June 6, 2025 • 35 mins
In this powerful closing to Safety Week, Morgan guides listeners through a meditation inspired by the fearless journalist and activist Ida B. Wells, offering reflection and resilience in the face of injustice. Vanessa then leads with a heartfelt prayer led by Pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts before diving into an essential lesson on supporting individuals returning home from incarceration and the process of expunging a criminal record. Finally, Trelani returns with ancestral wisdom, channeling the profound insights of literary legend Zora Neale Hurston. Join us for an episode steeped in history, healing, and heart.
Important Disclaimers:
Morgan and Vanessa are not legal experts or government workers. Consult your legal counsel, and/or government worker for guidance tailored to your needs.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
The. Disrespected person in America.
Is the black woman? But still like dust, all right?
Pretty girls in the. VIP they came with drain.
(00:30):
They'll need ideas. The revolution will not.
Be televised, brother. You are like a new Joe John.
Even if you are not ready for the day, it cannot always be
night. Freedom, freedom, freedom.
(01:02):
What are you going to do with your freedom today y'all?
Today is Friday for Mother Friday of self-care school.
You are welcome here. You belong here.
Take up space here. You are on the front line here
with a million black women who love you, who care about you and
who are walking by your side. My name is Morgan.
I am one of the Co founders of Girl Trek.
(01:22):
I am joined here with Vanessa. Are you here V.
I am. Hey everyone.
Listen, y'all, it's been a week.It has been a week.
Last week we talked about power,this week we talked about
safety. And as I was listening to that
opening song, I was just so energized and inspired by the
(01:43):
sister who was singing You aboutto lose your job to the police.
It's just like I forgot we had that little clip up in the mix.
You about to lose your job, but I was like y'all if that woman
could speak up and tell that manhe's about to lose his job
because she knew her rights. Now after these last two weeks
of self-care school, I hope thatyou feel empowered.
I hope that you feel ready. Please move out to your front
(02:04):
porches, feel the sun on your skin, and know that you have the
voice of Ida B Wells. So many women out there have
succeeded in self-care school this week by walking five days
this week. And because you walked five days
this week, you have earned the Ida B Wells badge.
(02:28):
Ida B Wells is legendary. Ida B Wells is one of the
greatest American heroes for thework that she did in providing
safety through her journalism. At the height of lynching, she
was fearless. She cut down ropes with her pen.
Y'all. She she highlighted exactly what
was happening to black bodies all across the South and even in
(02:53):
the North. Y'all, if you have not been down
to Alabama, to the lynching Memorial, I recommend you go.
We are dedicating this week's journey to Ida B Wells.
We are the daughters of Ida B Wells and we will not be
silenced about what is happeningin mass incarceration with our
family. We will not be silenced by
(03:14):
police violence and brutality. We will not be silenced by the
fear of sirens behind us. We will not be silenced.
We know our rights, so stand on your front porch.
Feel the ground supporting you. Know that foremothers have come
before you. Know that our daughters are in
front of us and that we are responsible for the next
generation. Stand tall y'all.
(03:37):
Bring your shoulders up to your ears.
Take a deep inhale. Roll them down your back with an
exhale. The day is ahead of you.
Continue your breathing. Inhale, exhale.
(04:03):
I just want to notice. I want to do a body scan.
I want you to notice your jaw. Continue to breathe.
Unclench your jaw. Let the base of your skull go
slack. Create some space.
Open your mouth. Do not speak just yet.
Just make space for your voice. Make space for what must be said
(04:29):
in your life. Drop your tongue from the roof
of your mouth. If there's any tension or
anxiety, free your mouth. Feel the muscles under your chin
release. Let your throat stretch like a
corridor that is open. Take a slow breath in through
(04:49):
your nose. Let it fill your neck and out
through your mouth. Not controlled, not poised.
A breath that does not ask for permission.
Now hum. And don't do it pretty.
(05:09):
Hum enough to make your throat vibrate, enough to remind you
that you are alive. This is how we call the voice
forward from the belly through the heart up into the throat.
This is where Ida lived with a fire in her belly, with the
(05:31):
truth of sound. And now we speak today on behalf
of Ida B Wells and all of the freedom fighters, not just loud
in volume, but loud for justice.We're going to begin our walk
today. Welcome to self-care School,
everybody. Thank you for that meditation,
Morgan, and thank you, Ida B Wells, for all that you have
(05:54):
done for us and our people. Such a really beautiful example
on this Friday as we are closingout this week.
And it has been a week that has for some.
I've heard from a lot of people actually out there who've sent
texts and messages saying how this week felt a little bit
heavy, a little bit hard, but also so necessary and so
(06:17):
healing. I got that message just last
night from one of our members asI was going to bed.
So I'm feeling also a little bitlike this week was like, wow,
how do we end this week? How do what is the lesson for
today that we're going to talk about?
And then mostly what is the energy that I can leave
everybody with that we can leaveeverybody with Morgan as we step
(06:38):
into the weekend. And so I actually want to open
up this episode after that beautiful meditation.
Instead of doing a self-care audit, y'all just step out of
your driveway into the streets, start walking.
If you're in a park, if you're on a treadmill, if you're in
your neighborhood, just go aheadand start walking.
And I want to call in a prayer for us for the to for this week.
(07:00):
I want to call in my home girl, Sarah Jiggs Roberts, who was out
on a walk and, and share this prayer with her followers.
And I want to share it with everybody.
Just a prayer to get us started.And then I want to immediately
after the prayer pull in you trilogy so that we can hear from
the foremothers and hear what they have to say before we get
into the two skills for today. So let's just start with the
(07:22):
prayer instead of the self-care audit.
If we can call in Sarah Jakes Roberts.
I'm out on my walk and I just want to take a minute and pray
for you. I am asking that the Spirit of
the living God would meet you and the space where you're
experiencing disappointment. Maybe you are dealing with the
reality of just having a tender heart from grief, from life not
(07:44):
going the way that you anticipated.
Spirit of the living God, I am asking that your presence would
meet my friend in the place of their greatest need.
That you would allow your love, your peace, your wisdom, your
strategy to rest on their weariness, their tiredness,
their brokenness. God, that you would remind them
(08:05):
that when they can't count on other people that you'll be
there for them. God, I thank you for
resurrecting power, meeting themin the space where life is
trying to squeeze. Squeeze the hope out of them,
squeeze the love out of them. God, I thank you for that
resurrecting power, reminding them that they are more than
what they have been through, they are more than the outcomes
that they are experiencing and that you, when they partner with
(08:29):
you, that you will bring them back to life.
God, I thank you for restoration, redemption, and for
the hope we have in Jesus. May they lean into it, embrace
it, and never let it go. And God, I pray that as they
receive this new heart that you want to give them, that they
would take the steps necessary to protect that heart, to keep
(08:51):
it from folding in the face of adversity.
And we know that that protectioncomes from us leaning into you.
