direct action for rights and equality

October 24, 2016October 24, 2016

Racial and economic equity important to Kennedy Plaza debate

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dsc_8749-600x365-2 — Police in Kennedy Plaza

Rhode Island’s cultural diversity is one of our great assets, but our communities often experience different opportunities to engage and enjoy. If we want our state to be more equitable, we require courageous leadership and intentional investments in racial and economic equity and access.

As organizations committed to racial justice, we feel the issue of race has been missing from the discussion about Kennedy Plaza. We all want to see vibrant community commons that support our economic and community development. But we recognize that strategies like increased policing will continue to disadvantage the poor, especially people of color, and siphon dollars away from social safety net programs that uplift those most marginalized.

New England communities were built with public “commons,” but despite their name these public spaces have always excluded the most disenfranchised: the indigenous people whose land was stolen, the enslaved Africans who quite literally built our communities, and those who did not fit society’s image of proper decorum. This continues today, with increase policing and criminalization of black and brown bodies, those exhibiting impact of addiction or mental illness, and the poor and homeless.

As our allies who are advocating for the homeless pointed out in their excellent “Reclaiming our Public Spaces” report, we cannot simply sweep away the poverty that many don’t want to see. Poverty and homelessness have disproportionate impact on communities of color, in large part because of public policies that exclude particular racial and ethnic groups from the supports that help build wealth and economic stability. Public policies fit together like bricks to shape our society, and our vision for racial justice requires some shifts in thinking. More people with criminal records, out of our workforce and warehoused at public cost, doesn’t help us build the society we envision.

Rather than seeking to invest our resources in short-sighted efforts to remove people we have deemed “undesirable,” let’s make real investments in the type of community supports and assets that eliminate the need for panhandling, support mental health and addiction recovery, and provide living wage jobs for everyone, including those with criminal records. Let’s engage our business community support in increased wages, publicly funded detox and recovery support, development of affordable housing, and compliance with First Source and Ban the Box laws. Let’s provide meaningful, well-paying work opportunities for adults with moderate education, and support public access to skilled training and higher education for our youth. Let’s recognize that amenities like public restrooms, drinking fountains, increased seating, and charging stations will support many types of users. And let’s bring love and compassion to the struggle of all those in our community, even those whose circumstances or behavior might make us uncomfortable.

Mike Araujo, Executive Director, Rhode Island Jobs with Justice

James Vincent, President, NAACP Providence Branch

Chanda Womack, President, Board of Directors, Cambodian Society of Rhode Island

On behalf of the Racial Justice Coalition.

October 10, 2016

PRONK! 2016 supports the Community Safety Act

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For its 9th Annual Festival PRONK! partnered with the STEP UP Coalition to support to the Community Safety Act (CSA). The goal of the collaboration was “to use music, dance and art to bring attention to injustices and inequalities in our city and encourage people across Providence to stand behind the legislation.”

The STEP UP Coalition is made up of the Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Olneyville Neighborhood Association (ONA) and various other activist groups in Providence. The CSA is a citizen-proposed ordinance that would address racial profiling and other abuses of power by police. Mayor Jorge Elorza recently said the CSA could pass before the end of the year.

This is the ninth year for PRONK! (Providence HONK!) which takes place every Indigenous People’s Day. It is not a Columbus Day parade. Local bands, such as the Extraordinary Rendition Band, What Cheer? Brigade, and Kickin’ Brass participated, as well as bands from around the country. Organizers describe PRONK! as “a cacophonous street celebration with out of town brass bands! We are a street intervention like no other, with outfits and misfits from Rhode Island and beyond – musicians, artists, activists, makers – taking over the streets as part of the Providence HONK Parade.”

Organizers go on to say that PRONK! “spawned from the original HONK! Festival in Somerville, MA that has “grown into a new type of street band movement—throughout the country and across the globe—outrageous and inclusive, brass and brash, percussive and persuasive, reclaiming public space with a sound that is in your face and out of this world.”

September 15, 2016

Homeless advocates release their plan for Kennedy Plaza

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Lost in yesterday’s coverage of real estate investor Joseph Paolino‘s roll out of the Providence Downtown Improvement District‘s (DID) plan to deal with the issue of panhandling (and homelessness) in downtown Providence was the introduction of an alternative plan by committed homeless and poverty activists that took place across from Kennedy Plaza at Paolino’s property “The Shops at 100.”

The Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP), Homeless Bill of Rights Defense Group and DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality) presented a comprehensive plan called “Reclaiming Our Public Spaces.”

The group presented recommendations in three major areas:

Promoting Community and Economic Development
Discontinuing Current Criminalization Policies; and
Supporting Social and Human Service Needs.

2016-09-14 Homelessness 08 — **Eric Hirsch**

The advocates sought to differentiate their ideas from those to be presented by Paolinio. Dr. Eric Hirsch, Professor of Sociology at Providence College and a member of the Homeless Bill of Rights Defense Committee pointed out that Paolino’s proposals were akin to the flawed “broken windows” policies that have been discredited around the country. The “broken windows” policies were based on an idea that allowing minor offenses like littering, panhandling, loitering, or washing car windshields was an open invitation for more serious crimes. They argued that these “broken windows” were the real reasons for the rise of violent and serious property offenses.

“The problem with basing policy on this “broken window” idea is that there was no evidence to back it up,” stated Hirsch. “Unfortunately, although the idea has been completely discredited, police departments and city officials around the country continue to base policy decisions on this flawed proposal.”

“Criminalization is not a solution to homelessness,” added Roger Williams University School of Law Professor and Assistant Dean Andrew Horwitz. “It is incredibly cruel to those experiencing homelessness, dehumanizing the individuals and making it harder to connect to advocates and services. It also costs the system more by spending taxpayer dollars on court costs and incarcerations rather than on housing, medical care, and other long-term solutions.”

Key findings/conclusions from the report are:

Homeless people are criminally punished for being in public even when they have no other alternatives
The criminalization of homelessness is increasing across the country
Criminalization laws violate the civil and human rights of homeless people
Criminalization laws are costly to taxpayers
Criminalization laws are ineffective; and
Criminalization laws should be replaced with constructive solutions to ending
homelessness.

