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Ariel’s story is the first of a short series we’ll be doing in the coming days to honor the women of color who are leading the movement to end mass incarceration. If you feel inspired by these women’s stories, please help us reach our goal of raising $2,000 for formerly and currently incarcerated women and girls this #GiveNOLADay.
After Hurricane Katrina, Ariel Jeanjacques frequently traveled between New Orleans, her home, and Texas, where her mom lived. On one weekend visit when she was 25 years old, she went out with her sisters, just hoping to blow off some steam. Instead, they were assaulted by a group of strangers who fled quickly thereafter. She called the police, expecting them to uphold their duty to protect and serve, but when they arrived on scene, they only escalated the violence. “They told me I was going to jail and tried to put me in handcuffs,” she says. “But they wouldn’t tell me why.” She later learned that the reason was an unpaid speeding ticket she was unaware she had. “The officer was manhandling me, grabbing me, pushing me, cursing me, and not telling me where I was going.” Nervous, confused, and traumatized from all the violence, Ariel tried to defend herself. “I was tired and scratched his hand, and because of that I was sentenced to 10 years.” Because she had been involved in local activism through organizations such as The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, Ariel had a group of people supporting her and speaking out against the injustice she faced. After 4 years of court dates back and forth, they helped her reduce her sentence to 4 months in prison and 6 years of probation. Though Ariel felt immense gratitude for her community, she also knew that she was one of few people who had that kind of support. Today, Ariel uses this experience and many others to fuel her work as the Program Coordinator for the New Orleans chapter of the Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice national network. Every day, she helps countless survivors try to find healing and justice for the senseless crimes they experience. In the process, she reminds both herself and other survivors of assault that, despite how often it happens, it is never ok to be punished for trying to defend yourself. She learns and re-learns a lesson we often come back to at VOTE, which is that punishment does not work. Ariel’s work with VOTE completes the circle of relationships between those who experience a crime, those who carry out a crime, and the many family members and friends in between who are affected by the incident. She speaks on behalf of all parties involved in a crime when she says that “clearly incarceration is not making us any safer--it is just not the answer.” From day to day, Ariel plays many roles. When a violent crime happens in one of the many communities her work touches, she arrives on scene and advocates not only for survivors but many times for alternatives to incarceration. She mediates between the actual wants and needs of survivors and the systems telling them to respond in certain ways. She offers ideas for rehabilitation, healing and recovery, not for jails and prisons. And like the other organizers at VOTE, she goes back into the neighborhoods she’s from and rallies others willing and eager to join the movement for restorative justice. She teaches them the ropes and connects them to a larger network of people doing this work throughout the nation. Earlier this month, she did that by traveling with four other survivors to the 5th Annual Survivors Speak Conference in Sacramento, California. Held every year during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, which falls during Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Survivors Speak convenes survivors from across the country. Hundreds of attendees hail from communities adversely affected by multiple forms of violence, including state violence, street violence and interpersonal violence that happens in the homes, at workplaces, and everywhere in between. They gather together to share their stories, honor those who have passed and are behind bars, and advance agendas for policies and programs that actually help everyone who has experienced violence. They mourn the prevalence of violence and celebrate the strength of their ever-growing group of passionate changemakers. This year, more than 700 people attended the 3-day conference, and Ariel was floored. Between breakout sessions where lead organizers like herself introduced their chapters and what they were working on in the states they came from, Ariel and her crew visited healing rooms complete with stress-relieving activities, got massages hosted by the conference, and indulged in the ice cream that was handed out. “Some the survivors had never had a massage in their life and they really needed one,” she says, smiling. “And when survivors from around the country stood in front of the audience and told their stories for the first time ever, that moment touched me a lot and made me really emotional. Especially to a room full of hundreds of people--that’s really powerful.” The power of those moments was not lost on Ariel. “That’s the first step to healing,” she says. “Telling your story.” Since