And so, God, I thank you for fresh sensitivity to your voice,
your will, your power, your way that protects them as they
emerge in you in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen. Amen.
Just touch and agree, everybody touch and agree.
(09:12):
And I'm feeling the spirit tell me right now that we should go
into a recess. This is going to be a quick
praise break. Just it's one minute, it's 60
seconds. This is for everybody out there
who is holding it down, for yourfamily, for your friends, for
everybody. I just want to pull in now, my
home girl from Core Group Music.Her name is Jenny Weaver.
(09:32):
And we're going to just do one minute with our hands up in the
air while we actually walk of this.
Just quick praise break right here just to get our bodies into
this walk even more. He thought he had you because
the devil can't have me or my family.
This is an eviction notice to the enemy.
(09:53):
What the chain Breakers in the room say.
I said the devil care of me for my family.
This is an eviction notice. Say what?
What? There's no telling what he's
going to do. I said the devil care of me for
(10:13):
my family. This is an eviction notice.
Do the 10 of me change? Breakers in the room?
And there's no telling what he'sgoing to do.
I said the devil care of me for my family, for the chain
Breakers in the room and then not tell me what he's going to
(10:35):
do. I said the devil can't help me
or my family, Hello for the chain Breakers in the room and
then the devil can't help me or court family.
Mm hmm y'all an eviction notice to the enemy.
(10:56):
The devil cannot have me or my family.
So just love to your family wherever they are, especially if
they are incarcerated. Today, we're going to learn to
lifescaping skills, how to checkif you or someone you love is
eligible to steal or expunge their criminal records, and how
to support someone coming home from incarceration.
But before we get into those skills, Trellanie, are you on
(11:17):
the line? Home girl?
I'm here. Good morning.
I know today you have some form other words from us, from none
other than Zora Neale Hurston. Yeah, when I heard the theme,
particularly decarceration, I immediately thought about Zora
because one thing that she we know she loved was her hometown
of Eatonville, where she was raised in Eatonville, FL.
(11:37):
And the way that she described that city and in her description
of the city, she said that therewas no jailhouse.
She pointed out that there were like 300 brown skins, but no
jailhouse. And to me that was so.
That was just so central, that was so important, that was so
beautiful, that was so indicative that she pointed that
out. And to make reference that it's
(11:58):
not a black backside of town. This was a whole black town.
And so often nowadays we tend tothink of like all black people.
And sometimes we immediately think of danger or lack of
safety. And she like, Nah, like my whole
entire city was black and we didn't even need a jailhouse.
And then I started thinking moretoo, because I'm also a teacher.
(12:19):
You were teaching artists. I'm teaching a public school
just day-to-day, but I go, I hold hold a summer camp and I'm
always with young people. And so, and they're always my
mind too. And so now I just got to
thinking about them and I was like, you know, with safety, a
lot of times they have to start they themselves as children
believing that they are old safety, that that is their
right. And I thought about and how that
(12:40):
starts largely in the home, but even for those that don't have
it at home, they can still experience it with other adults
in their lives. And so Zora also had a really
beautiful part in her first novel, Jonas Gorbine, about just
that. So that's why I picked those
particular 2 readings. So I wanted to, whenever I do my
readings, I do my best to tie them in into the foremother as
(13:02):
well, Ida B Wells, as we know, she knew the state was not built
to protect her. And that's a cancer sister.
I love cancer women. She knew that we had to protect
each other and ourselves. So one of my favorite quotes
from Ida B Wells. And as we know, like she started
who we knew I who we know Ida B Wells to be.
It started because a good friendof hers was actually murdered by
(13:23):
a white mob. And that kind of set her off.
And she was already writing at the time.
And that same clan was basicallylike you better shut up or you
next. And she knew that for herself.
So she took off, but when she came back and she came back and
she, as we know, she traveled through the South and gathering
these stories of trauma that ourpeople endured.
(13:45):
And so one of my favorite quotesfrom her, a Winchester rifle
should have a place of honor in every black home.
And it should be used for that protection, which which the law
refuses to give. And so I don't understood that
protection was a right. It wasn't a privilege.
And that justice in and it's unfortunate necessity, I'll say
that too. And that justice had to be
rooted in both truth and readiness.
(14:06):
And that spirit ones through none other than Zora Neale
Hurston as well. In 1927, Zora drove through the
Deep South collecting folklore she had.
She had a car, she named it Sassy Susie, and she also
carried a pistol for protection.She did the same thing.
There's actually a picture of her taking a mobile in the
summer of 1927. She got her pistol under her
(14:26):
left arm and her hands on her hips and her head cocked it on
her wide brim head. And she's kind of smizing, like
she knows you can't stop her. And it's probably because you
couldn't Zora and Ida, but they didn't romanticize danger,
right? They carried their safety for
various reasons. They knew that they could be a
target in these environments that they were entering.
And the first law of nature is self preservation.
(14:49):
So Zora's hometown, Eatonville, FL it was one of the first black
all incorporated towns in the USand in one of her books and muse
and men that's the book where she go and talk about the field
work that she was gathering in Florida and Louisiana and the
Gulf states, she said. Eatonville, Florida, City of
(15:10):
Five lakes, 3 cocaine courts, 300 brown skins, 300 good
swimmers, plenty of Guavas, 2 schools, and no jailhouse.
That no jailhouse part. That's exactly like what I was
just explaining to you. V.
And it wasn't just Eatonville. And I want to point that out
too, because where there was one, there were a few, and where
there were a few, there were many.
Just most of them probably didn't have a Azor to sprout out
(15:32):
of it and go back and document it.
But there were many black towns back then that operated without
jails, not because they were lawless, but because they were
loving. They corrected each other.
They created safety through relationship, not surveillance.
Maybe a little bit of that too, because, you know, we stayed
looking at them blinds. But in the spirit of Sankofa,
like, we ought to go back and reclaim that for ourselves and
(15:52):
our communities. But true safety, it starts
before all of that. It starts in childhood.
And that's where that quote fromJonas Gord Vine comes in.
She released this novel for context in 1934.
And through one of the characters, she said this, we
black folks don't love our children.
We couldn't do it when we was inslavery.
(16:13):
They belonged to old Massa to want no use in treasuring other
folks's property. But we free folks now the big
bell done wrong. Us got to get to get into
practicing on treasuring our youngins.
I don't want them knocked and Butte and I was like Zora.
Because how we treat our children is a direct reflection
of what we believe we deserve. If we expect punishment from the
(16:36):
world or from God, then we tend to pass that down.
But if we believe we're worthy of protection, then we'll build
systems that protect and teach our children.
And our own inner child too. Because that's important.
Our own inner little girl. That 8/13/16 year old version of
yourself. That safety isn't earned, or
it's not just given to those in favor.
(16:57):
It's owed to all of us. I first heard about
decarceration from the Black Panther Party.
It's part of the 10 point program.