“Rhode Island has the potential to be a model for how to end homelessness,” concluded Barbara Freitas, Director of RIHAP. “We can do this by collaborating to provide safe, affordable, permanent housing and engaging with and educating our community. It is not done by harassing and further marginalizing our city’s most vulnerable neighbors.”

Here’s the video from their press conference:

September 2, 2016

Community groups pressure PVD City Council on Community Safety Act

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Members of the Coalition to Pass the Community Safety Act (CSA) spoke out before Thursday night’s Providence City Council meeting about the importance of empowering local communities on policing.

“Providence needs the Community Safety Act because without it we feel unsafe,” said campaign coordinator Vanessa Flores-Maldonado in a statement. “The Coalition hopes that a public hearing will speak loudly to the need of an ordinance that seeks to hold police accountable when they harass and brutalize our community.

The Coalition, which is comprised of local community organizations and members, had previously submitted a petition on July 1 to have the city council hold a public hearing before going on their August break. However, the 90+ signatures submitted took 3 weeks to verify and no public hearing was scheduled within the 14 days required by the City Charter.

Malcus Mills of DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality) introduced three speakers, Dan, representing PrYSM (Providence Youth Student Movement), Wayne Woods of DARE, and Justice, speaking for RI Jobs with Justice.

Dan spoke about the gang database used by the Providence Police Department. If a youth is placed on the gang database list, they have no ability to remove their name or even check to see if their name is on the list. This may result in loss of job and educational opportunities in the future.

Right now, said Dan, the police, “judge people by their appearance, their race, gender etc, and they will say you are guilty… because they think you are part of a gang.”

Wayne Woods spoke of being profiled and pulled over on the East Side of Providence. After being removed from his car, searched, and then waiting for 20 minutes as his car was searched by police, he and his friend, both black men, were sent on their way. The police told the men, “To go home and take it easy.”

If the CSA were passed, said Woods, the car could only have been pulled over for probable cause and the police would have to issue a receipt to people they detain, outlining the conditions of the probable cause.

“A big part of why the CSA needs to be passed is so that we can hold people accountable to what they’re doing,” said Justice, representing Jobs with Justice. “Civil servants and law enforcement should be accountable just like other working people, and we need to be able to protect the people of Providence, we need to be able to protect the youth of color in Providence.”

The Providence Community Safety Act is a city-wide proposed ordinance that aims to hold police accountable and make communities safer. Developed by community members and organizations who are frustrated with police harassment and lack of accountability, the CSA has 12 key points that outline how police officers should interact with community members. These points range from video recording to traffic stops to the gang database.

April 25, 2016April 25, 2016

Trump comes to Rhode Island: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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The best and the worst that Rhode Island has to offer was on display during Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump‘s visit Monday. Members of the White Noise Collective, DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality), PrYSM and more came out in opposition to Trump’s message of fear, racism and misogyny. Inside the venue, Trump’s stump speech was interrupted four times by protesters, who were escorted out of the Crown Plaza Hotel without violence.

Jessie Justin, an organizer with White Noise Collective and Rhode Island resident, explained in a statement why she has come to protest, “Trump is actively building a culture of hate that directly threatens my Muslim, immigrant, and black neighbors, and we want to make it clear that here in Rhode we are united as a community. His anti-immigrant actions, racism, and Islamophobia are not welcome here.”

In a statement, the White Noise Collective explained that they…

…came to the event today as an affiliated group of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a national network of groups and communities organizing white people for racial justice with passion and accountability to person of color leaders and organizations. SURJ groups around the country have been showing up to Trump rallies to speak out against racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia since the Trump’s campaign began in 2015, including a recent blockade action at Trump’s event venue in Wisconsin where six protesters were arrested.

“For us today was not about a presidential race,” says Beth Nixon, a member of White Noise Collective and Rhode Island native, “it’s about presenting an alternative vision to Trump’s: that the US can be an equitable country that welcomes and includes all people. As one of the wealthiest countries in the world, there are enough resources for everyone here to live with safety, health, and dignity.”

Meanwhile, outside, things became very heated. Once Trump’s motorcade entered the Crowne Plaza driveway, and Trump stepped from his car to wave at supporters, those outside the venue, including Trump supporters, Cruz supporters and Trump opponents, crossed the street and followed Trump as near to the tent behind the hotel where Trump was speaking as security would allow .

Trump fans, perhaps exasperated to have waited hours, only to find the venue too small to accommodate the full crowd exchanged words and chants with Trump opponents. While Trump supporters chanted “Build the Wall” and “Ten Feet Higher” opponents countered with “Black Lives Matter” and “Love Trumps Hate”.

Perhaps the darkest moment came when a Trump supporter assaulted a man. The police took the man who was punched into custody, handcuffing him. Trump opponents were outraged because the police seemed only interested in arresting the person with the darker skin, who was in fact the victim. Ultimately the man was released by police when video and photographic evidence proved the man was assaulted and only defending himself.

Trump fans also splashed two Trump opponents with liquid from a water bottle and grabbed a camera from another Trump protester and threw it on the ground. If there were more incidents like this, I did not see them.

Another moment that was worrisome occurred when a group of young male Trump supporters thought it funny to chant “Dicks out for Trump” at a young woman with a Black Lives Matter sign in her hands. This was a rape threat, plain and simple, even if it was delivered “humorously” as a police officer stood near by. This event highlighted the misogynistic undertone of Trump’s candidacy. Shirts were being sold outside and worn inside the event saying “TRUMP THAT BITCH!” on the back and in case that was too subtle, the front of the shirt features pictures of Hillary Clinton and Monica Lewinsky and the words, “Hillary sucks, but not like Monica”.

Perhaps the best way to describe the tenor of the event is to point out that one of the first speakers at the event, the warm up act, if you will, was WPRO radio “personality” John DePetro. In many ways the event was like a live, interactive version of his radio show… or a circle in Dante’s Hell.

Despite the incidents above, the protest and the event was largely peaceful, given the high level of emotions on both sides. Trump may have been interrupted, but he was never shut down or prevented from giving his fans the full Trump experience. In fact, disruptive protests have become so common at Trump rallies that the campaign runs a sort of public service announcement at the beginning of each show saying that protesters should not be touched but simply pointed out to security to be taken away.

