It’s worth a moment of celebration, in a time when there’s not much to celebrate. Over 200 folks from 4 counties helped plan and hold, and participated in, our successful MOSES/WeROC Justice Matters Virtual Townhall in late July. Because of our unity, our numbers, our research, and our direct questions, we got solid public commitments from those candidates for District Attorney and County Prosecutor who went on to win their Primary elections in August in Wayne, Washtenaw, Oakland, and Macomb Counties. NOW we need to plan smart, powerful (virtual) meetings with each of them in September, with lots of participants in each!
Please help keep the momentum going by attending a special “Teach-In” next Tuesday, 6:00-730, where we’ll learn more about how we’ve done powerful meetings like this in the past, and plan our next steps together — both as a region AND in each of our four counties. Register in advance at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYvdumrqjooHdJJn40psTyKPM6mylNYT6jJ
In addition to agreeing to support the planks of our Prosecutorial Accountability Platform, the Primary-winning candidates agreed to meet with delegations from each of their counties during September, ahead of the November 3 General Election. Make no mistake: They said YES because of all of YOU, and that’s DEFINITELY worth celebrating, yes? But with another grim reminder of what remains to be done in wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin, it’s our job now to seriously follow up on those commitments and make them real. To make sure that whoever wins in November in each county really steps up to the new community expectations that the Black Lives Matter movement and allied activists have set for all of us — for what a healthy, effective, and humane public safety and criminal justice system can — and must — immediately begin to look like.
It’s our unity and strength in numbers across the region that will translate the calls for long-overdue changes into real policies and a better life for so many of our neighbors. Join us Tuesday as we keep working together to find the best roles for our grassroots organizing projects at this time and place — and then act on them.
DeJuan Bland, Ross Harris, and Tad Wysor for the MOSES/WeROC Justice Matters Campaign