Mainstream news outlets consistently remind us of our communities’ problems with depictions of crime and violence. Meanwhile, there is hardly a whisper about what can be done to solve these problems outside of the same tired answers that are focused on more oppressive policing and locking up people in & 'THOSE' communities (meaning OUR communities).

 

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result...”
--Albert Einstein

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Centuries of incarceration and the development of the carceral state have never produced the results that those in power claim they do. BIPOC communities are far from safe and continue to be the most impacted. Why should we continue to rely upon the carceral state over and over again expecting something different? C.H.O.I.C.E.S. aims for a different perspective by looking at policies, newly enacted laws, social issues, the prison-industrial complex, and how these things are impacting OUR communities.

 

For example, we aim to examine legislation such as the 6164 petitions (i.e. how they fail, what impacts they are having, and how or if they can even serve their intended purpose). Or, as another example, we examine why the power to keep OUR communities safe should no longer belong to the prosecutors who have little or no interest in serving our communities. It’s OUR awareness and action that is key to making OUR communities safer.

 

"They can't stop the wind and they can't stop the rain. They can't stop the earthquake and the volcano and the tornado. They can't stop the power"

-- John Trudell, "We Are Power", Black Hills, Survival Gathering, South Dakota, July 18, 1980

 

We make so many choices every day, but how many of those choices are made to better our communities? The better informed we are, the more aware we become. It’s with that awareness that we can actively make the choices to create not only safer and better communities, but we can also determine ways to bring our loved ones home and out of the prison-industrial complex as better men and women than their past traumas had left them. Check out C.H.O.I.C.E.S. podcast and get informed so WE can make the choices to keep our communities thriving.