I was seeing if I wanted my summer camps to memorize that
this year. But #8 demands that all black
people be released from jails and prisons.
And then about 10 years ago, I took some students to Detroit,
and that's when I learned about Detroit's effort in abolishing
(17:17):
prisons. And it just blew my mind.
And then last year because I just all, I'm always looking at
patterns and full circles and things.
Last year I met Curtis Renee. We were on our trip to Senegal
and Curtis is the director of the Detroit Safety team.
I learned that that's Detroit Safety team.
They help communities build safety infrastructures that
(17:39):
don't rely on police, but instead they center care and
accountability and healing. They do it in schools and in
neighborhoods and like in in jails and YTC's and all of these
entities from the Eatonville to Detroit.
They just remind me that a future of the incarceration is
not just a fantasy. It happened before and it can
(18:00):
happen again, and it is happening again.
But we're only achieve it for all of us if we believe that
we're worth the safety that we're fighting for.
Wow, Charlie, you said so much. Thank you so much for all that
you brought Trellani, I really appreciate it.
Yeah, I appreciate it too, Trellani.
We're going to talk about how wecan check if someone we, us or
(18:21):
someone we love is eligible to seal or expend our records and
then how to support someone who's coming home from
incarceration. Why this matter?
Just a little bit more groundingcontext.
Every year, 600,000 people return home from incarceration
in the US, most without a plan, a job, or a place to stay. 95%
of all people in prison will return home, but over 70, 25%
(18:42):
are rearrested within five years. 70% of people who come
home don't have a job waiting one and four don't have a place
to stay. If they don't have ID, they
can't get housing, a job, or even prescriptions.
There are over 40,000 legal restrictions applied to people
who have been incarcerated that restrict them from moving freely
(19:03):
in the world after they've served time for their crime and
received their punishment. And so I just want to ground
first in those and then I want to actually introduce some new
language into our lexicon so that we can start to humanize
people in a better way. And when we're talking about
incarceration. So the first thing I want to
(19:23):
talk about is the word felon, exfelon, convict, convict, inmate,
prisoner, offender. Those words reduce a full,
complex human being to 1 moment in their life and they are often
used to justify exclusion, punishment, and permanent
stigma. So instead of using the word
felon or ex felon or convict or inmate, we can say formerly
(19:47):
incarcerated person, we can say returning citizen, we can say
just this impacted person, we can say person with a record.
We could just say my brother, mysister, my cousin, my people.
But we don't have to say that they are a felon or that they
are a convict. We don't have to call them
inmates and we don't have to call them prisoners.
So just some new language there,another actual example of
(20:08):
something we all say when referring to drug use or records
or even urine tests. We say, oh, she's clean now, but
that suggests she was dirty before.
And so to remove the moral judgment is to talk about that
she's in recovery or that she's living sober or that, you know,
she's had her record cleared, but not that she's clean now.
So that concept of being clean or dirty is something that we've
(20:31):
been indoctrinated around that we can actually remove from our
language. And then just criminal and
criminals in general, that broadlabel that we often use when
we're talking about people. Again, we can use words like
people impacted by incarcerationor we can say system impacted
(20:51):
individuals. So just giving us some language
around how we can talk about ourcommunity and how we can talk
about our families. And then Morgan and Trellini, I
want to introduce people to justa few definitions to give some
context to this entire week in this, in this episode in
particular, the 1st is re entry.That is the process of returning
(21:16):
to the community after incarceration.
So it's when we talk about re entry, it's not just about being
released. It's actually the journey back
to housing, to jobs, to healthcare, to parenting.
So how do we help people re enter into society after they
have been locked up? And there's a re entry movement
out there of, of services and people.
(21:37):
And we're going to talk about some of those in a in a little
bit. The second word is recidivism.
I just mentioned it earlier. It's when a person was
previously incarcerated and is rearrested, re convicted or re
incarcerated. And the United States has one of
the highest recidivism rates in the world.
And a part of that is because wedo not provide services.
(22:00):
There's not real rehabilitation in the prisons.
There's not real support when they come out.
And so there's no, to me, it feels like halfway obvious like
that once somebody comes out andthey don't have support that
then what they know is to returnback to the previous lifestyles.
And for some people, and I used to work at a place in DC called
Our Place DC, and we worked specifically around re entry for
(22:21):
women in DCA lot of the women, Morgan and Trellini, they wanted
to return because it was safer for them.
Like when they were trying to navigate on the outside, it
didn't have housing, didn't havefood, didn't have clothes and
didn't have community. And the idea of loneliness and
isolation and trying to survive on the outside has sent many
people back to where their community is.
(22:43):
The next word is restitution. This is court ordered money a
person must pay after a conviction, usually to a victim
or to the state and a lot of times to the state.
A lot of people actually have topay the state back for their
time in prison. And I'm talking about this can
get into the 10s of thousands tohundreds of thousands of dollars
that people have to pay in termsof restitution.
(23:04):
And if you do not pay your restitution, you cannot actually
access things like ID or things like healthcare.
And so it continues a cycle of poverty and a cycle of
punishment that doesn't allow people to actually re enter into
society in the ways that they should be able to.
So that's restitution, there's parole and probation.
(23:27):
Parole happens after someone is released from prison early, both
often they come with strict rules.
And then probation happens instead of incarceration or
after incarceration, parole and probation.
So those are two different things.
And then expungement, which we're going to talk about in a
minute, which is the legal process that erases or seals a
criminal record from public view.
(23:48):
And one in three, I think folks in the United States, not just
black folks, will come in contact with the criminal
justice system in some sort of way, whether it be a misdemeanor
or whether it be a felony. And then how that record follows
you into the rest of your life, especially when we're talking
about our young people and it's it's really criminal.
(24:10):
And so I want to talk about right now, and this is a
solidarity spotlight for Clean Slate.
Clean Slate is doing some of thebest work in the country right
now, helping states across the country to change their actual
laws and their policies that allow certain criminal records
to be cleared automatically. And they're having huge success.
(24:31):
I think they've had, there's clean Slate in that laws now in
like 15 different States and they're doing really amazing
work. And Common is actually one of
their advocates. And he, I want to pull him in
right now to talk about clean slate because everybody who has
a person who is incarcerated in their family or in their
community should immediately go to cleanslate.com so that you
(24:52):
can learn more around how you can get involved.
But let's hear from Common. He's going to break it down for
us. This is common, and I'm proud to
support Clean Slate. I believe in the power of second
chances, but for too many, a past mistake becomes a lifelong
sentence. A record shouldn't be a life
sentence to poverty, exclusion, or silence.
(25:13):
Even after someone is taking responsibility and stay crime
free, that record can still block them from getting a job, a
home, or an education. That's why the Clean Slate
initiative matters. It's a national, bipartisan
movement working to automatically seal eligible
records because everyone deserves the chance to work, to
(25:34):
grow, and to move forward. This isn't about a race in the
past. It's about honoring the work
that someone has done to build anew future.