her return, Ariel has been feeling really inspired to keep pushing the work forth. She’s speaking truth to power by telling the stories of the many survivors in her communities, and interrupting the narratives shared by those who don’t live there. “Hurt people are the ones that hurt people,” says Ariel, sharing a mantra we talk about often at VOTE. “You know, if those people are not hurt--not hurting--they have no reason to go out and hurt other people. If they don’t experience hurt, [hurting others] won’t be the solution to their problems.” Ariel has seen firsthand that when people have the tools and resources they need to not just survive, but thrive, they are able to help interrupt cycles of hurt, abuse and violence. One of these people is Ms. Marilyn Shaw, a survivor from Avondale who lives through not only the murder of her only son in January 2015, but the continued violence of so-called detectives who put false charges on her and refuse to investigate his murder. Ms. Shaw was one of the survivors Ariel brought with her to Sacramento. “Survivors Speak was just an overwhelming experience for her,” she recalls. “It was her first time traveling outside of New Orleans, her first time flying. She cried. For her to connect with people who were in the same situation as her, who lost their only child due to gun violence, she felt really motivated. The conference lifted her spirit, gave her a sense of power and also motivation to keep going because she was at a point of wanting to give up.” Ms. Shaw is one of the many survivors on Ariel’s heart right now. These powerful survivors, along with her 2-year-old son Wylae, are her inspiration. Some of them are behind bars serving time for simply trying to defend themselves, while others are marching alongside her at events like our first annual Formerly and Currently Incarcerated Women and Girls Day last December. No matter where they currently are, together they are building a future where healing, truth, safety, justice and freedom abound. Ariel’s story is the first of a short series we’ll be doing in the coming days to honor the women of color who are leading the movement to end mass incarceration. If you feel inspired by these women’s stories, please help us reach our goal of raising $2,000 for formerly and currently incarcerated women and girls this #GiveNOLADay.
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 Over the past few days, VOTE and our allies have experienced a few setbacks along our journey to the full restoration of civil and human rights for formerly and currently incarcerated people. Below are our official statements on the following decisions that were recently made by the Louisiana House of Representatives and the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the First Circuit, respectively.
On House Bill 265 - decision made April 17: Last night the Louisiana House of Representatives voted in opposition to House Bill 265, an important voting rights bill that would restore this fundamental right to the approximately 71,000 Louisianans currently on probation and parole. In 2016, a similar voting rights bill lost 60-37. Since that time, the total number of people without the right to vote in Louisiana has been close to 200,000. This year’s bill, HB 265, lost by a vote of 53-35, with nobody standing up in vocal opposition. We are closing the gap. Though it is clear that civil rights and public safety still have a long way to go, an incremental victory is worth noting along the long arc of justice. It has been more than a century since those who drafted the 1901 constitution openly condemned democracy using an overtly racist platform, and wins along the way do not go uncelebrated. Through this legislation and litigation (VOTE v. Louisiana), the public has gained a civics education and witnessed a steady shift of the narrative. It is important to recognize that the legislators were not swayed by the testimony of a judge (who never sentenced anyone to lose their voting rights), a probation officer (who recognized that the public is safer by encouraging people to be engaged in positive, pro-social behavior), and a historian (who noted that this was not the intent of the Louisiana voters when ratifying the constitution). They were also not swayed by three disenfranchised people discussing the impacts of voting on their families, their faith, and their positive connection with the political process. There can be no progress without struggle. This is the path to building power and shaping the movement. “Every disenfranchised person knows at least two people who can and do vote,” says Norris Henderson, VOTE’s Executive Director. “Eventually, those who resist democracy will be on the wrong side of history.” In 2019, legislators across the state are up for reelection. On VOTE v. Louisiana - decision made April 13: At the end of last week, the Louisiana Court of Appeal for the First Circuit affirmed dismissal of our lawsuit, VOTE v. Louisiana, yet we are not finished. We are gearing up to take our fight for the restoration of 71,000 formerly incarcerated people's voting rights to the Louisiana Supreme Court. “From the very beginning, we felt this case belonged in the Louisiana Supreme Court,” says our Executive Director Norris