Below are some pictures.

April 4, 2016April 5, 2016

The experience of solitary confinement

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The United Nations has called solitary confinement torture. President Obama recently condemned its use. In New York, a judge just resolved a class-action lawsuit by ensuring that there are legal limits on the amount of time a prisoner can be kept alone in a cell.

In Rhode Island, we call solitary confinement “segregated” confinement.

But what is solitary confinement, really? Can any of us who have not experienced it truly understand it?

Last Thursday the Senate Judiciary heard hours of testimony on solitary confinement in Rhode Island. Most of the time was taken up by prison officials and others explaining the present policy of “segregated” confinement to the Senators on the committee. But the most emotional, moving and disturbing testimony came from former inmates, people who have endured solitary confinement and who are still haunted by the experience.

Jessica Gonzalez was the first juvenile ever sentenced as an adult in Rhode Island. At the age of 14 she was sent to the ACI. Her story should not only make us question solitary confinement, it should make us rethink the entire way we deal with juvenile defendants.

John Prince, who I write about often because of his work with DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality), spent decades in prison. He speaks here about his experiences with solitary confinement.

JoseDavi Lamoso is an organizer with Black and Pink, one of the groups pushing for these legislative reforms. While serving his sentence in prison Lamoso was held in solitary “several times.” Lamoso bluntly states that “solitary confinement is torture.”

Osiris spent ten days naked and alone in a cold room with no mattress or toilet paper. This stint of solitary confinement was the worst thing to happen to him in his eleven and a half years in prison.

The General Assembly is considering bills that would curtail the use of solitary confinement in the Rhode Island prison system. Last Thursday the Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony on Senator Harold Metts‘ bill that would prohibit the use of solitary confinement for specific vulnerable populations (juveniles, elderly and the mentally ill), ensure that conditions in segregation are humane, and limit the use of solitary confinement for all inmates to 15 consecutive days, and no more than 20 days within any 60 day period. The videos above are all from that hearing.

A companion bill, submitted by Representative Aaron Regunberg, will be heard in House Judiciary this Wednesday, room 201, at 4:45pm.

March 29, 2016

Elorza storms past two protests outside his own fundraiser

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Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza tore past the twin protests taking place outside his exclusive fundraiser taking place at the Rooftop at the Providence G. On one side were members of Providence Fire Fighters IAFF Local 799, who are in the midst of difficult negotiations regarding overtime and staffing. On the other side were members of the STEP-UP Network, a coalition of community groups eager to pass the Community Safety Act (CSA), which candidate Elorza pledged to support in October, 2104.

Since his election, Elorza has avoided any substantive meetings with any groups about the CSA, and has not supported the bill’s passage as he promised. This protest was, in the words of the STEP-UP Network, “to denounce the fundraiser for Mayor Jorge Elorza’s campaign as he has neglected and in some cases, refused to meet with groups representing low-income people of color on issues such as public safety, housing, and jobs.”

As a result of Elorza’s broken campaign promises and disinterest in meeting with community groups, the STEP-UP Network asks that instead of donating to Mayor Elorza’s campaign, funds be directed “to local organizations whose work directly impacts those affected by police violence, housing instability, and unemployment.”

Vanessa Flores-Maldonado, a PrYSM organizer, introduced three speakers outside, before the Mayor’s arrival.

Malchus Mills, volunteer for DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality), said in a statement, “A fundraiser for a mayor who refuses to meet with his constituents is absurd. We have been asking for a meeting for over a year now, but instead we keep getting passed off to police administrators. We still have not met with Mayor Elorza since the start of his administration, yet he falsely claims to have met with us on numerous occasions.”

Mike Araujo, Executive Director of Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, stated: “Not only have we been passed off to police administrators, but we have been given offers of only 15 to 30-minute-long meetings with the Mayor. How are we supposed to talk about the safety of an entire city in just 15 to 30 minutes?”

Jorrell Kaykay, volunteer at the Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), stated: “Last time we publicly asked Mayor Elorza about his changing stance on the CSA, he got this bill confused for a statewide bill. Clearly, Mayor Elorza is not paying attention to the issues that are affecting the community he serves especially when he keeps denying to adequately meet with said community. Whose mayor is he really?”

Kaykay spoke in reference to an East Side community forum that took place in November 2015 in which protestors had shown up as it was the second forum held in a neighborhood where crime rates were actually falling. When questioned about his stance on the CSA, Mayor Elorza responded on a different bill that had recently been passed in the General Assembly. I covered that event here.

The STEP UP Network includes the Providence Youth Student Movement, Direct Action for Rights and Equality, the American Friends Service Committee, and the Olneyville Neighborhood Association.

February 11, 2016February 11, 2016

DARE challenges Elorza’s Everyhome initiative over gentrification and racial displacement

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Activists from DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality) and Tenant and Homeowner Association (THA) set up outside Mayor Jorge Elorza‘s office on the second floor of Providence City Hall to demand changes to the city’s Everyhome program. About fifty protestors, carrying heart-shaped signs, and a poster-sized infographic about the program dotted with broken hearts, gathered in the foyer on the second floor of City Hall.

Mayor Elorza did not meet with the activists.

Roline Burgison, Tenant and Homeowner Association leader and member of DARE’s Board of Directors, began the speaking program. Burgison explained that she was forced to move in with family after a two-year fight to stay in her South Providence apartment following a foreclosure. She wants to return to the city’s Southside neighborhood, where she raised her children, but the rent is un-affordable, and low-income developments have long waiting lists.

“I went to a local Community Development Corporation the other day and was told that I could qualify for housing based on my income,” said Burgison in a statement, “but that I might have to wait two years or more. There is a housing crisis in this city, and the Mayor and the Everyhome program need to deal with that.”

Burgison explained that the group was there to “break-up” with the Mayor, because he had ignored their proposals to make the Everyhome program better, and denied their request for a Community Advisory Board to oversee the program. According to DARE and the THA, she said, community members’ hearts are broken over the gentrification and displacement occurring in some of the city’s low-income neighborhoods of color.

