#RedelJones

#BlackXmas: Visioning Beyond the Weight of the Moment

This last several days have been heavy and dispiriting. Last Thursday, we breathed a collective sigh of relief that was all too brief. Our days, weeks, months, and years of organizing was successful in having the life of Julius Jones be spared from the death penalty in Oklahoma only hours before his scheduled execution. While the immediate theft of his life was blocked, Governor Stitt’s final hour clemency remanded Julius to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Julius has been on death row for more than 20 years for a crime that he was falsely accused of committing when he was a 19-year-old student at the University of Oklahoma.

Black Lives Matter at Eight Years…and Counting

When #TrayvonMartin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted on July 13, 2013, the world erupted and our co-founder Alicia Garza penned a love letter to Black people, closing with the words “Black Lives Matter.” The words, amplified by Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, became a rallying cry for those with the vision and will to end state-sanctioned violence against Black people and build a world of freedom and justice.