Detroit, Site of USSF 10
My partner, child and I just got back from the United States Social Forum in Detroit on Saturday. We slept nearly the entire day Sunday; I think I slept as much or more than my four month old daughter (which is a lot).
In addition to smiling at my daughter and diaper duty, my days in Detroit were filled with workshops and meetings; I learned about national days of action to dismantle the school to prison pipeline coming up this fall and about new technologies to communicate the struggles families face when their loved ones are locked up. So while I am still recovering from jet lag, I feel refreshed.
In Detroit, I participated in the Juvenile Justice People’s Movement Assembly. I was struck by a student from Philadelphia sharing how all the schools they attended prior to college had bars on the windows. I was inspired by the work of Padres y Jovenes Unidos as well as the Strategy Center. Both shared invaluable insight into dismantling the school to prison pipeline that plagues our communities.
I am excited about Book Not Bars work to transform Alameda County’s juvenile justice system here in the Bay. And though I will be leaving the Ella Baker Center as a staff person in a few short days, I am anxious to continue working with Books Not Bars to build a national network of families of incarcerated youth as a Soros Justice fellow. In fact, that work has already begun.
Another World is possible. Another US is necessary. Another Detroit is happening [and another Oakland too.]
