Category: Justice Not Jails (JNJ)

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Events Justice Not Jails (JNJ)

Juneteenth Celebration & Call for Reparations


We were thrilled to host our first Juneteenth celebration in the city of Los Angeles, Saturday, June 18th, 2022.

People gathered from various faith traditions, races, and backgrounds to commemorate and celebrate Juneteenth, which marks the official legal freedom of all African Americans some 157 years ago, on June 19, 1865, in the state of Texas.

The celebration at Lincoln Memorial United Church of Christ showcased African American culture at its zenith, featuring the Crown City Drum Corps, Spirituals, Spoken Word, Storytelling, and an inspiring keynote message from IM4HI’s LA Regional Director, Rev. Dr. Larry Foy. We also had letter-writing to those incarcerated with Life without Parole, COVID vaccines and a healthy fresh vegetable distribution.
We invite you to read Rev. Dr. Larry Foy’s call for reparations with a message to heal, rebuild and restore Black culture & Black dignity through the following key points:

  • African Americans are Owed a Debt
  • African Americans are Owed More than a Check
  • African Americans want the Return of Stolen Land
  • African Americans want Rehabilitation
  • African Americans want Satisfaction
  • African Americans want a Guaranteed Future

Watch the video of the message here: Rev. Dr. Larry Foy preaching. Click here to read the full speech.

Check out the amazing Reparations spoken word piece: “You Owe Me,” by FreXinet D. Johnson.

Fill your soul with the song “Freedom” by Rev. Rod and Shandra Hines from Messiah Lutheran Church of Los Angeles

Listen to Mr. Al Reevers sing the African American Spiritual, “Hold On.”

Hear the beats from the Crown City Drum Corps youth.

Don’t forget this resource: our Faith & Reparations Toolkit.

The program was live-streamed on the IM4HI Facebook Page

Categories
Events Justice Not Jails (JNJ)

Sacred Prayer Circle: Bringing Hope to Those Impacted by Incarceration

Join the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, Families United to End LWOP, The Fair Chance Project, and Lincoln Memorial Congregational Church in a Sacred Circle gathering to uplift those crushed by the criminal legal system.

The event will highlight the stories of formerly incarcerated and incarcerated persons and family members impacted by LWOP (Life Without the Possibility of Parole), especially individuals and family members impacted by California’s insane and unfair “Felony Murder Law.” Also, during the event, we will pray for regional and global peace and unite in song to uplift one another for envisioning beloved community.

Sacred Circle aspires to bring the moral voice and the collective powers of the faith community and directly impacted persons together in prayer to help heal, mend, and transform our present carceral system.

Highlights of Sacred Circle include:

  • Stories &Testimonies
  • Prayers from Faith Leaders
  • Music & Songs
  • Action Steps
  • Lunch will be provided
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Justice Not Jails (JNJ) Resources

Faith & Reparations Toolkit

Dear Friends and Faith Partners,

I bring you New Year’s greetings from the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (IM4HI). After several months of labor in love, IM4HI has produced a Faith & Reparations Toolkit for our faith and community partners, faith leaders, congregations, and the general public. The Faith & Reparations Toolkit is a timely and valuable document that can be readily utilized. We invite you to employ the toolkit during February, which earmarks the month-long celebration of African American history.

This February, we celebrate with the people whose descendants built this country with blood, sweat, tears, and free labor. An authentic celebration with our Black brothers and sisters requires that all of us, in particular white people, engage in introspection and Truth-telling. In short, we must come to grips with our nation’s ugly past and the silence and capitulation to the perpetual harms inflicted upon the African American community.

An authentic celebration also means that we must act. We must take concrete and substantive actions to repair the harm and atone these past and present injustices. The Faith & Reparation Toolkit recommends ways for congregations, faith leaders, and individuals to start now and move toward mending the past, healing the present, and transforming the future.

As the nation celebrates the national holiday in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we should pause and consider that the promissory note bequeathed to African Americans in the Declaration of Independence is still in default. The US government has made no substantive monetary compensation or investments on the debt owed to African Americans.

To be sure, our black brothers and sisters need a check. However, African Americans cannot wait for a blank check. Nor should they be pacified with empty promises. Now is the time for African Americans’ just due.

The Reparations Toolkit offers practical guidance and resources for religious and faith communities to engage in spiritual reflection for reparative justice that goes beyond writing a check. There is a broader path to repairing the profound harm done to African Americans. This path is grounded in the spirituality and souls of Black folk. After all, reparation is and must be a Spiritual Practice.

Please accept and engage this toolkit as a gift from IM4HI, and one that, hopefully, will lead to building a “beloved community.”

Rev. Dr. Larry Foy
IM4HI Los Angeles Regional Director