About the Booklet
Many who have read Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness or know the harsh and vast prison industrial complex have wondered, “What can I do to help stop mass incarceration?” This 45-page booklet takes on that question. It's not about suggesting one simple answer, but teaching the skills of organizing, through stories of what the movement is already doing to overcome this crisis.
Whether you’re already involved in organizing on mass incarceration, part of a small group who wants to tackle the issue, or just an individual wanting to make a difference, Building the Movement to End the New Jim Crow will provide assistance. Alongside teaching skills, this book is about laying down a long-term vision of a movement -- one that isn't just about ending mass incarceration but ending the cycle of caste in the United States.
Through stories and examples, this booklet will cover:
- How to create a group when it's just you starting out
- How your group can grow and create campaigns to win meaningful change
- How your campaigns can add up to a real movement
Author Daniel Hunter Teams with the Veterans of Hope Project
Building the Movement to End the New Jim Crow is a collaborative project bringing together author Daniel Hunter and the Veterans of Hope Project.
Daniel Hunter is a veteran community organizer and group facilitator with Training for Change. He is author of the widely acclaimed book, Strategy and Soul, in which he writes self-reflectively about a dynamic, long term direct action campaign. Hunter brings a keen eye to how movements can learn from their own successes and failures.
Founded in 1997 by Vincent and Rosemarie Freeney Harding, the Veterans of Hope Project is a multifaceted educational initiative on religion, culture and participatory democracy. VoH encourages a healing-centered approach to community-building that recognizes the interconnectedness of spirit, creativity and citizenship. Building the Movement to End the New Jim Crow is a natural and frequently requested follow-up to VoH's New Jim Crow Study Guide and Call to Action, which has been distributed to hundreds of schools, re-entry centers, faith communities, and study groups throughout the United States. Vincent Harding has agreed to write the Foreword to Building the Movement to End the New Jim Crow, and VoH as a whole is thrilled to be teaming with Daniel Hunter on this exciting next step in their movement-building efforts.
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Please offer your support to Building the Movement to End the New Jim Crow. By doing so you can ensure you get a copy of the book as soon it comes out!
Activists Need to Tell Our Story.
In some ways our movement may be akin to the Civil Rights movement in the early 1900s. Most of us know of the later iconic images of men and women doing sit-ins at lunch counters or the massive March on Washington in 1963. But those mass events did not just happen – there were many decades of organizing that led up to them.
Early on the movement had robust arguments about its goals, wondering if it should focus on ending segregation or pouring energy into black institutions. The movement experimented with tactics, with small groups trying sit-ins, bus boycotts, freedom rides, and even threatening to march on Washington decades before '63.
Those numerous local experiments were the testing ground for ideas and strategy, allowing people to see what worked and to learn from mistakes. While it may or may not take as many years, our movement also needs to conduct such experiments, many of which are already well underway. This booklet does not presume to offer neatly packaged answers. Rather, it holds up the good work and learning that's happening now, and encourages the process of reflecting, questioning, and boldly experimenting as we continue to build a dynamic, multifaceted mass movement to end the new Jim Crow.
(If you want to make a 501c3 donation to support this project, please be in direct touch with Daniel Hunter via e-mail: daniel@trainingforchange.org.)
A Special Message from Michelle Alexander
Dear friends,
I was excited to learn that the Veterans of Hope Project (VoH) has teamed with Daniel Hunter, a talented community organizer and author, to begin laying the groundwork for the writing of this much-needed booklet: Building the Movement to End the New Jim Crow. Thisnew resource will serve as a powerful and useful follow up to VoH's previous publication, the New Jim Crow Study Guide and Call to Action, which has been distributed nationwide to hundreds of congregations, re-entry centers, book groups, and schools.
In recent years, I've become acutely aware of the need for a booklet or guide that will help people take action to end mass incarceration. As I've traveled around the country spreading the message of The New Jim Crow, I've met countless people who are ready and willing to join the movement -- people of faith, people behind bars, formerly incarcerated people, mothers and fathers of incarcerated children, judges, teachers, community activists, health care workers, unemployed people, and the very rich. I've received hundreds of emails and letters from people of all colors and backgrounds who have awakened to the horror and crisis of mass incarceration in the United States and who want to take action. They all ask the same question: What can I do?
This booklet aims to answer that question by lifting up the heroic and inspiring efforts of ordinary people around the country who are building an extraordinary new movement -- a multi-racial, multi-ethnic human rights movement that seeks not only to end mass incarceration, but also to break our nation's habit of creating caste-like systems in America.
The tactics, strategies, and forms of advocacy undertaken in this movement undoubtedly will vary across the nation, depending on our circumstances and locales. There will be successes and failures. But we will remain inspired to persevere if we listen to each other's stories and learn from each other's victories and challenges. I'm thrilled that people like Daniel and organizations like Veterans of Hope are stepping up to offer much-needed guidance and inspiration.
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Thanks so much for supporting this project, and for all that you do to help build this movement.
Sincerely,
Michelle Alexander
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