Join the movement to expand clean slate laws to all 50
states because no one should be defined forever by their record.
It's time for a clean slate. Learn more and Clean Slate
(25:55):
Initiative org. Clean Slate initiative.org Thank
you for that comment. Pennsylvania was the first state
to pass a clean slate law in 2018, and since then over 40
million records were automatically sealed.
Utah, Michigan, and Delaware followed suit with new laws.
California passed legislation toexpand automatic record relief
(26:16):
statewide. Minnesota, New Jersey and
Connecticut are now clean Statesand they are organizing right
now heavily in South Carolina, Texas and New York and they are
expecting laws and policy to be passed in their favor very, very
soon that will help folks in those states as well.
So the last thing I'll say on this before we move on to how
(26:40):
you can help folks with re entryis just to know the types of
records that you might have. So the first is an if you've
been arrested but don't have a conviction, you're likely
eligible immediately, obviously,to have the arrest removed from
your record or not to be on record.
If you've been convicted of a misdemeanor, you're often
eligible after one to three years if you've not had any new
(27:03):
charges. If you've been convicted of a
nonviolent felony, it sometimes can take up to 5 to 10 years,
but Clean State is working to reduce those numbers.
And then if you've been convicted of a violent felony or
a sex offense, you're often not eligible.
And this is where even Clean State is saying they're not just
doing a blanket. It's not just a blanket for
(27:26):
everyone where they're just like, we're not making eye
contact with the fact that some people might be violent
criminals and might need to actually be punished in a
different way or to be tracked in a different type of a way.
And so it's really about the bulk and the majority of people
who end up being justice involved who really do need
second chances. So Clean Slate initiative, y'all
(27:48):
look it up. And when you look at when you go
there, if you have someone who is incarcerated, you should know
their case number which will really be able to help you to
get support from Clean Slate. Now that we understand about how
we can help to both get involvedwith the fight around helping
people to expunge their records,to seal their records, to not
(28:09):
have to be carried around for the rest of their life.
The stigma even in language. I want to talk about some of the
very, very basic things that we can do to help people who are
reentering in our own communities.
And the first is every communityhas very specific state, city,
local reentry programs. And so just to introduce the
(28:30):
word reentry to you, I want everybody to actually Google for
their own city or their own state, whether it's Washington,
DC reentry or Charleston, SC reentry, and just study up on
who are the folks and the peoplein your community who are doing
the work. Morgan, These are often some of
the most underfunded organizations.
They're also often some of the most frontline organizations,
(28:54):
meaning they are really there onthe front lines.
When I worked at our place, DC, which was a reentry program in
DC, which now which ended up notbeing able to keep funding and
so they no longer exist. But it was literally a frontline
program where women could immediately come the day after
they got out of prison and they were looking for some of the
most basic things. I'm talking about toothpaste and
(29:14):
toothbrushes. I'm talking about tampons and
pads. I'm talking about health, health
support around how they can get support around medications and
stuff like that. Job seeking support, education
support. The women really literally did
not know where to go. And I'm asking everybody out
there to figure out who is doingre entry in your community and
(29:35):
see how you could support them. Maybe you can support with a
small donation. Maybe you could support with
some time that you can volunteer.
A lot of re entry programs are looking for specific volunteers
who can sit and talk to the women and the men who've come
out who can help them to navigate on the Internet when
they haven't had access to the Internet that much, who are
trying to help them to actually navigate to access their
services. And so there's a lot of reentry
(29:56):
programs out there and they needlow support from folks like us
who maybe don't know how we can actually get involved, but we
can get involved by supporting the reentry programs that are
out there. So that's the first thing that I
just want to tell people, pleasefigure out who is doing reentry
in your community and please figure out if there is a way
that you can support. A lot of reentry programs have
(30:18):
reentry kits and so you can actually create kits where you
can put hygiene products, food, gift cards, transit passes,
notepads, clothes, resources, etc.
You can put together reentry kits and you can just drop them
off at the reentry programs so that you can support somebody
who is coming back home. The most basic things that
people need within the 72 hours of their release Our state ID or
(30:41):
a birth certificate, which is required for housing, jobs,
benefits, and schools. Do you know how hard it is
working Intro? You need to get a state ID and
your birth certificate and stuffnow.
And imagine if you've moved fivetimes, if you're disconnected
from your family and you're getting out of prison and you
need to figure out how to get these documentation.
And then of course, transportation and housing are
(31:04):
huge things that reentry programs are helping with.
A lot of reentry programs ask for people to volunteer to
support with transportation so that people can get to and from
places. I think now even with Uber and
Lyft, you can give like credits to a lot of reentry programs to
help people so that they can getaround.
Or you can give bus passes or train passes to reentry programs
(31:26):
so that people can help them to get around.
And then just in general, all ofus getting more informed and
more involved around the housingand homeless shelters in our
communities and what they need because they often become the
first line of defense for peoplewho are coming out.
So some cities are passing fair chance housing laws to stop
(31:46):
rental discrimination. We have to get out there, y'all,
and speak up and support our family members who are looking
for housing who may be discriminated against.
And then employers, y'all Employers cannot ask you about
your record until after a conditional job offer.
It's called the Fair Chance Act.It might maybe, maybe be the
(32:10):
most important thing when you'reon filling out your job
application. You do not have to answer the
question around if you have beenconvicted of a crime or a
felony. And a lot of job applications
now are being forced to remove it from there because of the
Fair Chance Act. So we really have to pay
attention because employers and landlords are often breaking the
law by discriminating against people with records.
(32:32):
And that's why y'all, we have toget involved.
When we were talking about this,I think it was in last week's
episode when we were talking about getting involved at your
City Council meetings and getting involved at the local
level around the laws that are being drafted in your particular
state. This is how we can be in the
fight for our people, y'all. This is how we can be in the
fight for our family members to support them in the things that
(32:53):
they need. So that's all I got.
This has been a week, y'all? A week.
We're going to closeout and we will be back on Monday with a
whole new week of lessons. But I want to bring back in my
girl Jenny Weaver chain Bricker,just so we can throw our hands
back up in the air. Because we made it y'all, we did
it five days this week. We are here, we are alive.
(33:15):
We are breaking the chains for our families.
We are breaking the chains for ourselves.
I'm proud of you. I'm proud of myself.
I'm proud of Morgan. I'm proud of girl trek.
I'm proud of the work that we doand I feel very, very blessed to
be a part of this community. So thank you for being with us
and we will see you on Monday. I.
Thought I had you because the devil can't help me or my
(33:36):
family. This is an eviction notice to
the enemy. What the chain Breakers in the
room say. I said the devil care me or my
family. This is an eviction notice.
Say what? What doesn't tell him what he's
(33:57):
going to do get the devil care at me for my family.
This is an affection college do the enemy chain Breakers in the
room and there's no telly what he's going to do.
