Faith and Race Conference Goes to the Heart – In More Ways Than One
Charlene Sinclair and Kelly Lytle Hernandez at Faith and Race Conference 2019
No one who entered the fellowship hall of LA’s Holman Church on January 26 could fail to sense something special, something sacred, going on there.
200 leaders from all faith traditions, regional anti-racism activists, and (most importantly) many people with direct lived experience of the brutality of mass incarceration and immigrant detention gathered to learn and grow together over the course of a six-hour transformative experience presented by the Justice Not Jails program of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity.
Powerful back-to-back keynotes from theologian Charlene Sinclair and UCLA historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez threw into high relief the spiritual and ethical abominations created by 500 years of white supremacy in North America.
Two panel discussions that followed, featuring the victims of incarceration/detention and faith leaders working toward prophetic resistance, maintained the same level of spiritual and emotional intensity, as did the inspiring musical interludes and bonding rituals that punctuated the day-long program.
All participants recommitted themselves to the daily struggle to build the Beloved Community and preach deliverance to the captives, sometimes using words.
Justice Not Jails’ Faith and Race conference is intended to be informative, inspirational, and transformative—with the hope that we can become united across faith traditions, race, gender, and personal histories in search of envisioning concrete ways to systematically dismantle and abolish the prison industrial complex.
In addition to talks by Kelly Lytle Hernandez and Charlene Sinclair, the January 26 event will feature a film and two in-depth panel sessions:
Documentary Film: “The Real Background Check” by Tiffany Johnson
Returning Residents Panel: “In Their Own Voice”
Lisa James, All of Us or None—Moderator
Sequarier McCoy, All of Us of None
Dirk Patterson, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity Ambassador
Angelique Evans, All of Us of None
Rodriguez, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity Ambassador
Phal Sok, Youth Justice Coalition
Beyond Bars Congregations Panel: “Faith Communities Accepting the Challenge”
Troy F. Vaughn, Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership—Moderator
Rabbi Adam Siegel, Biet T’Shuvah
Marwa Rifahie, Esq., Council on American Islamic Relations-LA
Nora Jacob, UrbanMission & Pomona Valley Reentry Coalition
Pastor Cue Jn-Marie, The Row Church, Black Brown Clergy Community Coalition
Faith and Race: Challenging the Culture of Criminalization Saturday, January 26, 2019 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Holman United Methodist Church 3320 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90018
Cosponsors: All of Us or None • Amity Foundation • Beit T’Shuvah • Brave New Films • Council on American Islamic Relations – CAIR-LA • Fair Chance Project • Gailen & Cathy Reevers Community Center • LA Progressive • LA Filipino American United Church of Christ • LA Regional Re-entry Project (LARRP) • Lincoln Memorial UCC • National Religious Campaign Against Torture 8 UrbanMission • Ward AME
Earlier this month—on January 8—the cause of criminal justice reform in LA got a major boost when the LA County Board of Supervisors backed away from the absolutely terrible idea of building a new women’s jail in Lancaster and moving the 2,200 women inmates currently housed in Lynwood to a high desert location that is far removed from the women’s loved ones and that is also sorely lacking in needed services for the women.
But there is still another terrible idea on the table: building a huge new “mental health jail” in downtown Los Angeles. The so-called Consolidated Care Treatment Facility (CCTF) will cost so much to build and staff that community-based services for the mentally ill population would continue to be starved for funding. But it is also deeply immoral and counterproductive to try to “treat” mental illness in an incarceration facility. Justice Not Jails made this point at length in a newsletter published late last year.
If you are a clergy person, we know it’s a busy time. But this is an action you can take in 15 minutes and in the spirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose legacy we celebrate this month.
If you are not a clergy member but belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque, we urge you to ask your pastor, rabbi, or imam to write a letter on this urgent matter.
We show below the contact information for all five county supervisors. The same message can and should be sent to all five supervisors, as this is a matter of countywide concern.
Here is a sample email message (and feel free to use your own words in the message you send):
Dear Supervisor ______________________,
Everything we know about mental illness argues against attempting to treat the mentally ill in a jail facility. Standard security procedures along with the trained-in control behaviors of law enforcement personnel will always undermine best clinical practices in a jail setting. These procedures and behaviors will often even trigger mental health episodes that would not otherwise occur–and that would certainly not occur in a proper therapeutic environment.
For this reason, it is both immoral and unwise to move forward with constructing the CCTF. The vast sums required to build and staff it will ensure that community-based treatment of the mentally ill will continue to be starved for funding and that the worthy and promising efforts of LA County’s new Office of Diversion and Reentry (ODR) will fall short of their potential.
I am grateful that the Board is already rethinking its terrible plan to move women jail inmates to far-away Lancaster. It is my hope and prayer that you will likewise rethink and then drop an equally terrible plan to build a huge new mental health jail in downtown Los Angeles.
Thank you for your consideration.
Yours truly,
Your Title and Name Your House of Worship or Other Religious Affiliation Your Street Address Your Phone Number
