AUSTIN — Members of Texas Advocates for Justice (TAJ) and Grassroots Leadership will gather hundreds of formerly incarcerated community members, their families, and advocates from Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Those attending the event include community members impacted by incarceration and see these issues as interconnected and rooted in systems of oppression and exploitation. The full day of events include a rally on the Capitol steps, a powerful art installation in the North Central Gallery created by formerly incarcerated people, and legislative visits.
Those formerly incarcerated, deported, and their families demand that communities impacted by deportation and incarceration policies be consulted in a meaningful way when policies are written, amended, or enacted. Legislative visits are scheduled in order for directly impacted people to advocate for public health approaches to drug use; end fines, fees, and surcharges for people who cannot afford to pay; remove obstacles to reentry and dramatically change parole for adults and juveniles; create independent oversight for Texas prisons; fix the bail system, and more.
“Those of us who are impacted need our voices to be heard,” said Annette Price, statewide organizer for Texas Advocates for Justice, a network of formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones. “We must be a key part in ending this system of modern-day slavery called mass incarceration."
Annette Price, aprice@grassrootsleadership.org, 512-499-8111
Texas Advocates for Justice
We believe that people who have been directly affected by incarceration, together with their families, should lead the movement for change in Texas. That’s why we offer intensive community organizing trainings, designed to build on the expertise, experience, and powerful commitment of our members. Graduates of our training become members of our action network where we put our training into practice and advance our mission to end the criminalization of our communities. [node:read-more:link]