I said the devil care on me for my family or the chain Breakers
(34:18):
in the room and there's no tellywhat he's going to do.
I said the devil care how me formy family.
Hello. Before the Jane Breakers in the
room and then the judgment, the devil can have me or core
family. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
(34:46):
hey. The devil can me for my family
fiction notice to the enemy or the Jane Breakers in the room.
Yeah, yeah, then.
We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.
The. Disrespected person in America.
Is the black woman? But still like dust, all right?
Pretty girls in the. VIP they came with drain.
(00:30):
They'll need ideas. The revolution will not.
Be televised, brother. You are like a new Joe John.
Even if you are not ready for the day, it cannot always be
night. Freedom, freedom, freedom.
(01:02):
What are you going to do with your freedom today y'all?
Today is Friday for Mother Friday of self-care school.
You are welcome here. You belong here.
Take up space here. You are on the front line here
with a million black women who love you, who care about you and
who are walking by your side. My name is Morgan.
I am one of the Co founders of Girl Trek.
(01:22):
I am joined here with Vanessa. Are you here V.
I am. Hey everyone.
Listen, y'all, it's been a week.It has been a week.
Last week we talked about power,this week we talked about
safety. And as I was listening to that
opening song, I was just so energized and inspired by the
(01:43):
sister who was singing You aboutto lose your job to the police.
It's just like I forgot we had that little clip up in the mix.
You about to lose your job, but I was like y'all if that woman
could speak up and tell that manhe's about to lose his job
because she knew her rights. Now after these last two weeks
of self-care school, I hope thatyou feel empowered.
I hope that you feel ready. Please move out to your front
(02:04):
porches, feel the sun on your skin, and know that you have the
voice of Ida B Wells. So many women out there have
succeeded in self-care school this week by walking five days
this week. And because you walked five days
this week, you have earned the Ida B Wells badge.
(02:28):
Ida B Wells is legendary. Ida B Wells is one of the
greatest American heroes for thework that she did in providing
safety through her journalism. At the height of lynching, she
was fearless. She cut down ropes with her pen.
Y'all. She she highlighted exactly what
was happening to black bodies all across the South and even in
(02:53):
the North. Y'all, if you have not been down
to Alabama, to the lynching Memorial, I recommend you go.
We are dedicating this week's journey to Ida B Wells.
We are the daughters of Ida B Wells and we will not be
silenced about what is happeningin mass incarceration with our
family. We will not be silenced by
(03:14):
police violence and brutality. We will not be silenced by the
fear of sirens behind us. We will not be silenced.
We know our rights, so stand on your front porch.
Feel the ground supporting you. Know that foremothers have come
before you. Know that our daughters are in
front of us and that we are responsible for the next
generation. Stand tall y'all.
(03:37):
Bring your shoulders up to your ears.
Take a deep inhale. Roll them down your back with an
exhale. The day is ahead of you.
Continue your breathing. Inhale, exhale.
(04:03):
I just want to notice. I want to do a body scan.
I want you to notice your jaw. Continue to breathe.
Unclench your jaw. Let the base of your skull go
slack. Create some space.
Open your mouth. Do not speak just yet.
Just make space for your voice. Make space for what must be said
(04:29):
in your life. Drop your tongue from the roof
of your mouth. If there's any tension or
anxiety, free your mouth. Feel the muscles under your chin
release. Let your throat stretch like a
corridor that is open. Take a slow breath in through
(04:49):
your nose. Let it fill your neck and out
through your mouth. Not controlled, not poised.
A breath that does not ask for permission.
Now hum. And don't do it pretty.
(05:09):
Hum enough to make your throat vibrate, enough to remind you
that you are alive. This is how we call the voice
forward from the belly through the heart up into the throat.
This is where Ida lived with a fire in her belly, with the
(05:31):
truth of sound. And now we speak today on behalf
of Ida B Wells and all of the freedom fighters, not just loud
in volume, but loud for justice.We're going to begin our walk
today. Welcome to self-care School,
everybody. Thank you for that meditation,
Morgan, and thank you, Ida B Wells, for all that you have
(05:54):
done for us and our people. Such a really beautiful example
on this Friday as we are closingout this week.
And it has been a week that has for some.
I've heard from a lot of people actually out there who've sent
texts and messages saying how this week felt a little bit
heavy, a little bit hard, but also so necessary and so
(06:17):
healing. I got that message just last
night from one of our members asI was going to bed.
So I'm feeling also a little bitlike this week was like, wow,
how do we end this week? How do what is the lesson for
today that we're going to talk about?
And then mostly what is the energy that I can leave
everybody with that we can leaveeverybody with Morgan as we step
(06:38):
into the weekend. And so I actually want to open
up this episode after that beautiful meditation.
Instead of doing a self-care audit, y'all just step out of
your driveway into the streets, start walking.
If you're in a park, if you're on a treadmill, if you're in
your neighborhood, just go aheadand start walking.
And I want to call in a prayer for us for the to for this week.
(07:00):
I want to call in my home girl, Sarah Jiggs Roberts, who was out
on a walk and, and share this prayer with her followers.
And I want to share it with everybody.
Just a prayer to get us started.And then I want to immediately
after the prayer pull in you trilogy so that we can hear from
the foremothers and hear what they have to say before we get
into the two skills for today. So let's just start with the
(07:22):
prayer instead of the self-care audit.
If we can call in Sarah Jakes Roberts.
I'm out on my walk and I just want to take a minute and pray
for you. I am asking that the Spirit of
the living God would meet you and the space where you're
experiencing disappointment. Maybe you are dealing with the
reality of just having a tender heart from grief, from life not
(07:44):
going the way that you anticipated.
Spirit of the living God, I am asking that your presence would
meet my friend in the place of their greatest need.
That you would allow your love, your peace, your wisdom, your
strategy to rest on their weariness, their tiredness,
their brokenness. God, that you would remind them
(08:05):
that when they can't count on other people that you'll be
there for them. God, I thank you for
resurrecting power, meeting themin the space where life is
trying to squeeze. Squeeze the hope out of them,
squeeze the love out of them. God, I thank you for that
resurrecting power, reminding them that they are more than
what they have been through, they are more than the outcomes
that they are experiencing and that you, when they partner with
(08:29):
you, that you will bring them back to life.
God, I thank you for restoration, redemption, and for
the hope we have in Jesus. May they lean into it, embrace
it, and never let it go. And God, I pray that as they
receive this new heart that you want to give them, that they
would take the steps necessary to protect that heart, to keep
(08:51):
it from folding in the face of adversity.
And we know that that protectioncomes from us leaning into you.
And so, God, I thank you for fresh sensitivity to your voice,
your will, your power, your way that protects them as they
emerge in you in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen. Amen.
Just touch and agree, everybody touch and agree.
(09:12):
And I'm feeling the spirit tell me right now that we should go
into a recess. This is going to be a quick
praise break. Just it's one minute, it's 60
seconds. This is for everybody out there
who is holding it down, for yourfamily, for your friends, for
everybody. I just want to pull in now, my
home girl from Core Group Music.Her name is Jenny Weaver.