Malchus Mills, THA member-leader, outlined the group’s major concerns about the way the program is being conducted. “Right now, there are no standards for the quality of the homes once they’re renovated, the city is not being transparent about which properties are being targeted and why, and they are not addressing the desperate need for affordable housing in our city.” Mills went on to share statistics from Housing Works RI’s recent Housing Fact Book, including that 57 percent (over 18,000 households) of Providence renters pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent and the city currently has 10,500 units of affordable housing. “You need to make 43,000 dollars a year to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Providence now. How many people here make that?” he asked.

Joe Buchanan, DARE Board member and life-long Southside resident, outlined the group’s demands for changes to the Everyhome initiative. “We want the Mayor to announce the creation of a community advisory board for Everyhome and hold the first meeting in March. We want to see 50 percent of the properties targeted by the program set aside for very-low income housing, and we want a list of all the contractors hired for receivership jobs. We want this set-aside and the list by Tuesday.”

February 5, 2016

Reps Regunberg and Metts seek to curb solitary confinement

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Rep. Aaron Regunberg and Sen. Harold M. Metts have introduced legislation to reform the controversial use of solitary or “segregated” confinement in the Rhode Island prison system, saying the practice causes psychological damage and often exacerbates the very problems it is intended to address.

“The United Nations has condemned the use of solitary confinement, saying it can amount to torture,” said Representative Regunberg (D-Dist. 4, Providence). “And the research is very clear that prolonged solitary confinement causes psychological problems that can damage inmates’ chances of rehabilitation. It’s a vicious cycle that is destructive rather than corrective, and it particularly impacts already vulnerable populations, including the very high proportion of our prison population affected by mental illness. Add this to the fact that segregation units are by far the most expensive facilities to operate, and it should be clear that we need to put responsible limits on, and devise humane alternatives to, the use of solitary confinement in the prison system.”

Said Senator Metts (D-Dist. 6, Providence), “We cannot in good conscience call our prison a ‘corrections’ institute when the system relies on a punishment that is essentially designed to cause mental breakdown, particularly when so many of those subjected to it are already mentally ill. We have a moral imperative, as well as a constitutional mandate, to ensure we are not employing cruel or unusual punishment, and it is time we recognized that solitary confinement, in many cases, is cruel. Its use must be limited, and our prison system must stop using it on people who are particularly susceptible to the lasting effects it can have. We have to strive to find a better balance between rehabilitation and punishment.”

Many studies have found that long-term solitary confinement can produce psychological damage with symptoms such as hallucinations, hypersensitivity to noise or touch, paranoia, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), increased suicide risk and uncontrollable rage or fear. The risks are higher for juveniles, whose brains are still developing, and for those with mental illness.

Those effects can result in inmates having more difficulty complying with prison rules, defeating the purpose of solitary confinement. Even those who aren’t mentally ill when they enter solitary confinement can be left with lasting psychological effects that they take with them when they are released from prison into the community.

“Solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment,” said S, a current inmate at the ACI who has asked to remain unidentified for fear of retribution. “I have seen people get years in segregation, and get locked in solitary for non-problematic reasons, like identifying as LGBTQ, filing lawsuits, or sharing political views. I have witnessed people in solitary confinement break down, start talking to themselves, become paranoid, play with their own feces, and worse. When you go to High Security [the solitary confinement facility] for causing a problem, they don’t help you, they don’t give you any mental health services, they just lock you in a cell for 23 hours a day. So when you go back to the normal facilities, you’re worse off.”

The legislation would prohibit the use of solitary confinement — also called “segregated confinement” — for specific vulnerable populations, ensure that conditions in segregation are humane, and limit the use of solitary confinement for all inmates to 15 consecutive days, and no more than 20 days within any 60 day period.

The bill (2016-H 7481) has support from a wide array of inmates’ rights activists, mental health advocates, civil rights groups and families of incarcerated individuals.

“Solitary is a very dehumanizing experience that leaves a person broken and unable to function,” said John Prince, a member of Direct Action for Rights and Equality with first-hand experience of solitary confinement in the ACI. “You hear nothing, see nothing, have nothing to think about almost 24 hours a day. You lose all perspective of time. Human beings are not meant to live like that for weeks or months on end. My experiences in solitary were extremely painful, and I have many friends who were left unable to relate to people, even their families, after prolonged segregation. There have to be limits that keep this from being used for long periods or on people who are likely to suffer lasting damage from it.”

“Even mentally healthy people lose their faculties in solitary confinement, but for people with mental illness, it is a particularly unhealthy situation that impairs an individual’s ability to maintain healthy relationships,” said Michael Cerullo, a psychotherapist with extensive clinical experience in the juvenile and adult criminal justice system. “Without positive relationships in the community and with oneself, meaningful rehabilitation is significantly compromised. People with mental illness suffer serious trauma that cannot be undone when they are released either back into the prison population or back into the community, and that damage has ill effects on them and the people around them. We have to stop using this counterproductive approach with human beings challenged by mental illness for their sake and for the sake of the whole community.”

“Across the country, states are reducing their reliance on solitary confinement,” said Steven Brown, Executive Director of the Rhode Island ACLU. “Long-term isolation costs too much, does nothing to rehabilitate prisoners, and exacerbates mental illness — even in those who were healthy when they entered solitary. More than a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court noted not only the extreme toll solitary confinement takes on those subjected to it, but that those who are affected may never recover well enough to reintegrate well into the community. Yet, the use of solitary confinement persists. States that once relied heavily on solitary confinement are now instead focusing on policies that promote safe communities and fair treatment — at the same time saving their states millions and reducing violence in the prisons. It’s time for us to do the same here in Rhode Island.”

The House bill has 38 cosponsors, including Representatives Scott A. Slater (D-Dist. 10, Providence), Jean Philippe Barros (D-Dist. 59, Pawtucket), Raymond A. Hull (D-Dist. 6, Providence, North Providence) and David A. Bennett (D-Dist. 20, Warwick, Cranston).

[From the press release]

January 19, 2016January 19, 2016

DARE intervenes during a house auction in Providence

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As the Providence home of Charles and Mary Fortune was being auctioned off Tuesday morning, activists from the Tenant Homeowners Association (THA), a committee of Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), stood in the sub freezing cold carrying signs that read, “Housing is a Human Right” and “Don’t Evict, Negotiate!” hoping to deter investors and speculators from bidding.

