Action Left

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Action Alerts: Free Efren Paredes, Jr.! /  Justice for Oscar Grant!

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In many ways, America is experimenting with introspection and self-criticism. As a country, we are rethinking the role we play in the “war on terror” and the “war on drugs,” and in general, we’re coming to the opinion that war sucks and its better to be at peace than at war.

But America’s justice system continues to wage a war on youth of Color, gender-nonconformists, and migrant communities across the country. Law enforcement disproportionately profiles low-income, mostly Black and Brown communities, and far too many officers abuse their power by harassing and humiliating Transgender and migrant peoples. 

But the injustice doesn’t stop with the way profiled youth are brought into the “justice” system; it continues with disproportionately high incarceration rates  youth of color and a continuing decline in funding and general health and safety conditions within prisons.

This issue hits home for many in the form of the unjust conviction and continued imprisonment of Efren Paredes, Jr. Efren was taken from his family at the age of 15 and was convicted and sent to prison for life without parole despite a deplorable lack of evidence for a murder he did not commit. His continued imprisonment is not only a crime against himself and his family, but a tragedy to everyone who knows him. Thankfully, his courage, intelligence and strong support system enable all of us to benefit from his personal warmth and wisdom, which he thankfully shares through is poetry and activism.

Efren’s incarceration has inspired world-wide outrage and action on his behalf; in February the Berekely City Council voted to condemn Efren’s sentence as a human rights violation. But, Efren is still waiting for the results of his December 2008 hearing in front of the Michigan Parole Board. In April, they are expected to deliver a recommendation to Governor Granholm to commute his sentence or deny his plea for justice. Please join the movement to Free Efren Paredes, Jr by visiting Efren’s website and supporting his bid for freedom.

 The recent murders of young African American fathers Oscar Grant and Adolph Grimes III by police officers in Oakland and New Orleans tragically provide further visiblily to the viral way that racism has taken hold of our justice system (talkleft has an interesting analysis of the debate about racism, crime and police). Campaigning for social justice, decreasing our destructive effects on the environment and bringing an end to corporate greed and free-market fundamentalism are essential in our continued quest for democracy, justice and liberation, but we must not stop there; it is essential that we continue to expand our advocacy to focus on the health and well-being of our brothers and sisters in prison and the criminal justice system at large and that we include demands for systemic prison reform in our continued effort to restore just and caring values to America.