(09:32):
And we're going to just do one minute with our hands up in the
air while we actually walk of this.
Just quick praise break right here just to get our bodies into
this walk even more. He thought he had you because
the devil can't have me or my family.
This is an eviction notice to the enemy.
(09:53):
What the chain Breakers in the room say.
I said the devil care of me for my family.
This is an eviction notice. Say what?
What? There's no telling what he's
going to do. I said the devil care of me for
(10:13):
my family. This is an eviction notice.
Do the 10 of me change? Breakers in the room?
And there's no telling what he'sgoing to do.
I said the devil care of me for my family, for the chain
Breakers in the room and then not tell me what he's going to
(10:35):
do. I said the devil can't help me
or my family, Hello for the chain Breakers in the room and
then the devil can't help me or court family.
Mm hmm y'all an eviction notice to the enemy.
(10:56):
The devil cannot have me or my family.
So just love to your family wherever they are, especially if
they are incarcerated. Today, we're going to learn to
lifescaping skills, how to checkif you or someone you love is
eligible to steal or expunge their criminal records, and how
to support someone coming home from incarceration.
But before we get into those skills, Trellanie, are you on
(11:17):
the line? Home girl?
I'm here. Good morning.
I know today you have some form other words from us, from none
other than Zora Neale Hurston. Yeah, when I heard the theme,
particularly decarceration, I immediately thought about Zora
because one thing that she we know she loved was her hometown
of Eatonville, where she was raised in Eatonville, FL.
(11:37):
And the way that she described that city and in her description
of the city, she said that therewas no jailhouse.
She pointed out that there were like 300 brown skins, but no
jailhouse. And to me that was so.
That was just so central, that was so important, that was so
beautiful, that was so indicative that she pointed that
out. And to make reference that it's
(11:58):
not a black backside of town. This was a whole black town.
And so often nowadays we tend tothink of like all black people.
And sometimes we immediately think of danger or lack of
safety. And she like, Nah, like my whole
entire city was black and we didn't even need a jailhouse.
And then I started thinking moretoo, because I'm also a teacher.
(12:19):
You were teaching artists. I'm teaching a public school
just day-to-day, but I go, I hold hold a summer camp and I'm
always with young people. And so, and they're always my
mind too. And so now I just got to
thinking about them and I was like, you know, with safety, a
lot of times they have to start they themselves as children
believing that they are old safety, that that is their
right. And I thought about and how that
(12:40):
starts largely in the home, but even for those that don't have
it at home, they can still experience it with other adults
in their lives. And so Zora also had a really
beautiful part in her first novel, Jonas Gorbine, about just
that. So that's why I picked those
particular 2 readings. So I wanted to, whenever I do my
readings, I do my best to tie them in into the foremother as
(13:02):
well, Ida B Wells, as we know, she knew the state was not built
to protect her. And that's a cancer sister.
I love cancer women. She knew that we had to protect
each other and ourselves. So one of my favorite quotes
from Ida B Wells. And as we know, like she started
who we knew I who we know Ida B Wells to be.
It started because a good friendof hers was actually murdered by
(13:23):
a white mob. And that kind of set her off.
And she was already writing at the time.
And that same clan was basicallylike you better shut up or you
next. And she knew that for herself.
So she took off, but when she came back and she came back and
she, as we know, she traveled through the South and gathering
these stories of trauma that ourpeople endured.
(13:45):
And so one of my favorite quotesfrom her, a Winchester rifle
should have a place of honor in every black home.
And it should be used for that protection, which which the law
refuses to give. And so I don't understood that
protection was a right. It wasn't a privilege.
And that justice in and it's unfortunate necessity, I'll say
that too. And that justice had to be
rooted in both truth and readiness.
(14:06):
And that spirit ones through none other than Zora Neale
Hurston as well. In 1927, Zora drove through the
Deep South collecting folklore she had.
She had a car, she named it Sassy Susie, and she also
carried a pistol for protection.She did the same thing.
There's actually a picture of her taking a mobile in the
summer of 1927. She got her pistol under her
(14:26):
left arm and her hands on her hips and her head cocked it on
her wide brim head. And she's kind of smizing, like
she knows you can't stop her. And it's probably because you
couldn't Zora and Ida, but they didn't romanticize danger,
right? They carried their safety for
various reasons. They knew that they could be a
target in these environments that they were entering.
And the first law of nature is self preservation.
(14:49):
So Zora's hometown, Eatonville, FL it was one of the first black
all incorporated towns in the USand in one of her books and muse
and men that's the book where she go and talk about the field
work that she was gathering in Florida and Louisiana and the
Gulf states, she said. Eatonville, Florida, City of
(15:10):
Five lakes, 3 cocaine courts, 300 brown skins, 300 good
swimmers, plenty of Guavas, 2 schools, and no jailhouse.
That no jailhouse part. That's exactly like what I was
just explaining to you. V.
And it wasn't just Eatonville. And I want to point that out
too, because where there was one, there were a few, and where
there were a few, there were many.
Just most of them probably didn't have a Azor to sprout out
(15:32):
of it and go back and document it.
But there were many black towns back then that operated without
jails, not because they were lawless, but because they were
loving. They corrected each other.
They created safety through relationship, not surveillance.
Maybe a little bit of that too, because, you know, we stayed
looking at them blinds. But in the spirit of Sankofa,
like, we ought to go back and reclaim that for ourselves and
(15:52):
our communities. But true safety, it starts
before all of that. It starts in childhood.
And that's where that quote fromJonas Gord Vine comes in.
She released this novel for context in 1934.
And through one of the characters, she said this, we
black folks don't love our children.
We couldn't do it when we was inslavery.
(16:13):
They belonged to old Massa to want no use in treasuring other
folks's property. But we free folks now the big
bell done wrong. Us got to get to get into
practicing on treasuring our youngins.
I don't want them knocked and Butte and I was like Zora.
Because how we treat our children is a direct reflection
of what we believe we deserve. If we expect punishment from the
(16:36):
world or from God, then we tend to pass that down.
But if we believe we're worthy of protection, then we'll build
systems that protect and teach our children.
And our own inner child too. Because that's important.
Our own inner little girl. That 8/13/16 year old version of
yourself. That safety isn't earned, or
it's not just given to those in favor.
(16:57):
It's owed to all of us. I first heard about
decarceration from the Black Panther Party.
It's part of the 10 point program.
I was seeing if I wanted my summer camps to memorize that
this year. But #8 demands that all black
people be released from jails and prisons.
And then about 10 years ago, I took some students to Detroit,
and that's when I learned about Detroit's effort in abolishing
(17:17):
prisons. And it just blew my mind.
And then last year because I just all, I'm always looking at
patterns and full circles and things.