As Charles Fortune and the THA members looked on, the auctioneer opened the bidding. Only one bid, for $45 thousand, was entered. At this point, according to DARE staff organizer Christopher Rotondo, a representative from the bank bid $100 thousand, effectively buying the property from themselves.

The Fortunes owe over $200 thousand on the property, where they have lived for twenty years. The Fortunes have been unsuccessful in attempts to negotiate affordable modification to their mortgage. They want the opportunity to buy their home at it’s current assessed value, estimated to be about $130 thousand, not including needed repairs.

The Fortunes are currently working with a non-profit lender, Boston Community Capital (BCC), to buy their home back at its current value. Though it may sound weird to people not familiar with foreclosures, the bank buying the property back from themselves may redound to the Fortunes’ favor, as the bank will now be motivated to sell the property at a reduced price.

In a statement Fortune said, “This home is my family’s roots. We raised our children here and do not want to leave. The bank should have made our payments affordable, but instead wanted to continue to foreclosure, where they will actually lose money! No we have the chance to get our home back with BCC, we just don’t want some investor buying it today and putting us out just to make money.”

The THA is made up of owners and tenants who have faced foreclosure and eviction. They are working to prevent “mass evictions being carried out by the banks” and “until suffering to thousands of people… dragging down our communities.”

January 16, 2016

East Side Black Lives Matter panel challenges comfort zones

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A discussion of Black Lives Matter and the importance of this movement in terms of criminal justice reform, prison abolition and the next phase of Civil Rights in our state was held at the First Unitarian Church of Providence. The mostly white, middle and upper middle class church members were interested in what they could do as a congregation to ally with and support this important movement. Much of what was presented was in line with the liberal values of those in attendance, but when speaker Marco McWilliams, director of Black Studies at Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) spoke about prison abolition and the dismantling of capitalism (admittedly long term goals) some in the audience showed visible reservations.

It was a radical message different from the one that Jim Vincent, President of the NAACP Providence Branch gave. Vincent wanted to convey the immediacy of the problem. Police are killing black people “under the most questionable circumstance imaginable,” said Vincent, and he then proceeded to relate a long list of stories of police killing unarmed black people, ending only because of time constraints and asserting that he could have easily continued for hours in this way. These stories, coupled with startling statistics about the disproportionate rates of black arrests and black incarceration act as a call to action.

Pilar McCloud, assistant secretary of the NAACP Providence Branch, put the larger structure of systemic racism into a personal context. Despite her college education, as a black woman she is often treated as someone who is uneducated, regarded with suspicion or, as in one story she told, served as almost an after thought at the Starbucks located in the Providence Place Mall. A paying customer, her coffee was delivered long after she ordered, the man behind the counter actually prioritized the coffee of a white woman who ordered after her before preparing Pilar’s drink. McCloud asked for her money back and retrieved her tip from the tip jar.

McCloud also talked about the differences in the conditions of the schools in Providence. Nathaniel Greene located in a neighborhood populated mostly by people of color, is falling apart. Nathan Bishop, on the East Side of Providence, is in immaculate condition. It seems that some students, says McCloud, “…don’t deserve well lit auditoriums or brand new books, and brand new computers, and well shined floors.”

The first speaker of the evening was Susan Leslie, Congregational Advocacy and Witness Director for the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) in Boston. She set the tenor of the meeting, stressing the importance of events like these and the involvement of UUA churches in the struggles for civil rights. The UUA, said Leslie, “was slow to respond” to the Black Lives Matter movement, but congregations across the country are beginning to take action. Sixty UUA churches have hung “Black Lives Matter” banners outside their churches. These churches are active as allies (or what McWilliams called “accomplices”) in marches, on corrective legislation such as the Providence Community Safety Act and in calling on their leaders to take action on the abuses of the criminal justice system towards people of color.

The members of the First Unitarian Church of Providence are beginning the process of deciding on whether or not to display a “Black Lives Matter” banner in front of their church. About a third of the banners displayed across the country have been vandalized or stolen, said Leslie, but these churches have held “really powerful rededication ceremonies” and “recommitted in the face of that.” This provides imporatnat opportunities for community engagement and bridge building.

Below are the full videos of all the speakers and the robust Q&A that concluded the evening.

September 19, 2015

DARE challenges PVD Public Housing Authority on inmates’ right to fair housing

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On Friday evening the Behind the Walls committee at Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) hosted the launch party for their Fair Housing campaign, which will challenge Providence Public Housing Authority (PHA) policies that uniformly exclude applicants based on past arrests and convictions.

The proposed policy would prohibit denial based on misdemeanors and arrests, protect applicants from long “look back” periods into their records, and would create a panel to review the qualifications of applicants with records. The Behind the Walls committee plans to present their proposed policy to the Housing Authority in the coming weeks. PHA Board member and city councilwoman Mary Kay Harris has written an official letter of endorsement for the campaign.

“Too many people have been denied a safe and stable home with their family because of something they did 10 or more years ago,” said John Prince, campaign organizer with Behind the Walls, in a statement. “Sometimes parents can’t go back and live with their kids because of an arrest, when they were never even convicted of the crime. That’s just wrong.”

According to Behind the Walls, “In 2014, 61 percent of all PHA denials were due to criminal record, and fewer than 1 percent of appeals were successful. Each year 1400 people are released from the ACI to Providence, 48 percent of which will return in their first 3 years home.”

“The idea that rehabilitation can work without a path to reintegration back into the community is a cruel and fraudulent hoax. One crucial way to help an individual return successfully to the community is to provide access to public housing,” said Judge Fortunato in a statement.

The launch event included soul food, spoken word performances by local poets including Franny Choi, Vatic Kuumbal and others. State Representatives Aaron Regunberg and Edith Ajello were in attendance as were Providence City Council Members Kevin Jackson and Mary Kay Harris.

