Two Part-Coversation: Tuesdays August 11th and August 18th at 8:00 PM EST/ 5:00 PM PST

Do you want to be a greater advocate for migrants? 

Living in tight prison-like conditions and being separated from loved ones is not uncommon for those who end up making the journey to the USA border. Given the COVID-19 pandemic spread, the immigration detention system is even more important to discuss. This two-part conversation will cover immigrant detention facilities and connect them to the criminal justice system. Join to become an informed ally! For more information look at the OEP-Migrant Facebook page or email [email protected]

Written by Jennifer Weakland, OEP Prison Justice Organizer Intern

There is currently one week remaining in the 8-week, first-ever Prison Justice Learning Action Community Engagement Program! It has been a wonderful affirmation of individuals coming together to make a community that wants to learn about and put energy towards addressing the injustice plaguing the US prison system. We have read through and discussed in-depth Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, watched and discussed videos featuring Jeff Rosen, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Kamau Walton, and Andrea Ritchie on restorative justice systems,and have learned the 6 principles of Kingian Nonviolence. Most recently, the group had an action-focused meeting to brainstorm opportunities to become active participants in prison justice advocacy in our own communities. 

To fully achieve the program goals of community engagement, issue education, and action empowerment, we have participated in a variety of activities. Integral in these activities is the earnest discussion of program material. These discussions allowed us the time to explore ideas, vent our own feelings and share inspiration surrounding prison justice, while also appreciating and supporting each other’s involvement. They also allowed us to learn much more about current, systemic issues facing the prison system, such as racially discriminatory mass incarceration through the War on Drugs, the injustice of biased plea bargain trials, the harms and dehumanization of imprisonment in general, and much more. During some meetings, the group split into breakout rooms for one-t0-one discussions of the material, which made for increased personal connection and in-depth discussion between group members. On one such occasion, group members participated in a casual mock debate, taking turns arguing for and against some of the principles of Kingian Nonviolence in order to prepare for disagreement with those who do not agree with the practice of nonviolence and the goal of prison reform. 

The Read Aloud Project began in April 2020 with the purpose of providing homeschooling resources in peace and justice during the pandemic. It involves members of the community recording videos of themselves reading children’s books about peace, justice, and courage. The response to the project has been amazing and I appreciate everyone who has supported the project by recording videos and viewing them. We have decided to extend the Read Aloud Project indefinitely and are looking at ways to improve it. So, I created a survey to figure out things like if people are interested in lesson plans to accompany the read aloud videos. Here is a link to the survey: http://ow.ly/PPG950Ayx6S. I look forward to receiving your feedback!

With the recent deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police, I was left questioning what I could do to fight against racism. During my bi-weekly meeting with Marie Benner-Rhoades, I mentioned how I would be attending an Embrace Race webinar called "How do I make sure I'm not raising the next 'Amy Cooper'?" The guest speaker was Jennifer Harvey, who is a social activist, professor, and author. Marie had read Harvey’s book Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America and recommended it to me. We thought the book had useful information that parents, educators, and other community members could use to raise race conscious kids. So, we reached out to our Racial Justice Organizers Grace Cook-Huffman and Tamera Shaw and Youth and Young Adult Assistant Laura Hay to develop a webinar series that uses Harvey’s book as a guide.

For the webinar series, we will be meeting every Thursday at 8 PM ET starting on July 23rd through August 13th.Topics will include how parents and teachers can address race, the myth of color-blindness, the role of racial scripts, and the future of racial justice. Even though the book Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America by Jennifer Harvey will be used to guide the discussions, reading the book is not required. This webinar is a space for all community members to join in conversations about raising all kids to be race conscious, not just for people raising white kids.

In each session, participants can expect to share their personal experiences in the larger group and in breakout pairs, have open conversations about the role of parents, teachers, and other community members in raising race conscious kids, and receive resources and action steps for raising race conscious kids. If you are interested in attending a webinar session, please register here https://www.onearthpeace.org/webinar_series_raising_race_conscious_kids. Contact me at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Immigration is a topic that should be discussed with children. Even though it can be uncomfortable for some parents to talk about this topic, it is important to explain what it means to be an immigrant and the difficulties they may face. Doing so will help children understand what people go through and will make them more empathetic towards others. A simple way parents can bring up the topic of immigration is by reading a book. Here are a few own voice children’s books about immigrants that detail their experiences: