The Racial Justice and Safe Communities Initiative (RJSCI) launched this petition yesterday. Read below to see what the Police Chief Magazine (The professional voce of law enforcement) and the Vermont Constitution have to say about community oversight of law enforcement.
Happy December from the Justice for All Team! Here are some updates on upcoming events and some good things happening in Vermont in pursuit of racial justice.
1. Rights and Democracy Summit
This Saturday, December 5, join us along with numerous elected officials, candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, activists, and advocates for a day of skill-building and policy workshops hosted by Rights and Democracy. The event will run all day, from 9 am – 5.30 pm, at the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center in Burlington. RSVP on Facebook here.
2. 1LOVE! Human Rights Day Launch Party
We are very excited to collaborate with Rights and Democracy, Champlain Area NAACP, Burlington Peace and Justice Center, and Vermont Interfaith Action to help put on a launch party for 1LOVE!: “a new grassroots initiative for racial justice and police accountability through community oversight and transparency.” This is a free event, 21+, from 8-10 pm at Red Square in Burlington. RSVP on Facebook here.
3. Fundraising!
Please help up us with our #DecisionPoints initiative:
Justice For All is leading a project to identify the decision points in the Vermont justice system that may be informed by biases. We will then provide innovative methods to monitor and report on these important data points in our justice system. This request (phase one) for funds is to offset the cost of staffing and research to discover and prioritize these decision points. Follow-on phases will include monitoring and reporting, capability maturity, continuous monitoring, aggregation and correlation and analytics dashboard creation. We really need your help to make this happen, and change cannot wait. Every little bit counts and we are so grateful for the support that we have seen in people’s commitments to these issues that effect all of us in the community. Click here to visit our page.
Our friend James Haslam at Rights and Democracy has also launched a fundraising campaign to help him and his organization bring about real social change in the racial climate of Vermont. Visit his page here.
Okay folks,
Game Night is on! It’s been a long week and now it’s time to play some games, snack and chat with friends. You can grab a fish or chicken dinner (for sale in the kitchen) or just bring something to snack on. The cantina is sure to have the beverage of your choice.
We’ll share some brief Justice for All updates and plans. You may even get an opportunity to sign up to participate. We are also excited to welcome and hear from Kesha Ram, Chittenden 3-4 and candidate for Lieutenant Governor.
Get over to the Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) on Friday, November 13th, at 1 Pioneer Street in Montpelier, and hang out with us. Things kick off at 6:00 PM.
Let’s get together!
We’ve added a new feature to the website: a Resources page to work in concert with our Facebook page, our email announcement list, our Twitter feed, and other tools for reaching interested people. Things are moving and evolving within Justice For All — we’re working with other groups throughout the state of Vermont, and doing a lot of research.
The Resources page is a repository for some of the key findings of that research. Please take a look!