The Chairman of the Prince William NAACP Criminal Justice Committee, Ken Boddye, provided the committee’s first newsletter of the year for public information. Click here to view this informative newsletter.
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The League of Women Voters, a non-partisan organization, is holding a forum on August 24th from 7- 9 PM at the Central Community Library located at 8601 Mathis Avenue in Manassas. The topic of the forum is “Schools and Discipline: A Discussion on Stopping the School to Prison Pipeline.” As this is an extremely important issue to the African American community, we hope you will attend the discussion. Click here for a flyer containing additional information.
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The following is an invitation from Pastor C. A. Lundy, Pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Woodbridge Va. His message is quoted as follows:
This is Pastor C.A. Lundy at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Woodbridge, VA. We are sponsoring the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) on Saturday, May 21, 2016 10am – 12pm and would like for you to help us pass the word to the churches in the PW NAACP.
The program is entitled: The Law and Your Community. The program designed for all ages and provides a forum for discussion on building relationships between law enforcement and the community. As African American, we are at a higher risk of a negative encounter with law enforcement. As Black men, we must be educated as to the do’s and don’ts when encountering law enforcement. As Black fathers, we need to give our sons the “talk” and inform them on how to survive an encounter with law enforcement.
The program will address (1) What to do when stopped by law enforcement. (2) What to expect when interfacing or being approached by a Police Officer. (3) How to effectively communicate with law enforcement; and much, much more. This program is the first of its kind in Northern Virginia and multiple churches have expressed an interest in attending.
Click here for a flyer containing further details on this event.
Those who are attending, please contact the Church Administrator at (703) 494-2669 … stay blessed – Pastor Lundy !
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Following is a message from Karl Brower, President of PW NAACP:
Dear PW NAACP Members and Friends,
The focus for the April General Membership meeting was Criminal Justice. Our discussion included ideas to establish our Criminal Justice Committee to better pursue the Public Safety and Criminal Justice game changer.
There are several efforts the unit should pursue in this regard. First, we need to build relationships with the PWC Bar Association, local law enforcement, and partner organizations (such as Virginia Organizing and Virginia Alliance Against Mass Incarceration) that are working on Criminal Justice advocacy.
Second, we should build on the momentum from the Ban the Box Initiative passed by the PWC Board of Supervisors. This means evaluating the effectiveness of this initiative on county employment of prior felons, expanding the scope of the initiative, and making impacted communities more aware of the new opportunities for employment.
Third, we need to take advantage of the restoration of rights for prior felons by Governor McAuliffe. This means using the rolls of returning citizens and getting them to register to vote. In Prince William County there are 10,400 citizens that have returned from our prisons without voting rights. They still pay taxes, but until the executive order was signed by Governor McAuliffe, they did not have the right to register to vote. This has changed and we need to take advantage of it.
Please review this White House Economic Impact of Criminal Justice Forum. I’ts about 1.5 hours long, but it is very informative. I am not sure that I have gotten more out of 1.5 hours of information (ever!).
After watching this information, we should have at least 20 people who are ready to step up and support the Criminal Justice Committee, so that we can pursue the Public Safety and Criminal Justice game changer. If you are not doing anything to support the PW NAACP activities, this is an excellent opportunity- that will impact individual lives, communities, and the entire county. Please do not ignore this call to service.
Karl F Brower
President, PW NAACP
Empowered through Unity
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Cornell Brooks, national president of the NAACP, delivers remarks at a National Press Club luncheon. Topics include the 2016 presidential election, criminal justice reform, and planned protests in Flint, Michigan, following the city’s water contamination crisis. Click the link below to see the full story.
Source: NAACP President Cornell Brooks National Press | Video | C-SPAN.org
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The FBI opened a civil rights inquiry into the death of Linwood Lambert, a Virginia man who died after three officers repeatedly tased him in 2013. Click link below for full story.
Source: FBI opens inquiry into Virginia man’s death after tasing at hospital
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Quoting the Sentencing Project: “More than 60% of the people in prison are now racial and ethnic minorities. For Black males in their thirties, 1 in every 10 is in prison or jail on any given day. These trends have been intensified by the disproportionate impact of the “war on drugs,” in which two-thirds of all persons in prison for drug offenses are people of color.” You can read the full report by clicking the link below.
