Sahngnoksoo, a Seattle-based organization that works to build political power for the self-determination and liberation of Koreans of all identities, has signed on to our points of unity against the expansion of youth criminalization and the family court system!  We are so excited to have them on board!

In case you want to recall the whole list of groups that have joined the coalition, they are:  Seattle Young People’s Project, Queer Youth Space, The Black Orchid Collective, G.L.I.T.U.R., Who You Callin’ Illegal?, No New Jim Crow Seattle Campaign, Huskies for Fairness, the Gender Justice League, The Native Student and Family Wellness Initiative, Jewish Voice for Peace Seattle, and Queers Against Israeli Apartheid Seattle.

Thanks to Queers Against Israeli Apartheid for signing on to our Points of Unity!

Great news! Seattle’s Jewish Voice for Peace chapter has signed on to our points of unity!!  The work of Seattle’s JVP chapter deeply connects to our work stopping jail-building in Seattle its commitment to racial justice, to dismantling colonialism and systems that are targeted at indigenous people, and to building a world in which prisons, walls and borders are not destroying people’s lives.  Thanks for joining this campaign, JVP!

Huskies for Fairness, the group working to stop UW from adding criminal background questions to the undergraduate admissions process at UW, just signed on to our Points of Unity!!

And, today Washington Incarceration Stops Here joined the protest at King County Jail in solidarity with striking prisoners around the country including prisoners in Washington State.  There was a great turnout for the protest, and folks were excited to fill out our postcards sharing their ideas of what people in King County need instead of a new youth jail. Below are some examples of people’s ideas.  If you are interested in getting a stack of these postcards to bring to a meeting you are part of for people to fill out, please contact [email address redacted].

The Gender Justice League, an organization dedicated to “empower[ing] Trans* activists and our allies to fight oppression based on gender & sexuality in Washington State and to create a community where trans* people can live their lives safely, true to themselves, and free from discrimination” has signed on to the Points of Unity against youth incarceration and racism in the child welfare system.

Trans and gender non-conforming people face high extremely high rates of criminalization and severe violence inside jails and prisons.

Because of family rejection and widespread employment discrimination, many trans people are poor and homeless.  Trans people are four times more likely to have a household income of less than $10,000/year than the general population. However, trans people in need often can’t access social services because of the ways they will be mis-categorized by gender in these spaces.  For example, many homeless trans women live in cities where the shelter system places them in men’s shelters.  This is so dangerous that many do not use the shelter system, and face the dangers of the street instead.  Many trans youth are placed in foster care group homes based on their birth gender, subjected to harassment and violence there, and often punished if they wear clothing that feels right or otherwise express their gender. These youth become runaways, living on the street because the system has no place for them. Because poverty is criminalized in the US—people are routinely arrested for sleeping outside, “loitering,” sitting on sidewalks, or just generally looking poor or homeless—trans people are highly criminalized. Many do criminalized work, including in the sex trade—one of the few kinds of employment open to trans women.  The result is that many trans people spend time in prisons or jails, where they are consistently placed based on birth gender. Trans women all over the US are in men’s prisons and jails, facing severe sexual violence.

Stopping criminalization is a big priority for trans resistance activists across the country, and here in King County we are so grateful to have the Gender Justice League making the connections between the racism and gender policing that happen in the family court and youth jail systems and their gender liberation mission.

Starting Monday, July 1, we will be meeting Mondays at 7:30pm at Washington Hall.. Please join us there! Spread the word!!

The Native Student and Family Wellness Initiative has just signed on to our Points of Unity  about how jails and family courts harm youth, families and communities of color.  The impact of criminalization and child welfare systems on native communities is severe.  Native people are incarcerated at a rate 38% higher than the national average. A key strategy of colonization in the US has been to break up native families. As a result, advocates fought for the Indian Child Welfare Act, aiming to make it more difficult for US government agencies to break up native families and remove native children from native communities.  Today, the US Supreme Court dealt a severe blow to native communities in a decision that weakens the Indian Child Welfare Act.  In King County, native families are targeted by the child welfare system.  Our fight to stop the County from investing $210 million in a new project to build a youth jail and courts where families will be separated is a fight against the ongoing colonial and racist violence perpetrated by these systems.  We are excited to have the Native Student and Family Wellness Initiative on board!   Fight to win!

