You are invited to join us in presenting Fruitvale, Florida, Ferguson and Beyond: A Summit about Ending Mass Criminalization in Oakland.
The summit will consist of workshops for youth on knowing your rights, for parents on how to keep our children out of jail, and for everyone on busting the school to prison pipeline and ending mass incarceration and deportation. This summit will be focused on youth and parents in the Oakland schools and lead up to a larger conference on these issues in April 2015.
Nationally, more than $60 billion is invested in correctional systems that incarcerate or supervise nearly 7 million people. Yet data shows that the US recidivism rate remains at approximately 67% (81% for youth)–one measure of the systems – failure to improve public safety. In 1970, there were 200,000 people in state and federal prison; in 2013, there were 1.5 million. 65% of prisoners are Black or Latino, though the combined percentage of the population for these two groups is around 30%. It costs $62,000 per year to keep someone in prison, while the California schools spend $9200 per student a year. The U. S. has the highest prison population in the world. According to one study, a Black man is killed by police, security forces, or vigilantes every 28 hours. This situation must change.
We know you understand the importance of this issue.