Legislation would allow some faced with deportation a chance to challenge their old convictions
Charles Joseph, IM4HI Spiritual Activist in Residence, 2021
After serving 12 years in prison for a robbery he committed as a 22-year-old, Charles Joseph was ready to be with his wife and three children. Instead, Immigration and Customs Enforcement immediately took the Fiji native into custody in May 2019.
…
Assembly Bill 1259 would … allow noncitizens to challenge old convictions by jury trial when the defendant was unaware that the consequences could later lead to detention and deportation.
…
Joseph now does work for the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and teaches music, a lifelong love of his. Whether he gets to pursue those passions and remain with his children remains to be seen.
Bula (greetings) to all! Charles “Bula” Joseph, IM4HI 2021 Spiritual Activist in Residence
I was an organizing leader on the inside, and I am eager to do all I can to further the movement to free all my brothers and sisters from the prison industrial complex and civil detention by ICE.
Charles Joseph, IM4HI 2021 Spiritual Activist in Residence
Charles Robert Joseph is IM4HI’s new Spiritual Activist in Residence!
IM4HI is proud to launch our Spiritual Activist in Residence position, investing in the leadership of those formerly incarcerated. This twelve-month paid residency program supports an individual who has survived both the criminal justice and immigration detention system, who can help to bridge silos in our movements and bring their skills and personal experience to enhance efforts of community outreach, public engagement, and movement building. This position will work in partnership with the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity and the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office. We are grateful to IM4HI’s Founding Circle of donors, the New Breath Foundation, and the Heising Simons Foundation for their support in making this residency possible.
We are thrilled to introduce Charles Joseph as our inaugural Spiritual Activist in Residence. Charles was incarcerated in CDCR for twelve years and was granted parole only to be picked up and detained in ICE detention for eleven months. We have had the honor of walking with Charles and his family on his journey as a leader and organizer behind bars, to his recent liberation from immigration detention, and his current efforts seeking a pardon to stop his deportation.
Charles will be leading IM4HI’s work on the VISION Act to end ICE transfers, creating healing circles for Pacific Islanders and other formerly incarcerated, and conducting community education about the intersections of immigration and incarceration. His musical and spiritual gifts will be a huge asset in reaching out to those directly impacted and advocating for policies that will transform systems of punishment into pathways to prevention and healing.
If you’d like to organize a screening and discussion of the film “Bula” about Charles’ journey, or know of Pacific Islander faith communities to engage in this work, please contact Charles at cjoseph@im4humanintegrity.org.
We look forward to movement building with Charles!
More About Charles
Charles “Bula” Joseph brings with him the life experience of being incarcerated for twelve years, and detained by ICE in Mesa Verde for eleven months. During his incarceration, the Native American Sweat Lodge was a big part of Charles’ transformation. After being invited and permitted to participate in their sacred ceremony, Charles began to heal from the inside and uplift others by teaching music, art, cultural chants and dances that were performed for events in the facility. Charles organized and performed concerts on the prison yard to boost morale and in the visiting room to create a pleasant environment. Charles was elected by his peers into the Men’s Advisory Council that was tasked with maintaining peace in the facility and bringing grievances to the captain and warden.
While Charles was born and raised in a strict Catholic family, he identifies as a Rastafarian. His life journey in studies of people’s belief has taught him that faith is essential, especially to have hope in dire times. Within incarceration, Charles has meditated with Buddhist brothers, fasted with Muslim brothers, been part of sacred ceremonies with Native American brothers, prayed in temple with Hindu brothers, celebrated with Sikh brothers, and led ceremony with Pacific Island brothers.
In the role as Spiritual Activist in Residence, Charles will bring his knowledge and journey of being impacted to deepen the faith-rooted organizing around issues of incarceration and immigration. Charles hopes to be a messenger for oneness, that all faiths are a branch of spirituality, like all rivers, lakes, oceans, and single puddles are all water.
Join us on Feb 12th, for our interfaith vigil, Reparations as a Spiritual Practice. We will reflect on the Japanese American experience of seeking and achieving reparations. Together we will uplift the call for reparations for other communities, including Indigenous and African Americans. Our monthly interfaith vigil honors the Japanese American Day of Remembrance. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced removal and incarceration of some 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast. Thirty years after the closing of the camps, Japanese Americans launched a campaign calling for the redress for restitution, which resulted in a financial compensation of $20,000 per person, an apology by Congress acknowledging the wrong, and funds to establish an educational trust fund. Join us in honoring Japanese American Day of Remembrance and the larger call for reparations for other communities!
Speakers include: Reverend Deborah Lee, Reverend Grace Suzuki, Jeff Matsuoka, Coke Tani. Satsuki Ina, Riki Eijima, Chizu Omori, Joyce Nakamura, Julie Yumi Hatta, Margo Okazawa-Rey, Reverend Myrna Bernadel-Huey. Music provided by: Francis Wong
Co-hosted by: Buena Vista United Methodist Church, Pine United Methodist Church, Berkeley Buddhist Temple, San Francisco Bay Area Day of Remembrance Committee, Sycamore Congregational Church, Tsuru for Solidarity.
Interfaith Vigil on Japanese American Day of Remembrance, last February, 2020