Organizations are rapidly signing on to our Points of Unity! We are grateful to the Seattle Young People’s Project, Queer Youth Space, The Black Orchid Collective, G.L.I.T.U.R., Who You Callin’ Illegal?, and No New Jim Crow Seattle Campaign for being the some of the first signers!  If you are part of an organization that cares about ending the school to prison pipeline, stopping the growth of racist criminalization regimes, defending black and native families from the child “welfare” system, stopping gentrification, directing resources towards supporting rather than destroying communities, stopping environmental destruction and prison profiteering, supporting low-income people, stoping the sexual and gender violence endemic to criminalization, or self-determination for communities facing state violence, please encourage your organization to sign on!

Points of Unity

1)  The current juvenile punishment system is racist and classist.

2)  Criminalization and imprisonment are devastating our families and communities, especially targeting and harming immigrants, poor people and people of color.

3) Imprisoning youth does not work—it consumes resources and harms youth, disrupts education and family connections, exposes them to abuse, creates negative long-term outcomes in their lives, and does not make our communities any better or safer.

4) We believe that all youth should have the education, health care, housing, food, art, music and freedom to grow and thrive.

5) We believe that there are many alternatives to criminalization and imprisonment—especially providing youth and families with the resources they need and getting at the root causes of poverty—that can actually help our communities heal and rebuild.

The juvenile punishment and child welfare systems in King County are severely racially targeted.  Black youth are twice as likely as white youth to be arrested.  Black and native youth are more than twice as likely as white youth to be referred to court and youth of color are less likely to be referred to diversion programs.  Black youth make up only 6% of the Washington youth population but 21% of youth sentenced to Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration facilities.  In King County, Black and Native children together make up:

• 8 percent of the child population
• 25 percent of the children involved in referrals accepted for investigation
• 33 percent of all children removed from their homes and placed in care
• 50 percent of the children still in out-of-home care four years after placement

Once in the foster care system, youth face terrible outcomes–they are more unlikely to finish school, more likely to end up in the criminal system, and more likely to face poverty and homelessness.

The energy and resources being used to plan the rehabilitation of this facility should be redirected to creating programs that support youth and families in King County–child care, jobs, mental health support, drug treatment, arts programs, gardens, after school programs, income support and housing.  It isn’t just this dilapidated youth jail building that is dangerous for youth—being caged is dangerous to the physical and mental health of youth, harms their access to education, and has lasting negative effects in their lives.  This youth facility is outdated, and so is the model of locking up young people.  The dilapidation of these buildings is a crossroads for the County—we can choose to keep investing in a model that doesn’t work and that creates harm, or we can shut it down and shift toward supporting youth.

We are working to turn the tide in King County away from jail and court building and toward supporting youth and families.  By signing on to these Points of Unity, you would join other organizations that are making a stand against a plan that is bad for our County, and that was not created in consultation with affected communities.

Please contact us if you would like to be added to the coalition or if you have any questions.

http://www.facebook.com/WashingtonIncarcerationStopsHere 

The deadline for submissions to our zine is coming up in two days. Check out the submission guidelines HERE!

Thanks so much to those who have already submitted. Here’s one submission below:

We’re looking for written or visual submissions showing what YOU would build with $210 million dollars on two square blocks in the Central District that would ACTUALLY enhance the community for youth and families.
If you are connected with people who are currently in prison, please send them this prompt as well!  If you know someone with something to say about why youth jails and the child “welfare” system don’t work and what we need instead, consider interviewing them and submitting that!

Submission Guidelines:

• If your art or writing can be displayed in a black and white, 5.5in x 8.5in format, we’re excited about it. Maps, poetry, drawings, personal narrative, comics, interviews… get creative! Written submissions must be no more than 700 words.
• If publishing under your own name, please include a two or three sentence bio about yourself. If you would like to submit anonymously or using a pseudonym, go right ahead!
• People most affected by incarceration, policing and immigration enforcement will be given priority for publishing in this zine, especially work by currently or formerly incarcerated people, people of color, low-income or homeless people, youth, undocumented people, and people with disabilities.
• We would love to help you brainstorm, or look over your work, or help you out with your submission in any other way you can think of. If you have questions or want editing help, contact Jude at jude.a.watson at gmail dot com.