You can access the toolkit HERE.

Working Title: Challenging Convictions: Survivors of Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Writing on Solidarity with Prison Abolition.

Completed submissions due: April 15, 2012.

Like much prison abolition work, the call for this anthology comes from frustration and hope: frustration with organizers against sexual assault and domestic violence who treat the police as a universally available and as a good solution; frustration with prison abolitionists who only use “domestic violence” and “rape” as provocative examples; and, frustration with academic discussions that use only distanced third-person case studies and statistics to talk about sexual violence and the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC). But, this project also shares the hope and worth of working toward building communities without prisons and without sexual violence. Most importantly, it is anchored in the belief that resisting prisons, domestic violence, and sexual assault are inseparable.

Organizers of this anthology want to hear from survivors in conversation with prison abolition struggles. We are interested in receiving submissions from survivors who are/have been imprisoned, and survivors who have not.  Both those survivors who have sought police intervention, as well as those who haven’t, are encouraged to submit. We are looking for personal essays and creative non-fiction from fellow survivors who are interested in discussing their unique needs in anti-violence work and prison abolitionism.

Discussions of sexual assault, domestic violence, police violence, prejudice within courts, and imprisonment cannot be separated from experiences of privilege and marginalization. Overwhelmingly people who are perceived to be white, straight, able-bodied, normatively masculine, settlers who are legal residents/citizens, and/or financially stable are not only less likely to experience violence but also less likely to encounter the criminal injustice system than those who are not accorded the privileges associated with these positions. At the same time, sexual assault and domestic violence support centers and shelters are often designed with certain privileges assumed. We are especially interested in contributions that explore how experiences of race, ability, gender, citizenship, sexuality, or class inform your understandings of, or interactions with cops, prisons, and sexual assault/domestic violence support.

Potential topics:
·      What does justice look like to you?
·      Perspectives on police and prisons as a default response to sexual assault
·      What do you want people in the prison abolition movement with no first hand experiences of survivorship to know?
·      How did you overcome depression/feelings of futility when dealing with these systems?
·      Critical reflections on why the legal system has or has not felt like an option for you
·      Perspectives on the cops/PIC participating in rape culture
·      Restorative justice and other methods for responding to sexual violence outside of the PIC? (if you are a settler be conscious of appropriations of indigenous methods)
·      How have you felt about conversations you’ve had about the PIC?
·      How sexual assault inside and outside of the PIC is treated by organizers against sexual assault, domestic violence, and the PIC
·      Police and prison guards as triggers
·      Responding to sexual assault and domestic violence when communities weren’t there for you
·      What the legal system offers survivors and what it doesn’t
·      Rants at manarchists, the writers/directors of televised cop dramas, and communities that let you down
·      Survivor shaming for reporting and for not reporting to police

Please submit first-person accounts, critical reflections, essays, and creative non-fiction to survivorsinsoli@gmail.com by April 15, 2012 with “Submission” as the subject line.

Please:
·      One submission per person;
·      12 point Times New Roman font;
·      Submit as an attached document (.doc files preferred, no .pdfs);
·      English language (American spelling);
.      Pseudonyms welcomed, as are name changes in the written piece.

Early submissions are encouraged. First time authors encouraged.

If you have questions, we welcome emails to survivorsinsoli@gmail.com with “Question” in the subject line. We are looking for both shorter pieces of writing and longer pieces, but if your piece is more than 20 pages consider sending us an email to run the idea by us.

Please attach a short biography that you are comfortable sharing with the editors (200 word max.). This is not about your credentials, but getting to know you and where you are coming from. All information you provide will be kept confidential.

About selection and editing: Submissions will be reviewed by a group of readers who will consider if and how each written piece could contribute to the finished project. Each piece will be read by at least two readers who will contribute to the decision to accept/reject/edit the piece. Some of us working on this project have been made to feel alone as both survivors and abolitionists. Some of us have managed to carve spaces within these communities. Now we are looking to open the conversation and hear from people we’ve never met, who have struggled to practice politics in a rape culture and police state. We believe that the needs of survivors matter in these movements, and we don’t need someone else to speak for us or about us as case studies and numbers. We want to hear from you.