Last year I met Curtis Renee. We were on our trip to Senegal
and Curtis is the director of the Detroit Safety team.
I learned that that's Detroit Safety team.
They help communities build safety infrastructures that
(17:39):
don't rely on police, but instead they center care and
accountability and healing. They do it in schools and in
neighborhoods and like in in jails and YTC's and all of these
entities from the Eatonville to Detroit.
They just remind me that a future of the incarceration is
not just a fantasy. It happened before and it can
(18:00):
happen again, and it is happening again.
But we're only achieve it for all of us if we believe that
we're worth the safety that we're fighting for.
Wow, Charlie, you said so much. Thank you so much for all that
you brought Trellani, I really appreciate it.
Yeah, I appreciate it too, Trellani.
We're going to talk about how wecan check if someone we, us or
(18:21):
someone we love is eligible to seal or expend our records and
then how to support someone who's coming home from
incarceration. Why this matter?
Just a little bit more groundingcontext.
Every year, 600,000 people return home from incarceration
in the US, most without a plan, a job, or a place to stay. 95%
of all people in prison will return home, but over 70, 25%
(18:42):
are rearrested within five years. 70% of people who come
home don't have a job waiting one and four don't have a place
to stay. If they don't have ID, they
can't get housing, a job, or even prescriptions.
There are over 40,000 legal restrictions applied to people
who have been incarcerated that restrict them from moving freely
(19:03):
in the world after they've served time for their crime and
received their punishment. And so I just want to ground
first in those and then I want to actually introduce some new
language into our lexicon so that we can start to humanize
people in a better way. And when we're talking about
incarceration. So the first thing I want to
(19:23):
talk about is the word felon, exfelon, convict, convict, inmate,
prisoner, offender. Those words reduce a full,
complex human being to 1 moment in their life and they are often
used to justify exclusion, punishment, and permanent
stigma. So instead of using the word
felon or ex felon or convict or inmate, we can say formerly
(19:47):
incarcerated person, we can say returning citizen, we can say
just this impacted person, we can say person with a record.
We could just say my brother, mysister, my cousin, my people.
But we don't have to say that they are a felon or that they
are a convict. We don't have to call them
inmates and we don't have to call them prisoners.
So just some new language there,another actual example of
(20:08):
something we all say when referring to drug use or records
or even urine tests. We say, oh, she's clean now, but
that suggests she was dirty before.
And so to remove the moral judgment is to talk about that
she's in recovery or that she's living sober or that, you know,
she's had her record cleared, but not that she's clean now.
So that concept of being clean or dirty is something that we've
(20:31):
been indoctrinated around that we can actually remove from our
language. And then just criminal and
criminals in general, that broadlabel that we often use when
we're talking about people. Again, we can use words like
people impacted by incarcerationor we can say system impacted
(20:51):
individuals. So just giving us some language
around how we can talk about ourcommunity and how we can talk
about our families. And then Morgan and Trellini, I
want to introduce people to justa few definitions to give some
context to this entire week in this, in this episode in
particular, the 1st is re entry.That is the process of returning
(21:16):
to the community after incarceration.
So it's when we talk about re entry, it's not just about being
released. It's actually the journey back
to housing, to jobs, to healthcare, to parenting.
So how do we help people re enter into society after they
have been locked up? And there's a re entry movement
out there of, of services and people.
(21:37):
And we're going to talk about some of those in a in a little
bit. The second word is recidivism.
I just mentioned it earlier. It's when a person was
previously incarcerated and is rearrested, re convicted or re
incarcerated. And the United States has one of
the highest recidivism rates in the world.
And a part of that is because wedo not provide services.
(22:00):
There's not real rehabilitation in the prisons.
There's not real support when they come out.
And so there's no, to me, it feels like halfway obvious like
that once somebody comes out andthey don't have support that
then what they know is to returnback to the previous lifestyles.
And for some people, and I used to work at a place in DC called
Our Place DC, and we worked specifically around re entry for
(22:21):
women in DCA lot of the women, Morgan and Trellini, they wanted
to return because it was safer for them.
Like when they were trying to navigate on the outside, it
didn't have housing, didn't havefood, didn't have clothes and
didn't have community. And the idea of loneliness and
isolation and trying to survive on the outside has sent many
people back to where their community is.
(22:43):
The next word is restitution. This is court ordered money a
person must pay after a conviction, usually to a victim
or to the state and a lot of times to the state.
A lot of people actually have topay the state back for their
time in prison. And I'm talking about this can
get into the 10s of thousands tohundreds of thousands of dollars
that people have to pay in termsof restitution.
(23:04):
And if you do not pay your restitution, you cannot actually
access things like ID or things like healthcare.
And so it continues a cycle of poverty and a cycle of
punishment that doesn't allow people to actually re enter into
society in the ways that they should be able to.
So that's restitution, there's parole and probation.
(23:27):
Parole happens after someone is released from prison early, both
often they come with strict rules.
And then probation happens instead of incarceration or
after incarceration, parole and probation.
So those are two different things.
And then expungement, which we're going to talk about in a
minute, which is the legal process that erases or seals a
criminal record from public view.
(23:48):
And one in three, I think folks in the United States, not just
black folks, will come in contact with the criminal
justice system in some sort of way, whether it be a misdemeanor
or whether it be a felony. And then how that record follows
you into the rest of your life, especially when we're talking
about our young people and it's it's really criminal.
(24:10):
And so I want to talk about right now, and this is a
solidarity spotlight for Clean Slate.
Clean Slate is doing some of thebest work in the country right
now, helping states across the country to change their actual
laws and their policies that allow certain criminal records
to be cleared automatically. And they're having huge success.
(24:31):
I think they've had, there's clean Slate in that laws now in
like 15 different States and they're doing really amazing
work. And Common is actually one of
their advocates. And he, I want to pull him in
right now to talk about clean slate because everybody who has
a person who is incarcerated in their family or in their
community should immediately go to cleanslate.com so that you
(24:52):
can learn more around how you can get involved.
But let's hear from Common. He's going to break it down for
us. This is common, and I'm proud to
support Clean Slate. I believe in the power of second
chances, but for too many, a past mistake becomes a lifelong
sentence. A record shouldn't be a life
sentence to poverty, exclusion, or silence.
(25:13):
Even after someone is taking responsibility and stay crime
free, that record can still block them from getting a job, a
home, or an education. That's why the Clean Slate
initiative matters. It's a national, bipartisan
movement working to automatically seal eligible
records because everyone deserves the chance to work, to
(25:34):
grow, and to move forward. This isn't about a race in the
past. It's about honoring the work
that someone has done to build anew future.
Join the movement to expand clean slate laws to all 50
states because no one should be defined forever by their record.
It's time for a clean slate. Learn more and Clean Slate
(25:55):
Initiative org. Clean Slate initiative.org Thank
you for that comment. Pennsylvania was the first state
to pass a clean slate law in 2018, and since then over 40
million records were automatically sealed.
