During this difficult political transition, we are writing to celebrate the National Day of Racial Healing. Hosted the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it encourages us to speak openly and honestly about the past wrongs of anti-black racism. But it also represents hope: hope for change, and a stand against silence.
The conversation around racism is more important than ever. With the recent flipping of the White House and the House of Representatives, the direction of racial healing is uncertain. The failure of Prop 6 in California, which would have abolished involuntary servitude in prisons, and the passage of Prop 36, which increases sentences for nonviolent theft and drug crimes, sends the wrong message: prison is the solution to our problems. These changes are a step backward, and A New Way of Life will continue fighting for more humane and practical policies.
Beyond Sacramento and D.C., this country has lost something greater: its conversation around racism. The murder of George Floyd at the hands of police brought shock and awareness to America, and the work of our friends at All of Us or None propelled the conversation about racial injustice into nearly every school, business, and university. But in recent years, people have retreated; waves of book bans and new laws targeting discussions of race in the classroom have spread. We also feel it at work – people don’t talk about racism as they used to. This choice to look away is dangerous, and continuing on this silent course will only lead to more incarceration.
In this moment, we must speak with conviction and listen with compassion. The only way to break the silence is to speak up, and discussing the cruelty of mass incarceration is the simplest kind of freedom work. It also requires compassionate listening; this election showed that America’s marginalized groups are not a monolith, and we must bring more voices in.
Despite these challenges, A New Way of Life sees hope. There is hope in the younger generations, who center activism and freedom work for marginalized people around the world. And we see hope in A New Way of Life’s mission: this year, we passed 1700 residents who went through our program, with only 4% returning to prison. Our residents are bringing more energy to these conversations than ever before, and you can find their stories on A New Way of Life’s Instagram. We’ve also been promoting stories from formerly incarcerated people through our annual Justice on Trial Film Festival, which is now in its 14th year.
This may be a trying time, but the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. lives on. We still envision a world where people are not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Dr. King showed us that racial healing is possible – but we cannot heal in silence.