For more information please visit: http://survivorsinsoli.blogspot.com/

Please distribute widely.

These submissions are for the “New Beginnings” Issue of Bound Struggles (published by Chicago Books to Women in Prison). Here are the details from them:

Submissions can be poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or artwork (we are happy to get submissions in color, but we’re printing in black and white).
Any writing should be about 500 words long
Handwritten or typed submissions are both welcome
If she wants to have her piece credited, she should give us her name and any other info that she wants to share (where she’s from, where she lives now, etc)
If she’d rather that it be anonymous, that’s fine- just let us know
We’ll give a copy of the final publication to all contributors

Mail work to Chicago Books to Women in Prison, P O Box 14778, Chicago, IL 60614

We need the work by March 15 for this issue, but if they miss the deadline we’ll hang on to it for the next round.

We at Project NIA have decided to organize an action in support of this event on February 20th. We invite youth ages 6 to 17 who have an incarcerated relative (mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin) to join us for an afternoon of art-making, letter-writing, and picture-taking. We will open the event with a peacemaking circle to discuss what each of us miss by having a loved one behind bars.

When: February 20
Time: 1:00 to 3:30 p.m.
Where: Rumble Arts Center, 3413 West North Ave
RSVP: projectnia@hotmail.com

If you are planning to bring a group of young people to the event, please let us know by RSVPing. We want to provide some pizza and refreshments so we need an accurate count of people attending.

If you would like to volunteer to make art, to take photographs, to help out, please contact Mariame at projectnia@hotmail.com.

Also, we can use donations of art supplies and food for this event. Let us know if you can contribute.

This event is co-sponsored by Insight Arts. We also thank the Rumble Arts Center for hosting us for this event.

HB 3129 passed the House last April 14th, 86-22. It opens up all juvenile adjudications, and prohibits hiring for the obvious offense of murder, but also for a host of drug offenses. That session day isn’t transcribed yet, but the roll call indicates the Black Caucus opposed the bill……it never got assigned to a committee in the House.

The bill has now been refiled as HB 4643 by Rep Senger. The synopsis is listed below. The bill is pending in House Rules – it has not yet been assigned to a committee:

Prohibits a park district from knowingly employing a minor who has been adjudicated as committing any of the following offenses: (i) unlawful use of weapons, (ii) a violation of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act, (iii) a violation of certain provisions of the Cannabis Control Act, (iv) a forcible felony, (v) a violation of the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act, or (vi) a felony or a Class A or B misdemeanor. Provides that the Illinois Department of State Police shall conduct a search of the Illinois criminal history records database to ascertain if a minor applicant being considered for employment with a park district has been adjudicated as committing specified offenses. Amends the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. In provisions concerning the confidentiality of the law enforcement records of minors, provides that the president of a park district may have access to specified records of a minor who is applying for employment with the park district. Effective immediately.

We strongly OPPOSE HB 4643 because it limits youths’ opportunities for a productive future.

What This Bill Does:
HB 4643 requires criminal background checks for minors seeking employment with a park district, prohibits a minor’s employment if he or she has been adjudicated delinquent of certain offenses, and grants access to confidential juvenile court records to park district officials.

Why This Bill is Harmful:
1. The bill creates an unfunded mandate. By expanding the criminal background check requirement to include minors seeking employment with park districts without providing funding to cover the expense of conducting and processing these background checks, local municipalities will be forced to shoulder this additional, significant expense.

2. Confidentiality is the cornerstone of the juvenile justice system. By expanding access to confidential juvenile court records, this bill promotes a policy that is contrary to the rehabilitative purposes of the juvenile justice system and unnecessarily limits future opportunities for youth to become productive members of society.

3. The bill fails to ensure the safety of the community. Although proponents of this bill suggest that HB 4643 will ensure added protection for our communities, research indicates that limiting employment opportunities, particularly for youth, increases the likelihood of recidivism.

