and Beyond Building a Movement of Ex-Prisoners

"Only by organizing and building a people's movement – the Civil Rights Movement – did Black people win their human and civil rights. The Movement transformed the South, the U.S., and the entire world.
For formerly incarcerated people, the promise of the Civil Rights movement – full civil rights and an end to Jim Crow – remains unfulfilled. Just consider the over four million formerly incarcerated people who are denied their voting rights.
Guided by this history, and inspired by demands for justice in the U.S. and around the world – from the prisoner strike in Georgia to the Egyptian revolution -- a vibrant new movement is now being born as formerly incarcerated people join together to secure our full civil and human rights.
From February 28 – March 2, 2011, formerly incarcerated people from around the country will gather in Montgomery and Selma to develop a common platform regarding restoration of civil rights, stopping prison expansion, elimination of excessive punishments, and protecting the dignity of family members and communities. The gathering, hosted by The Ordinary People's Society of Alabama, will include formerly incarcerated leaders from dozens of groups from round the country, including co-conveners All of Us or None (CA), Women on the Rise Telling Her Story (NY), National Exhoodus Council (PA), A New Way of Life (CA), Direct Action for Rights and Equality (RI) and more.
After meeting, we will take action: on March 1, the eve of the Bloody Sunday anniversary, and with the blessing of Civil Rights veterans from Alabama and beyond, we will march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, signaling our intent to fulfill the promise of the Civil Rights Movement. The following day, we will rally at the statehouse in Montgomery, just steps away from Dr. King's old church."
http://markganzersblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/february-18-20-2011-from-montgomery-to.html 
Former prisoners in the USA suffer from social stigma; they can overcome this by encouraging society's  understanding and opportunities for them, such as voting rights.


Amplify

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