Community members also celebrated the launch of the national community-driven report “Who Pays: The True Cost of Incarceration on Families” by the Ella Baker Center. John Prince, along with Sheila Wilhelm, were two members of DARE who traveled to Center in Oakland California to help develop the report. The report found that:

People with convictions are saddled with copious fees, fines, and debt at the same time that their economic opportunities are diminished, resulting in a lack of economic stability and mobility. 48 percent of families in our survey overall were unable to afford the costs associated with a conviction, while among poor families (making less than $15,000 per year), 58 percent were unable to afford these costs. Sixty-seven percent of formerly incarcerated individuals associated with our survey were still unemployed or underemployed five years after their release.

Many families lose income when a family member is removed from household wage earning and struggle to meet basic needs while paying fees, supporting their loved one financially, and bearing the costs of keeping in touch. Nearly 2 in 3 families (65 percent) with an incarcerated member were unable to meet their family’s basic needs. 49 percent struggled with meeting basic food needs and 48 percent had trouble meeting basic housing needs because of the financial costs of having an incarcerated loved one.

Women bear the brunt of the costs—both financial and emotional—of their loved one’s incarceration. In 63 percent of cases, family members on the outside were primarily responsible for court-related costs associated with conviction. Of the family members primarily responsible for these costs, 83 percent were women. In addition, families incur large sums of debt due to their experience with incarceration. Across respondents of all income brackets, the average debt incurred for court-related fines and fees alone was $13,607, almost one year’s entire annual income for respondents who earn less than $15,000 per year.

Despite their often-limited resources, families are the primary resource for housing, employment, and health needs of their formerly incarcerated loved ones, filling the gaps left by diminishing budgets for reentry services. Two-thirds (67 percent) of respondents’ families helped them find housing. Nearly one in five families (18 percent) involved in our survey faced eviction, were denied housing, or did not qualify for public housing once their formerly incarcerated family member returned. Reentry programs, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations combined did not provide housing and other support at the levels that families did.

Incarceration damages familial relationships and stability by separating people from their support systems, disrupting continuity of families, and causing lifelong health impacts that impede families from thriving. The high cost of maintaining contact with incarcerated family members led more than one in three families (34 percent) into debt to pay for phone calls and visits alone. Family members who were not able to talk or visit with their loved ones regularly were much more likely to report experiencing negative health impacts related to a family member’s incarceration.

The stigma, isolation, and trauma associated with incarceration have direct impacts across families and communities. Of the people surveyed, about one in every two formerly incarcerated persons and one in every two family members experienced negative health impacts related to their own or a loved one’s incarceration. Families, including their incarcerated loved ones, frequently reported Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, nightmares, hopelessness, depression, and anxiety. Yet families have little institutional support for healing this trauma and becoming emotionally and financially stable during and post incarceration.

The report suggested three critical reforms:

Restructuring and Reinvesting: Following the lead of states like California, all states need to restructure their policies to reduce the number of people in jails and prisons and the sentences they serve. The money saved from reducing incarceration rates should be used instead to reinvest in services that work, such as substance abuse programs and stable housing, which have proven to reduce recidivism rates. Additionally, sentencing needs to shift focus to accountability, safety, and healing the people involved rather than punishing those convicted of crimes.

Removing Barriers: Upon release, formerly incarcerated individuals face significant barriers accessing critical resources like housing and employment that they need to survive and move forward. Many are denied public benefits like food stamps and most are unable to pursue training or education that would provide improved opportunities for the future. Families also suffer under these restrictions and risk losing support as a result of their loved one’s conviction. These barriers must be removed in order to help individuals have a chance at success, particularly the many substantial financial obligations that devastate individuals and their families. On the flip side, when incarcerated people maintain contact with their family members on the outside, their likelihood of successful reunification and reentry increases, and their chances of recidivating are reduced. For most families the cost of maintaining contact is too great to bear and must be lowered if families are to stay intact. Removing cost and other barriers to contact is essential.

Restoring Opportunities: Focusing energy on investing and supporting formerly incarcerated individuals, their families, and the communities from which they come can restore their opportunities for a brighter future and the ability to participate in society at large. Savings from criminal justice reforms should be combined with general budget allocations and invested in job training and subsidized employment services, for example, to provide the foundation necessary to help individuals and their families succeed prior to system involvement and upon reentry.

May 2, 2015May 3, 2015

Community groups hold May Day celebration

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May 1 is International Workers Day so Comité en Acción and other community organizations celebrated with a march from the Armory on Cranston St. to Dexter Field, followed by a celebration of “our victories from this past year.”

The victories from the past year include passage of the Just Cause eviction bill, the elimination of ICE holds and the “campaign for Good Jobs & Quality Care at Rhode Island Hospital.”

The celebration was held in solidarity with Todos Somos Arizona (We Are all Arizona) in support of immigrant worker rights. Among the demands of those attending was a “$15 Minimum Wage, Drivers Licenses for our undocumented, real Immigration Reform, and an end to Police Brutality, Racial Profiling and the high rates of Detention and Imprisonment across the country.”

Comité en Acción is a group dedicated to “helping to develop leadership skills within the community in an effort to contribute to social justice, through works on educational & community projects.” They were joined by members of DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality), RI Jobs with Justice, Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), English for Action and others.

April 28, 2015May 1, 2015

Progressives, conservatives unite to fight downtown ballpark

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An unlikely coalition of opponents to the proposed downtown Providence stadium deal greeted new PawSox owner Jim Skeffington as he exited his chauffeured ride and quickly entered the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation (RICC) offices at 315 Iron Horse Way.

Representatives and members of the RI Tea Party, The Republican Party, the Progressive Democrats of Rhode Island, The Green Party, Direct Action for Rights and Equality, Occupy Providence, The Rhode Island Sierra Club, RI Taxpayers, The Rhode Island Libertarian Party, and the Capital Good Fund stood side by side to take a stand against corporate welfare.

This event was put together by Coalition Radio’s Pat Ford and David Fisher, with help from Lauren Niedel of the Progressive Democrats. Ford acted as emcee for the event, in which 13 speakers and one poet spoke to a crowd of about 80 people. Inside the RICC offices, more than 100 more people attended the meeting where Skeffington and other PawSox owners revealed that they were amenable to negotiating a better deal.

