The paseo leading to the main entrance of the California State Capitol was filled with community leaders, social justice advocates and families all united for one mission, to change incarceration legislation.
At the Freedom 2030 Rally that took place on Monday, March 9, the Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition, an organization that is spearheading the 10-year campaign to end mass incarceration of girls, women and transgender and non-transgender (TGNC) people, was joined by several organizations, such as the Youth Violence Prevention organization UNITEEE, INC, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC), One More Chance (OMC), the Free Movement, Initiate Justice and many more.
The free event kicked off with formerly incarcerated leaders and activists standing on the steps of the State Capitol while sharing their stories about their evolution from being imprisoned to post-release.
They spoke about turning their lives around through programs that gave them educational and work opportunities. One speaker talked about how after serving 15 years in prison she was able to get a quality education at UC-Berkeley because of a reintegration program for the formerly incarcerated offered by the University of California education system.
Speaker after speaker shared their most vulnerable stories about the prison system and moments of redemption. Los Angeles social change agent Community Coalition was one the scene to provide support for Sister Warriors and their mission. The organization bussed people all the way from Los Angeles to Sacramento to attend the event. Members of the coalition collected signatures for legislative change and assisted with the operation of the Freedom Rally.
Legislative support staff and politicians walking by could not help but to hear and see hundreds of people in black and white shirts chanting and cheering in celebration of freedom and International Women’s Day, and in protest of the injustices against the incarcerated.
The politically motivated event was further complemented with tents offering free information, food, childcare and healing services.
Los Angeles rapper FnG Haze inspired attendees with a super-charged performance of his song “Coalition”, released Friday, March 6 on all streaming platforms.
Introduced as “spoken word”, the hip hop song was a bass-bumping, militant call to action that drew attention to the Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition and Community Coalition’s Civic Engagement Specialist Linda Gomez, who was instrumental in bringing several people to the rally.
FnG Haze was followed up by multi-talented singer Ms. B Royal who belted out upbeat and heartfelt songs to a very engaged audience. The atmosphere was hopeful and forward-thinking.
Many people who have not been subjected to the prison system may not intuitively understand the necessity to rally for legislative change. However, just looking at the statistics, it is more obvious than ever that there are fallacies embedded within the criminal justice system and incarceration policies and it’s taking a more hard strung toll on communities with people of color. Here are some of the statistics:
On average, African American children represent 32% of children who are arrested, 42% of children who are detained, and 52% of children whose cases are judicially waived to criminal court. (Sentencing Project)
Spending on prisons and jails has increased at triple the rate of spending on Pre‐K‐12 public education in the last thirty years. (NAACP)
Though 85% of incarcerated youth are boys, girls makeup a much higher proportion of those incarcerated for the lowest level offenses. Thirty-eight percent of youth incarcerated for status offenses (such as truancy and curfew violations) are girls. More than half of youth incarcerated for running away are girls. (Sentencing Project)
Though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately 32% of the US population, they comprised 56% of all incarcerated people in 2015. (NAACP)
Though many more men are in prison than women, the rate of growth for female imprisonment has been twice as high as that of men since 1980. There are 1.3 million women under the supervision of the criminal justice system. (Sentencing Project)
If African Americans and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates as whites, prison and jail populations would decline by almost 40%. (NAACP)
The Freedom 2030 Rally is a true to life representation of what can be accomplished when people come together for a common cause. The organizations that were present at the rally clearly prove that faith with works is alive.
The Freedom Charter, created at the Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition founding, convening in February 2018 and updated August 2019, guides their movement to end the mass incarceration and criminalization of children, families and communities.
International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.