Henderson. “The judges seeing this case so far are upholding a law that we know is unconstitutional. The Louisiana Supreme Court is best positioned to right this wrong. They can proclaim once and for all that the Louisiana Constitution guarantees the right to vote, a vote that can only be suspended during, not after, incarceration. For VOTE members, that day cannot come soon enough. We are human beings who have done everything that’s been asked of us. The state needs to make good on the promise of the right to vote we have based on the Constitution.” In a March 2017 ruling granting summary judgment to the state in VOTE v. Louisiana, 19th Judicial District Judge Tim Kelley said that, even though he was ruling against plaintiffs, he thought this was unfair. VOTE appealed the ruling to the First Circuit Court of Appeal, arguing that the Constitution explicitly guarantees the right to vote to all people who are not “under an order of imprisonment,” including those on probation and parole. The First Circuit’s decision today, which rejects this interpretation, paves the way for an appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court. The Court’s opinion defers to enactments of the legislature, which is currently considering HB 265, a bill that would restore voting rights sooner. VOTE is supporting this legislative change. It passed out of a committee in the House of Representatives last week on a 7-2 vote and could face a vote on the House floor early next week. “This coming week, elected officials have the opportunity to stand on the side of the right to vote,” said Bruce Reilly, our Deputy Director. “Bills like HB 265, which would allow people on parole and probation to regain their voting rights sooner, will be voted on. Louisiana has the highest rate of incarceration nationwide and the highest numbers of families directly impacted by criminal convictions. Passing HB 265 would open the doors of democracy to parolees and probationers who have been out of prison for five or more years. Whether it’s the courts recognizing our right to vote – as stated in the constitution – or the legislature making clear its intentions, VOTE will keep fighting all the way to victory.” Read the full piece from our partners at Advancement Project. People with criminal records face a lot of gatekeeping every day. From employers to landlords to the state government, formerly incarcerated people who are back in their communities are judged and rejudged all the time, despite having served their sentences. By being so stigmatized and having inalienable rights such as the right to vote taken away from us, we are being pushed to behave anti-socially. This legislative session, there are many bills that could alter this reality--some for better, some for worse. Here are two that are up to bat next Wednesday, April 11. Help us take action now!
What We’re Fighting For: HB 265 House Bill 265 would stop disenfranchising people under community supervision (otherwise known as those on probation or parole). Specifically, it would give voting rights back to anyone who has not been incarcerated for the past five years, including:
Send a letter to your Reps. NOW asking them to vote YES on HB 265! Our goal is to send 500 letters by next Wednesday! HB 265 would restore the fundamental birthright of citizenship for most of the 70,000 people currently disenfranchised in Louisiana. Although the bill does not go as far as our lawsuit, it is an important step we believe the legislature is ready to take to put an end to this cruel and unusual punishment of suspending citizenship. What We’re Fighting Against: HB 417 Though voting is a right, many try to frame it as a “privilege” reserved for certain people. This is the message behind HB 417, which we strongly oppose. HB 417 creates gatekeepers of citizenship by, first, only allowing people convicted of nonviolent (v. violent) crimes to vote, and, second, requiring them to complete 200 hours of community service before being eligible to vote. In prison, people are not treated differently based on their conviction being “violent” or “nonviolent.” People who never went to prison but are on probation are not treated differently by their probation officer due to the nature of their crime. Why should the right to vote be treated any differently? This is an unconstitutional discretion under the Louisiana constitution, and also creates a logistical nightmare regarding where one does their service and who is eligible to sign off on its completion. Call your Reps. NOW and tell them to vote NO on HB 417! People join VOTE because they know we want to build a better society. We want rehabilitation and restoration of the community, and that is the only form of discrimination (read: discernment) we use. The only question we ask is: are people acting in a constructive or destructive manner? People who want to vote are being denied by the current legislature, and that helps nobody. Let’s convince these legislators that they can reverse the sorry history of disenfranchisement in Louisiana, and instead encourage people to lead positive, pro-social, community-building lives. Thank you! |
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Photos used under Creative Commons from JeepersMedia, jerrywielo, MattCC716