Gina Raimondo essentially rejected the first deal offered, which would have, in the words of more than one speaker, “socialized the risk and privatized the profits” of the new venture.

Pat Ford spoke first, saying that “it is not the role of government to subsidize risk for private enterprise.”

Lauren Niedel of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats put the deal into stark economic relief: As Rhode Island prepares to carve $90 million out of Medicaid, how can we justify giving away millions of dollars to millionaires?

Andrew Posner, executive director of the Capital Good Fund, said that “every day I look at families that are hungry, that are poor, that don’t have jobs… that’s what we should be spending our time and money talking about.”

The Tea Party’s Mike Puyana said that the deal is “something called crony corporatism, it’s as far from equality under the law as it’s possible to get.”

“I don’t think I ever imagined that i was going to be at a rally with the Tea Party on the same side,” said Fred Ordonez of DARE, “but here we are!”

On a more serious note, Ordonez said, “Every time we see a huge development get all kinds of tax breaks and tax subsidies, the poor communities in providence get poorer and poorer.”

Larry Girouard, of Rhode island Taxpayers, said that a new stadium downtown is the last thing we need to spur economic growth. “The issue is taxes, regulation, infrastructure. This is just a diversion from the real problems.

The Green Party, represented by Greg Gerritt, brought up some of the environmental concerns, such as the risks of moving the new sewer line. “When you do things like that, you can do it right, but often it introduces more leaks into a system.”

“The state of Rhode Island has no business taking money out of the hands of taxpayers and giving it to millionaires,” said Gina Catalano of the Rhode Island Republican Party, “to be expected to make that investment with zero return, is ludicrous.”

Representing the Sierra Club, Asher Schofield, owner of the small business Frog and Toad, hit the crowd with a baseball metaphor, and tried to inspire us all towards something better.

“Providence is not a minor league city. We are what we dream ourselves to be. What we want to be. And we want to be major league. These are antiquated notions, the idea of public financing of private enterprise. This [deal] is not the grand notion that we need to have as a city moving forward… These minor league aspirations are beneath us.”

This deal, says Rhode Island Libertarian Party leader Mike Rollins, “is the exact opposite of everything we stand for.”

Occupy Providence’s Randall Rose made excellent points, and even read from a textbook about how bad it is for cities to invest money in minor league baseball teams. Rose read from the book Minor League Baseball and Local Economic Development, noting that, “there have been books on this, the scam is run so often.”

“The economic impact of a minor league team,” read Rose, “is not sufficient to justify the relatively large public expenditure for a minor league stadium.”

Steve Frias of the Republican Party, noted that the assembled crowd was comprised of people with “different viewpoints, but we all agree that this is a stupid deal.”

Roland Gauvin, an independent political activist, promised politicians who support such efforts that “a vote for this is the last time [politicians] will ever be voting, because we will vote them out of office.” Gauvin had especially choice words for Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello, saying, “And I will be willing to go to any district in Rhode island, starting in Mattiello’s district, and work my way down.”

Finally, before the crowd moved inside to join the RICC meeting already in progress, Cathy Orloff lead the crowd in a participatory poem against the stadium, with five baseball references built in.

February 20, 2014February 21, 2014

For Lilia Abbatematteo, foreclosure crisis is still an issue

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What follows is Lilia Abbatematteo’s story about her foreclosure in her own words.

Back in December, I attended a Fannie Mae event hosted at the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless. I attended this event because on September 6th 2013 my house was foreclosed on and Fannie Mae became the owner of the home I have lived in for over 40 years.

On the date of my auction, my friends and supporters from Direct Action for Rights & Equality (DARE) and the Tenant and Homeowner Association (THA) helped me protest the auction, and we informed all three potential investors who showed up that day that it would be a bad idea to buy the property because it would mean displacing residents (my family) who want to stay and get the home back. On the day of the protest, this felt like a victory, but since then, things have been really hard.

I have received letters saying that I could be evicted. The Fannie Mae event was supposed to be for people who have not yet been foreclosed on, but I decided to go anyway, to see if anyone would help me. Ever since the day of the foreclosure auction I have been worrying. What am I going to do? How can I buy my house back? What will my children be left with if we don’t have this house?
My husband and I live at 129 Chapin Avenue with our four grown children, plus our three grandchildren.

This is a house I inherited from my parents, Portuguese immigrants who came to this country and worked hard for years. My mom always worked two jobs and my father worked 12 hour days. In fact, the house was completely paid off by 1984. In 2002 I co-signed a second mortgage with my mother and her then live-in partner, to help out a troubled family member. Through the years the mortgage was transferred between various banks. It ended up with Chase Bank for a while, but my name was no longer on the loan. This was traumatizing and made it impossible to get a modification after my mother’s death. I’ve tried to resolve the issue through phone call after phone call after phone call. I’ve even paid a law firm to get help. But the bank always refused to work with me.

I’ve worked my whole life, and even when we fell behind on the mortgage, I was working. In 2008 my son-in-law decided to self-deport back to Guatemala. He made this decision because the constant stress and fear of worrying that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was going to come and take him away was too much. For this reason, my daughter and her kids moved back in with us. At the same time, in 2008 I took at 7% pay cut at work, and have not seen a pay raise in seven years. These changes combined really started to strain our budget and that’s why we fell behind on our mortgage.

My next-door neighbor (also a member of DARE and the THA) came along with me to the Fannie Mae event last week for support. We drove to Pawtucket and found a parking spot. I brought with me a letter I wrote asking that Fannie Mae look into the possibility of selling the home back to me. We walked into the brick building and went to the second floor where Fannie Mae apparently has an office – I had no idea!

It seemed like we were the first ones there, at 9 am on the dot. Someone asked us to fill out some initial paperwork, and told us someone would be with us shortly. A woman named Kate, from Fannie Mae came out and talked to us. She asked if I had ever received a “Know Your Options” package from Fannie Mae in the mail. I had not. I told her a bit of the complicated story of my house, and she said in order for Fannie Mae to investigate my case, I needed to write a narrative of all my communication with Fannie Mae and about the house, with a date, a name, and the topic of conversation when we’d talked. The trouble with this request is that I haven’t kept detailed records of all the people I’ve talked to over the past few years, especially not over the phone! I’ve made so many phone calls! In the end, I felt like Kate was trying her best to be nice to me, but I’m worried that she won’t be able to help me. When my neighbor and I left the event an hour later – we saw only one other person there!

