Thread by @RAPPcampaign

#BlackHistoryMonth VIRTUAL PRESS CONFERENCE THREAD: We are getting started with the advocacy day press conference & will hear from formerly incarcerated people, their families, advocates, and legislators about the urgent need to pass parole justice

Join: bit.ly/feb-16-press-c…

First, Stanley Bellamy who is currently incarcerated at Greenhaven Correctional. "For many African-Americans, Black History Month is a time for reflection. I ask @NYGovCuomo and our legislative members to use this time to reflect on the racist policies of mass incarceration....

...One in four people 55 years old and older are still incarcerated because of these outdated laws. History could report that you had the courage to make the hard decision to correct these policies that have harmed Black and Latinx New Yorkers.

....We are asking you for a second chance, a chance to become parents, grandparents, mentors, and more. The racist policies of the past make our current conditions. You have the opportunity to change the conditions of tomorrow."

"We need to take bold steps towards decarceration across the state now. This is a major goal of the Working Families Party this year. We need to end the pandemic behind bars. But once the pandemic ends, we cannot go back to parole as usual." –Sharon Cromwell @NYWFP

"Black people are the ones who have been 'cancelled' by the criminal legal system and mass incarceration. There's this pervasive notion that white people are worthy of redemption and Black and Brown people are irredeemable." @JabariBrisport

"New York's criminal system and parole system is consumed by the same presumption that Black and Brown people are irredeemable. It ignores the work that people have done over decades that shows they are worthy of release and more than the crimes they have done." @vmsoutherland

"In NY, you're more likely to be released on parole if you're white than if you're Black or Latinx. That's not justice. I want to urge lawmakers to support the People's Campaign, pass these bills, and provide New Yorkers with meaningful opportunities for release." @vmsoutherland

"Today we join the People's Campaign because we understand if we're going to dismantle a system based on racism, we have to start on the streets to inside the prison walls. Their stories are the stories that should move our state towards change." @CnDelarosa

"We are in the second half of Black History Month, where we remember the contributions Black people have given to this country. We also remember the struggles we continue to have to endure. We often speak about the failed 'wars on drugs' except it was successful....

....It was designed to manifest these outcomes. We have an ecosystem which criminalizes Black and Brown people and funnels them upstate to fuel industries. We are here today to say that if NYS is going to be a 'progressive' state then it needs to stand on progressive values....

This is not just a question of justice or racial equality, it is a question of the morality of the state of New York. In this global pandemic that disproportionately affects Black & Brown communities, New York has to do better. And it looks like passing these bills." @YusufAQ

"I am here today as a person of faith. Right now there are roughly a thousand people in NYS prisons who are sentenced to die in prison either through LWOP or excessively long sentences. Whether it be Covid or age-related illnesses, no one should be condemned to die in prison....

....My faith proclaims that every person has worth and dignity. This legislation honors that worth and dignity. As people of good conscious, we are morally called to act with compassion, recognizing everyone is capable of redemption and worthy of mercy." –Rev. Kimberely Johnson

"I was denied parole multiple times based on the nature of the crime. Parole to me has been a revolving door to keep you in the system. And people who are elderly should be released as soon as possible." –Billy Davis @VOCALNewYork

"We have a system designed to disenfranchise certain groups of people. With a system like that, I can't always trust the intentions or outcomes. Incarceration does not just happen to the incarcerated. It is an experience that impacts entire families and communities" @IamTDarling

"I stand in full support of these pieces of legislation. They are just the bare minimum of what we are asking for in this moment. We believe that not only should people be seen by the Parole Board, but they should be released. Who does it serve to keep our elders in prison?...

....Who does it serve to throw people in cages and then throw away the key? We know what harm is and know people who have created harm. But this system does nothing to address that, it just perpetuates it. But @NYGovCuomo continues to invest in it" @ZohranKMamdani

"The severity of the Covid epidemic is a function of our policies of mass incarceration. We have created a reservoir that we have been unable to reduce and its impact on the public. The conditions under which they live are at fault. Our failure to address this affects all of us.

"If we are concerned for the health of the general public, if for some reason we cannot find concern for those who are locked up, let us at least see this as the right first step for the health of the nation as a whole and that the health of the public is at stake. @ref510

"We have to ask ourselves if the criminal justice system exists to correct or punish. We see over-incarceration of people who have self-rehabilitated. We have to keep fighting to pass these bills and end the carceral system that have been a revolving door for our communities....

....When I visited Greenhaven Correctional Facility, I met a gentleman who has been incarcerated since 1987. Despite his self-rehabilitation, he is still struggling to get heard from a racist Parole Board who doesn't want to grant him his freedom." @KhaleelAnderson