4. The bill increases the risk of racial disparities. Increasing barriers to employment and expanding access to confidential juvenile records will not only further stigmatize and criminalize youth but will increase the risk of racial disparities in hiring. Punitive legislation such as HB 4643 has consistently been shown to have a disparate impact on youth of color.

Organizations Opposing This Bill Include:
Cabrini Green Legal Aid
Juvenile Justice Initiative
Loyola Civitas ChildLaw Center
Project NIA

TAKE ACTION

Please call or write to the chief sponsor, Darlene Senger, of the bill and tell her that you STRONGLY OPPOSE this bill. We should be increasing opportunities for youth who have been in trouble with the law to have positive and productive futures.

Representative Darlene J. Senger (R)
96th District
Springfield Office:
205A-N Stratton Office Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-6507
(217) 782-1275 FAX

District Office:
125 Water Street
Naperville, IL 60540
(630) 219-3090
(630) 219-3091 FAX
DuPage County

You can also e-mail her at sengerstaterep@gmail.com.

One of these is a week-long exhibition along with accompanying events that will explore the intersections between immigration, policing, and incarceration. This will take place during the week of March 19th.

We are excited to be co-sponsoring these events with our allies at Mess Hall, the Immigrant Youth Justice League and also with the Chicago PIC Teaching Collective. We are also currently reaching out to other partners for these events.

A consideration of the intersections between immigration, policing, and incarceration is particularly timely because as Carmel Melouney argues:

Illegal immigration is a growth industry for federal law enforcement. Immigration offenses were the fastest growing federal arrest offenses between 2005 and 2009, increasing at an average rate of 23 percent a year, according to statistics released by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In 2009, 84,749 people were arrested and charged with immigration offenses, up from 38,041 in 2005, the agency announced yesterday.

With 46 percent of all arrests, illegal immigration was the most common offense for an arrest in 2009, followed by drug violations, accounting for 17 percent, and supervision violations, with 13 percent.”

The chart below illustrates the points made above:

Additionally, in Illinois, the city of Crete might become home to a large new detention facility. Now is the time to educate ourselves about the issue of immigrant detention and to mobilize for action to stop it.

The centerpiece of the week of events around the topic of immigration, policing and incarceration is an exhibition featuring the work of Eroyn Franklin and in particular her zine titled Detained.

by Eroyn Franklin

Keep your eyes and ears open in the upcoming weeks for more details about all of the events!

In response, Project NIA and the Chicago PIC Teaching Collective are developing a series of pamphlets about historical moments of police violence. Volunteers are currently researching and writing these publications and we plan to release them beginning in May 2012.

We hope that this project will help to inform and educate the broader public about the longstanding tradition of oppressive policing toward marginalized populations (including some activists and organizers). The pamphlets are intended to be youth-friendly.

This idea is inspired by the many pamphlets (precursors to today’s zines) that circulated in the U.S. & in the developing world during the 1950s and 60s in particular. W.E.B. DuBois, CLR James and many other luminaries published short 10 to 30 page pamphlets about different political ideas and historical figures that would sell for as little as 15 or 25 cents. Many were also distributed free of charge. These were produced by companies like International Publishers out of New York or associations like the Afro-American Heritage Association here in Chicago. We want to revive this idea for the 21st century.

We recognize that it is important not to confine learning to classrooms and facilitated spaces. These pamphlets will be made available free of charge online and we hope to print a limited number of copies that can be mailed to currently incarcerated youth and adults.

We are seeking volunteers who want to help with specific aspects of this project:

1. Are you willing to edit pamphlets?
2. Do you have graphic design skills? Volunteer to layout and design pamphlets.
3. Do you have talented graphic designer friends? Volunteer to recruit designers to layout pamphlets.
4. Are you a visual artist? How about contributing some of your talents to creating art for pamphlets.

If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please contact Mariame at projectnia@hotmail.com. Thanks!