I told my neighbor that I think the reason more people weren’t at the event is because once people think their home is up for foreclosure, it’s like the Berlin Wall goes up. It’s the end of the road. It can feel like there is no hope. Still, even though I’m skeptical that this narrative will help, I’ve done my best to write out a very detailed narrative that tells the story of my house and what’s going on with it – to the best of my ability.

Sometimes I feel like there’s no hope. My dream is that Fannie Mae will come to the table and offer me the possibility of setting up a rent-to-own scheme. My children were raised here and my grandchildren are being raised here. My granddaughter says, “I don’t want to move.” This is heart-wrenching. I like my neighborhood. From the diversity of ethnicities, to the fruit trees and grape vines planted by my father in our backyard, this home is my world. If Fannie Mae evicts us, where will we go?

June 16, 2012June 17, 2012

Pot Decriminalization in RI: Just a Starting Point

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Rhode Island became the latest state to lessen the punishments for small amounts of marijuana, popularly known as “decriminalizing” it. Six years ago, there were many doubters and few reformers on board. Yet it appears America is fed up with many facets of drug policy. Organizations that have been seen as fringe radicals, such as Direct Action for Rights & Equality (DARE), are seeing their proposals become mainstream positions. This DARE, not to be confused with the other D.A.R.E., has consistently looked to change the misguided (or malicious) attempt to curb drug use through prisons. Once this seemingly impossible reform became inevitable, the members of DARE realized their work was all but done.

A key element to the new law is that people on probation or parole will not be violated and sent to prison. People without actual experience in the criminal justice realm had to be educated on this element. Cynically enough, those who wanted to pass this measure based on saving money (by less incarceration) had to be shown that most imprisonments are due to such violations. Remarkably, the Attorney General stuck to their story that nobody is sent to prison for marijuana… even as evidence and personal stories came forth.

It is likely that the Dept. of Probation and Parole will develop new guidelines for what to do when someone receives a $150 “pot ticket” (which doubles to $300 after 30 days, and to $600 after 90 days). They will likely need to pay even more to attend a mandatory drug program, and failure to do so will result in a violation. This may ultimately prove challenging for people who are unemployed or barely scraping by, as are many people released from prison.

There should be no surprise that the bulk of marijuana tickets will disproportionately come from highly policed areas, and disproportionately affect People of Color, who represent about two-thirds of Providence. DARE, ACLU, PrYSM, and others have consistently presented evidence of racial profiling in Rhode Island that has a similar ring to the NYPD’s “Stop and Frisk” program that is currently under scrutiny by the Justice Department and Gov. Cuomo. Marijuana decriminalization, however, did not gain momentum due to the disproportionate impact on the 21% of Rhode Island residents who are Black, Latino, or Asian. It passed because 12% of Rhode Islanders are willing to admit they smoke pot. The Providence Journal article poll tallies 29% of people who “already” smoke.

When former RI Republican Minority Leader Bob Watson was arrested in Connecticut last year, just prior to a hearing on this bill, some wondered what would have happened if Watson was pulled over in his hometown of Portsmouth… or if he had been before. Watson’s public defense was that he needed the pot for his ailments, i.e. he needed it to get by. Many of that 12% have said the same. I have never encountered a person who wants their friend or family member to be disabled through drug use of any kind, and so my last words to the legislators on the matter were, “if you caught your son, daughter, or colleague with marijuana, what would you do? Whatever it is, what’s good enough for your son, daughter, or colleague is good enough for the rest of Rhode Island.”

Nobody believed we could eliminate mandatory minimum drug sentences in Rhode Island. But we did. Nobody believed we could pass a law that would nullify a probation violation prison sentence if the new charges were ultimately dismissed. But we did. When we started down this road, few believed Rhode Island was ready to reduce penalties even on marijuana… and now some politicians openly call for regulation and taxation of this plant. The push to create a Study Commission (often the kiss of death) by Senator Josh Miller was crucial. It allowed reports such as the study by Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron to gain prominence and dissemination through Open Doors, a service provider for the formerly incarcerated. The study commission put major advocacy partners on notice, such as Drug Policy Alliance, Marijuana Policy Project, and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition- and let them know that we are making change in this tiny little state.

What is next in drug policy other than pushing for full regulation, and a potenial $300 million in economic impact? It is worth noting that marijuana has been a gateway drug to a criminal record, and once someone is on probation they no longer receive the full protection of the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th Amendments; they are essentially guilty until proven innocent. For those who want to save dollars and those who want a rational or humane approach to drug policy in Rhode Island, we can look at ways for people to get out of what is one of the most regressive probation schemes in the country. RI is one of the leaders in percentages of people on probation and the lengths of sentences.

One proposal we put forth is limiting the probation violation to the time remaining on probation. Currently, someone with a 10 year suspended sentence can be given that term if violated on the last day of the 10^th year. This often violates the statute of limitations, carrying a punishment beyond what is permissible by law. Another proposal is to allow probationers and parolees the ability to earn Good Time credits off their sentences. Ultimately, the only ones who would receive credits are those “doing the right thing,” and it would allow Probation Officers more flexibility in curbing inappropriate behavior, short of incarceration. Another proposal, which gained momentum this year, is a Good Samaritan law that would not punish a drug user who calls 911 to save the life of another. This places a higher priority on life than on imprisoning those who are generally addicted to heroin (the most common form of overdose).

No matter what direction activists and politicians go after this key victory, it appears certain that the public is far ahead of the politicians on this matter. It is high time that harmless behavior be treated as such in the courts. It is also time for us to find medical solutions for health problems such as addiction, rather than putting someone in a cage until later.

Bruce Reilly is a member of DARE, Rhode Island’s only organization committed to (among other things) the development and empowerment of those directly impacted by the criminal justice system. He testified on this bill in both the House and Senate, along with other DARE members, and is a national steering committee member of the Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted People’s Movement. He attends Tulane University Law School, and is currently a legal intern at the Brennan Center for Justice.