In this issue…
Join Us: Wednesday 11/18 – #FreeThemNowCT Protest & Speakout at Hartford Correctional Center
Katal at Facing Race 2020
Join Us: Wednesday 11/18 – #FreeThemNowCT Protest & Speakout at Hartford Correctional Center
We invite you to join us next Wednesday, November 18th at 11:00 am for our #FreeThemNowCT Protest and Speakout outside of Hartford Correctional Center. Families of incarcerated individuals and community groups will gather to voice their demands that Governor Lamont address the issue of COVID-19 in correctional facilities. As the pandemic continues to spread across the country, correctional facilities make up some of the worst outbreak sites of the virus in the country. In mid-October, there was a COVID-19 outbreak in Hartford Correctional Center, and 56 incarcerated people tested positive for COVID-19. Since then, the number of positive cases has grown to 191 incarcerated individuals, which underscores how the inaction of Governor Lamont continues to put incarcerated individuals’ lives in threatening danger.
Family members of those incarcerated and community groups across the state including Katal have been tirelessly organizing and calling for a comprehensive plan to address COVID-19 behind bars since the onset of the pandemic, and it is beyond time that Governor Lamont and legislators construct one. Lives are on the line, and needless deaths must be prevented.
Learn more about this action and RSVP to attend, here.
Katal at Facing Race 2020
We’re excited that we’re able to attend this year’s Facing Race conference! Presented by Race Forward. Thanks to support from the Graustein Memorial Fund, Katal Lead Organizer Kenyatta Thompson, and Policy Coordinator Yonah Zeitz are part of a delegation of organizers from Connecticut to attend the conference, which of course is being held virtually.
The conference includes workshops, panels, and plenaries, and the virtual set up allows for participants to build relationships with multiracial and inter-generational organizers, educators, creatives, and other leaders across the world. In this moment of major upheaval and transition, we’re grateful for the space to collaborate and share knowledge with other movement builders, media makers, and influencers.
This week, Kenyatta and Yonah have joined numerous workshops including:
- Decolonizing Gender: A Workshop – focusing on how the gender binary operates through white supremacy, and how it is constructed to support a hierarchy of humans run by mostly white men;
- Racial Justice Approaches to Community Organizing (including a 15-minute video on the student protests in Birmingham, Alabama);
- Political Education that Advances Racial Justice;
- Abolitionist Change Strategy Lab with Durham Beyond Policing Coalition.
Learn more about these sessions and check out the full 2020 program including over 50 sessions with over 100 activists, artists, educators & more, at this link.
We thank Race Forward for hosting this excellent conference, and we thank the Graustein Memorial Fund for supporting our participation. We are excited to integrate the lessons and insights from the conference into our work to end mass incarceration and the war on drugs and advance equity, health, and justice for everyone.
Keep practicing social distancing, wear your mask, wash your hands, and check in on your neighbors. If you want to get involved, learn more about our work, or just connect, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
For printing and distribution, Katal Weekly Update PDF version.
