Author Archives: Jean

TODAY: Protest of Trump Advisors & White Supremacy

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protest-front

I received this PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION from Harvard Student Groups and more than 25 co-sponsors (see below)

“Protest of Trump Advisors and White Supremacy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government
A rally will begin at 5:00 P.M., at JFK Park (87 John F. Kennedy St Cambridge, MA 02138)

Marginalized communities, not just white nationalists, will have a platform to share their concerns, struggles and stories. After the rally we will peacefully march together, to show Trump advisors that individuals living in Boston and Cambridge will not normalize white nationalism or white supremacy. We will call a spade, a spade.

Background: Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government is hosting the “Campaign for President: The Managers Look at 2016 Conference,” a two-day conference on the 2016 Presidential Election this Wednesday, Nov. 30 th and Thursday, Dec. 1 st . Stephen Bannon, white nationalist and chief advisor to President-elect Donald Trump, was a confirmed participant along with several other close advisors to Trump, Hillary Clinton and media pundits from CNN and elsewhere.

While Bannon has reportedly backed out of attending the conference, Harvard has publicly defended their invitation. We stand with those who denounce Harvard for giving Bannon and the Trump Team a platform to legitimize their white supremacist agenda. Politicians of both political parties have put out calls to help ensure that Donald Trump “succeeds.”

Trump’s “success,” however, would mean the terrorizing of immigrant and Muslim communities, an increase in the already ever-present police harassment and brutality centered in Black communities, the destruction of women’s health care services and the slashing of vital social services. In Massachusetts, over 400 calls reporting hate crimes throughout the state have come into the Attorney General’s office in a single week . We stand in defense of the Muslim and South Asian communities against Islamophobia and racist scapegoating. The police have seemingly impenetrable impunity when it comes to crimes against our people. The reality is that policing has become safer over the years ; that white men are responsible for the majority of police killings in the U.S; and that white supremacists are more dangerous than foreign terrorists . Instead of addressing these concerns, Trump says that Black communities need more “law and order” policies. We stand against police corruption, intimidation, and impunity. Black lives matter! Justice for all victims of police brutality!”

COSPONSORS (with Harvard student groups):
Boston NAACP
Boston NOW (Nat’l Organization for Women)
Student Immigrant Movement
Massachusetts Peace Action
Massachusetts Student Peace Action
Answer Coalition
USW Local 8751
Workers World Party
Socialist Alternative
International Socialist Organization
If Not Now
Jewish Voice for Peace
Political Research Associates
Students for Justice in Palestine – Northeastern Universtity Chapter
Democratic Socialists of America
Party for Socialism and Liberation
Chelsea & East Boston Anti-Fascist Coalition
Boston Feminists for Liberation
Massachusetts Against HP
Boston Mobilization
Democracy Center
Cambridge Support for Syrian Refugees
New Hampshire Against Police Brutality
Muslim Justice League
MassArt Students Against Trump
(and growing…)”

Please see Facebook page for info and contact info

 

 

Some Kids That Give Me Hope

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Today I spoke at Wilmington High School in Massachusetts, and while I honestly haven’t felt much like speaking anywhere, or like writing, these students gave me heart. While I am not yet ready to blog, here are some of the students I spoke to today.

wilmington-high-school

While I talked about why I became an activist and a writer, they asked many questions. Some of my favorites were: “Was it hard for you to feel the pain of the family of the young man who was murdered by the subject of your book?” and “Can you tell us about the prison riots across the county?”

I’m thankful to Lisa Desberg, English teacher at WHS for inviting me to speak. The young really are our hope.

Beyond Revenge

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Please see my newest article on Truthout: “Beyond Revenge: Most Crime Victims Prefer Rehabilitation to Harsh Punishment.”

Here’s how it starts: We all know an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. But for Mothers for Justice and Equality, getting justice has never been about revenge. The Boston-based nonprofit was founded by Monalisa Smith, who lost her 18-year-old nephew, Eric Smith, to gun violence in 2010. Determined to end violence in their communities, the mothers who came together to form Mothers for Justice and Equality recognized early on that many of them had family members who were both perpetrators and victims. They recognized that they needed to take action into their own hands if they were to reduce community violence. More

The Massachusetts Parole Board Requires Reform

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Please read my newest article for The Lowell Sun that is a follow up of the one I wrote last month about Wilfred Dacier also for the Sun: “Why the Massachusetts Parole Board Requires Reform.” It begins:

“This week Gov. Charlie Baker announced plans to enhance services for prisoners with mental health issues at Bridgewater State Hospital, a medium-security prison under scrutiny for mistreating patients. It’s about time we accept that a clinical approach is needed to help troubled prisoners. More than a quarter of the males and more than half the females incarcerated in state prisons have open mental health cases, and that number is even higher in county facilities.

But a clinical approach should also extend to the back end — parole. If you are going into prison with mental health issues, you most likely are coming out with them.” More