Utah, Michigan, and Delaware followed suit with new laws.
California passed legislation toexpand automatic record relief
(26:16):
statewide. Minnesota, New Jersey and
Connecticut are now clean Statesand they are organizing right
now heavily in South Carolina, Texas and New York and they are
expecting laws and policy to be passed in their favor very, very
soon that will help folks in those states as well.
So the last thing I'll say on this before we move on to how
(26:40):
you can help folks with re entryis just to know the types of
records that you might have. So the first is an if you've
been arrested but don't have a conviction, you're likely
eligible immediately, obviously,to have the arrest removed from
your record or not to be on record.
If you've been convicted of a misdemeanor, you're often
eligible after one to three years if you've not had any new
(27:03):
charges. If you've been convicted of a
nonviolent felony, it sometimes can take up to 5 to 10 years,
but Clean State is working to reduce those numbers.
And then if you've been convicted of a violent felony or
a sex offense, you're often not eligible.
And this is where even Clean State is saying they're not just
doing a blanket. It's not just a blanket for
(27:26):
everyone where they're just like, we're not making eye
contact with the fact that some people might be violent
criminals and might need to actually be punished in a
different way or to be tracked in a different type of a way.
And so it's really about the bulk and the majority of people
who end up being justice involved who really do need
second chances. So Clean Slate initiative, y'all
(27:48):
look it up. And when you look at when you go
there, if you have someone who is incarcerated, you should know
their case number which will really be able to help you to
get support from Clean Slate. Now that we understand about how
we can help to both get involvedwith the fight around helping
people to expunge their records,to seal their records, to not
(28:09):
have to be carried around for the rest of their life.
The stigma even in language. I want to talk about some of the
very, very basic things that we can do to help people who are
reentering in our own communities.
And the first is every communityhas very specific state, city,
local reentry programs. And so just to introduce the
(28:30):
word reentry to you, I want everybody to actually Google for
their own city or their own state, whether it's Washington,
DC reentry or Charleston, SC reentry, and just study up on
who are the folks and the peoplein your community who are doing
the work. Morgan, These are often some of
the most underfunded organizations.
They're also often some of the most frontline organizations,
(28:54):
meaning they are really there onthe front lines.
When I worked at our place, DC, which was a reentry program in
DC, which now which ended up notbeing able to keep funding and
so they no longer exist. But it was literally a frontline
program where women could immediately come the day after
they got out of prison and they were looking for some of the
most basic things. I'm talking about toothpaste and
(29:14):
toothbrushes. I'm talking about tampons and
pads. I'm talking about health, health
support around how they can get support around medications and
stuff like that. Job seeking support, education
support. The women really literally did
not know where to go. And I'm asking everybody out
there to figure out who is doingre entry in your community and
(29:35):
see how you could support them. Maybe you can support with a
small donation. Maybe you could support with
some time that you can volunteer.
A lot of re entry programs are looking for specific volunteers
who can sit and talk to the women and the men who've come
out who can help them to navigate on the Internet when
they haven't had access to the Internet that much, who are
trying to help them to actually navigate to access their
services. And so there's a lot of reentry
(29:56):
programs out there and they needlow support from folks like us
who maybe don't know how we can actually get involved, but we
can get involved by supporting the reentry programs that are
out there. So that's the first thing that I
just want to tell people, pleasefigure out who is doing reentry
in your community and please figure out if there is a way
that you can support. A lot of reentry programs have
(30:18):
reentry kits and so you can actually create kits where you
can put hygiene products, food, gift cards, transit passes,
notepads, clothes, resources, etc.
You can put together reentry kits and you can just drop them
off at the reentry programs so that you can support somebody
who is coming back home. The most basic things that
people need within the 72 hours of their release Our state ID or
(30:41):
a birth certificate, which is required for housing, jobs,
benefits, and schools. Do you know how hard it is
working Intro? You need to get a state ID and
your birth certificate and stuffnow.
And imagine if you've moved fivetimes, if you're disconnected
from your family and you're getting out of prison and you
need to figure out how to get these documentation.
And then of course, transportation and housing are
(31:04):
huge things that reentry programs are helping with.
A lot of reentry programs ask for people to volunteer to
support with transportation so that people can get to and from
places. I think now even with Uber and
Lyft, you can give like credits to a lot of reentry programs to
help people so that they can getaround.
Or you can give bus passes or train passes to reentry programs
(31:26):
so that people can help them to get around.
And then just in general, all ofus getting more informed and
more involved around the housingand homeless shelters in our
communities and what they need because they often become the
first line of defense for peoplewho are coming out.
So some cities are passing fair chance housing laws to stop
(31:46):
rental discrimination. We have to get out there, y'all,
and speak up and support our family members who are looking
for housing who may be discriminated against.
And then employers, y'all Employers cannot ask you about
your record until after a conditional job offer.
It's called the Fair Chance Act.It might maybe, maybe be the
(32:10):
most important thing when you'reon filling out your job
application. You do not have to answer the
question around if you have beenconvicted of a crime or a
felony. And a lot of job applications
now are being forced to remove it from there because of the
Fair Chance Act. So we really have to pay
attention because employers and landlords are often breaking the
law by discriminating against people with records.
(32:32):
And that's why y'all, we have toget involved.
When we were talking about this,I think it was in last week's
episode when we were talking about getting involved at your
City Council meetings and getting involved at the local
level around the laws that are being drafted in your particular
state. This is how we can be in the
fight for our people, y'all. This is how we can be in the
fight for our family members to support them in the things that
(32:53):
they need. So that's all I got.
This has been a week, y'all? A week.
We're going to closeout and we will be back on Monday with a
whole new week of lessons. But I want to bring back in my
girl Jenny Weaver chain Bricker,just so we can throw our hands
back up in the air. Because we made it y'all, we did
it five days this week. We are here, we are alive.
(33:15):
We are breaking the chains for our families.
We are breaking the chains for ourselves.
I'm proud of you. I'm proud of myself.
I'm proud of Morgan. I'm proud of girl trek.
I'm proud of the work that we doand I feel very, very blessed to
be a part of this community. So thank you for being with us
and we will see you on Monday. I.
Thought I had you because the devil can't help me or my
(33:36):
family. This is an eviction notice to
the enemy. What the chain Breakers in the
room say. I said the devil care me or my
family. This is an eviction notice.
Say what? What doesn't tell him what he's
(33:57):
going to do get the devil care at me for my family.
This is an affection college do the enemy chain Breakers in the
room and there's no telly what he's going to do.
I said the devil care on me for my family or the chain Breakers
(34:18):
in the room and there's no tellywhat he's going to do.
I said the devil care how me formy family.
Hello. Before the Jane Breakers in the
room and then the judgment, the devil can have me or core
family. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
(34:46):
hey. The devil can me for my family
fiction notice to the enemy or the Jane Breakers in the room.
Yeah, yeah, then.
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