#12DaysToShowUp Day 8: Mass Incarceration is Not Just

“It is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. So we don’t. Rather than rely on race, we use our criminal justice system to label people of color ‘criminals’ and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind.” — Michelle Alexander, lawyer, writer, civil rights advocate, professor

​According to the Sentencing Project’s special report to the United Nations, our criminal justice system is in fact, two systems — one benefiting wealthy white folks, and one deeply disadvantaging black, brown, and poor folks. People of color are disproportionately arrested, tried, and sentenced. This results in the loss of the ability to vote, secure housing, and find a job, among other human and civil rights.

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All of Us or None (AOUON) is a grassroots civil and human rights organization fighting for the rights of formerly- and currently- incarcerated people and their families. All of Us or None challenges this racist and classist system in the following ways:

• Ban the Box — This campaign calls for removing the question and check box, “Have you been convicted by a court?” from applications for employment, housing, public benefits, insurance, loans and other services. Thanks to advocacy groups like AOUON, over 150 cities and counties, 33 states, and the District of Columbia have removed this question from public employment applications. Additionally, this past year, AOUON was successful in banning the box on professional licensing.
• Voting Rights for All — AOUON focuses on voter education and voter registration, so formerly incarcerated people and people in jail know what their voting rights are. They are working to guarantee that people inside jails know their voting rights, and to protect the voting rights of formerly-incarcerated people.
• Clean Slate — AOUON partners with legal advocates and service providers to aid people with certain criminal conviction records to get those records dismissed and to apply for pardons and certificates of rehabilitation.
• Response to Realignment — In response to changes in California’s criminal justice policies over the past few years, aka “realignment,” they organize campaigns to stop jail expansion and support alternative proposals and visions for public safety.
• Oppose Gang Injunctions and Gang Databases — Gang injunctions are used by law enforcement to label people as “gang members” which allows for arrests at lower-than-legal standards, meaning activities that are otherwise completely legal could be considered cause for arrest under increased gang injunction surveillance. People can be put on these gang injunction lists for almost any reason, which can create a police state for whole communities. In Oakland, AOUON worked with other community organizations to win modifications in current injunctions and a moratorium against any new injunctions.
• The Annual Community Giveback — Each December AOUON members in the SF Bay Area organize this festive holiday event to present brand new bicycles and stuffed toys to children who have parents who are locked up in CA prisons.

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In May, dozens of SURJ Bay Area activists went to Sacramento and joined with members of All of Us or None and many other groups to lobby for over a dozen proposed bills that would help enfranchise incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people.

Still, there is much more work to be done to create a system that is just. A powerful political movement to win full restoration of human and civil rights needs the financial commitment of concerned citizens like you. Please donate today.

Make a tax-deductible donation today to help keep up the momentum on the fight against mass incarceration in the new year!

During the #12DaysToShowUp campaign, 75% of all the funds raised will go to local Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led organizations like All of Us or None. The remaining 25% will be sent to under-resourced rural SURJ chapters mobilizing white people throughout the U.S to support racial justice.