Is Decarcerate the Garden State starting to become a
"popular" organization? That might be an
overstatement but there are indications that there is potential for that to
begin to happen.
In order to assess the penetration of our organizing drive
in the media and on the internet, I regularly search for references to
Decarcerate the Garden State. Most of
what I come up with are links to our blog site, Facebook references, our
website, our nightly internet “Paper” the NJ Daily Decarcerator and some of the
articles about our work. (Stay tuned for another blog article with
links to the media and blog coverage and references to our work.)
However today – I was joyfully surprised by two particular
references that surfaced.
We recently, on February 24,2015, held an event called “Decarcerating
Plainfield” at the Plainfield Public Library, working with Keep Our Youth and
Streets Safe (KYSS), Plainfield Peoples Organization for Progress (POP) and the
Plainfield View. The event had a decent
attendance and was well received by those who participated. It was also attended by several members of
the Plainfield School Board, the Plainfield Council, local clergy and the Mayor
of Plainfield. The event also received support
for the $15 NOW NJ movement that is fighting for a hike of NJ’s minimum wage to
$15 per hour and the NJ Immigrant Youth for Liberation, a member of which
pariticipated in the panel.
Anyway – I got the feeling that night that there was great
warmth in the room and great appreciation from most in attendance of what
transpired that day. As the event closed
– I proposed a follow up larger event in spring in Plainfield and afterwards
spoke with the mayor and many of the
other great people that were in attendance.
So what I discovered today in my rounds of searching on
Decarcerate the Garden State was this on the site of Plainfield Mayor AdrianMapp:
“Event
- Decarcerating Plainfield and NJ Youth
Decarcerating
Plainfield and NJ Youth was the theme of a panel discussion at the Plainfield
Public Library on Tuesday, February 24, 2015. Several local and statewide organizations
joined forces and invited the public to participate. The event, sponsored by Keep
Youth and Streets Safe (KYSS), which was formed to call for an end to
street violence in Plainfield, the statewide organization Decarcerate the
Garden State, the Plainfield branch of the People's Organization for
Progress (POP), and the Plainfield View blog site, written and
edited by David Rutherford (also a newly-elected school board member),
brought this important discussion to town.
After
the panel, several local residents also participated in the question and answer
period. I was quite pleased to see so many people in attendance, and I spoke
with the organizers after the event--more is planned for spring, so stay tuned.
Click on the link for Plainfield View--David has been following the
Decarceration Movement very closely, and he will have the video posted on the
site.”
I consider this a solid endorsement by the Mayor of
Plainfield of our efforts. That he
references our plans for another event in Plainfield means that he and the city are interested in becoming a part of the event. He clearly has staked his position
on the issue as a supporter of Decarcerate the Garden State. I consider this as an embracement of our fight
and is an indicator of the potential for our ability to connect with growing
segments across the state of NJ!
The other interesting embracement – another pleasant
surprise and possible organizing opportunity is a Pastor in Plainfield, Saafir Jenkins, that has
listed partnering up with us as a suggested thing to do for social concerns in
the community:
The site is Ruach Outreach Ministries http://www.ruachoutreach.org/ and at the site there are suggested social concerns for people to engage in:
Get Involved:
Here are some areas in which you can put your faith into
action. Please be on the lookout for additional opportunites to take part
as we continue to diversify our areas of impact.
And number 5 in the list of suggested actions:
“Decarcerate the Garden State Partnership
Partnering with the DGSP initiative
to bring reform to the judicial system in an effort to transfer focus from
excessive imprisonment to true rehabilitation.”
These embracements are an indication that the kind of work
we are doing and our message is on the right track. It does not mean that we have become a “popular”
or “mass” organization but it means that we have the *potential* for that.
As our effort and our organization grows . . . we are going
to have to get better organized – local committees, committees of focus,
chapters, standing local meetings – all of these things will have to come.
Meanwhile, lets follow up on the connections we have made
and continue to boldly turn over every stone – approach every targeted community
and continue to lay the ground work for the Decarceration uprising of 2015 and
beyond. Hold on . . . it’s coming!
