WHAT: Press conference detailing plans for Feb. 1st statewide #kNOwMORE2017 Advocacy Day
WHO: Formerly incarcerated or deported individuals and their families and advocates
WHEN: Monday, January 30th, at 9:00 a.m.
WHERE: Grassroots Leadership Office, 2301 E. Cesar Chavez St., Austin, TX 78702
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Texas Advocates for Justice (TAJ) will announce details of their February 1st Advocacy Day, where over 200 formerly incarcerated community members, their families, and advocates from Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, and the Rio Grande Valley will come together at the Texas Capitol. The full day of events include a march, rally on the Capitol steps, art installation in the basement rotunda, and legislative visits.
Those formerly incarcerated, deported, and their families demand that communities impacted most deeply by deportation and incarceration policies be consulted in a meaningful way when policies are written, amended, or enacted. On February 1st, TAJ and their supporters will be demanding a stop to both SB4’s anti-immigrant sanctuary cities bill and HB 577’s regressive bill to preempt local fair chance hiring ordinances, essentially blocking people with criminal convictions from a fair shot at getting a job upon return to community.
Speakers at the press conference include:
Sofia Casini, Grassroots Leadership coordinator whose family was impacted by detention and deportation
Jorge Renaud, TAJ organizer who was formerly incarcerated
Claire Morel, TAJ member whose loved ones have gone through the criminal justice system
Marilu Fructuoso, ICE out of Austin member and immigrant whose family was impacted by detention and deportation
Latasha Taylor, Grassroots Leadership mental health organizer who was subjected to forced institutionalization and whose family was incarcerated
Rebecca Sanchez of Grassroots Leadership and Beth Link, artists who designed the art installation
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Grassroots Leadership is an Austin, Texas-based national organization that works for a more just society where prison profiteering, mass incarceration, deportation and criminalization are things of the past. Read more about As the legislature and governor attack local communities, those most impacted by incarceration and deportation announce action at the Texas Capitol
Sofia Casini, scasini@grassrootsleadership.org, 512-499-8111
Texas Advocates for Justice
Texas Advocates for Justice is on a mission to end the criminalization of our communities, to break down barriers to reentry from jail and prison in Texas, and to demolish the legacy of racism in the criminal justice system. TAJ unites formerly incarcerated individuals, their families, people of all faiths, and allies to build safe and resilient communities through organizing, leadership training, and connections to community resources.