Journey for Justice rolls south in January

Roll 'em up, and move 'em out, the Journey for Justice is what it's all about. Heads up Florida. Look out for us Carolinas; we'll be there to see you too - Journey for Justice is coming through.

It's the 2nd Journey for Justice in our planned four-year series, and we're leaving January 8th for the Southeastern USA. We want to meet you, to visit, to share, to plan and to rekindle hope.

Nora and Chuck begin this Southern Journey with the experience needed to improve on our Northeast trek last fall. For this next leg, our 'Camp Meeting' with relatives who visit loved ones in a nearby prison remains the centerpiece illustrating why we're doing this. We learned how difficult these visits become and how individuals think about it and deal with it. We were often overwhelmed by their powerful resolve to keep the family together despite a bizarre maze of prison rules that often demoralize individuals and discourage any leftover family unity.

We'll be meeting the press, talking on the radio, holding vigils, taking part in church services and visiting southern colleges. And the schedule is filling rapidly. What is it about someone coming to town? It's about hearing news of the drug war from a national perspective, and it's about identifying with a larger entity. It's about having your own, personal drug war horror story heard by those who know what you're talking about. It's about time for tears to flow and converting angst to activism.

It's time to express power, foster dignity, assert demands and call for justice. For individuals with loved ones doing long prison sentences it's a time to decide how and why to struggle without letup. We're coming to your region because we are convinced you don't want to live in resentment and fear of your government, and wondered if anything can change. After all, who hasn't felt that nothing can be done?

The Southern Journey for Justice continues with a spirit of resolve. We know that an informed and aroused citizenry can talk to prison officials, members of Congress and the media about what we need from them. What we need from elected and employed officials alike is acknowledgment and respect. U.S. communities should have a say and a permanent position in the legal process, during confinement, and after a prisoner goes home.

One of the concrete ways we hear you 'talking power' to elected leaders is the 25,000 names of citizens who have already signed the Petition for Relief from Drug War Injustice. With higher levels of unity and confidence in our efforts, who's to say it won't be long before we'll stand before Congress with 100,000 names of people demanding a reasonable early release system for the prisoners of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 60% of whom are serving drug sentences?

We want real change in the release policies of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. We want prison staff from the superintendent on down to respect the public's interest in what happens to people behind bars. We want everyone to understand that now there's 'someone new' at the criminal justice table, and they are not just passive partners. Finally, we challenge prison administrators to come out of their walled offices to meet us, to exchange views, to escape their own awkward silence, and to tell us what they want for a just system.

Look at the developing schedule here and start now to plan how we'll meet in your region. See you soon!

For more information, and an archive of past Journey events, please visit www.JourneyforJustice.org

Visit the Journey for Justice archive!