EMPOWER inc.
(formerly Life Matters)-abolishment of LWOP to reduce mass incarceration in MA

Disclaimer:

Please understand THIS PETITION WOULD NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, open doors for serial killers, mass murderers, serial rapists to be released from prison. This is not advocacy for any of the above in any way, shape, or form.

The Goal:

THIS PETITION CALLS ONLY--- ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS ---for a second chance be made available via Parole Board review after nearly or decades have been served by rehabilitated men & women of color--- but not limited to people of color ---for having been DISPROPORTIONATELY MASS INCARCERATED DUE, LARGELY, TO THE DOMINO EFFECTS OF SYSTEMIC RACISM; who stood little to zero chance of overcoming disabling educational, economical, medical, social, emotional, and psychologically inflicting odds that was, and still are, stacked against people of color--- PRIMARILY BLACK PEOPLE ---HAVING ENDURED THE OPPRESSIVE END OF BUSING, GENTRIFICATION AND REDLINING, MARGINALIZATION, DISENFRANCHISED, THEREFORE FORCED INTO HOPELESSNESS AND BROKEN HOMES, RESULTING INTO BAD DECISIONS OF FRUSTRATION, LEADING TO SO MUCH OF THE INCARCERATION OF BLACK & BROWN MEN IN THE FIRST PLACE.

“DEAR MEMBERS OF THE JUDICIARY AND THE BAR:

“...TOO OFTEN, BY TOO MANY, BLACK LIVES ARE NOT TREATED WITH THE DIGNITY AND RESPECT ACCORDED THE WHITE LIVES. AS JUDGES AND AS LAWYERS, WE ARE BOTH SADDENED AND ANGRY AT THE CONFLUENCE OF RECENT EVENTS THAT HAVE REVEALED HOW MUCH MORE WE NEED TO DO TO CREATE A MORE JUST, FAIR, AND PEACEFUL SOCIETY.

“BUT WE MUST DO MORE THAN EXPRESS OUR FEELINGS OF SADNESS AND ANGER.

“AS JUDGES WE MUST LOOK AFRESH AT WHAT WE ARE DOING, OR FAILING TO DO, TO ROOT OUT ANY CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS BIAS IN OUR COURTROOMS; TO ENSURE THAT THE JUSTICE PROVIDED TO AFRICAN-AMERICANS IS THE SAME THAT IS PROVIDED TO WHITE AMERICANS; TO CREATE IN OUR COURTROOMS, OUR CORNER OF THE WORLD, A PLACE WHERE ALL ARE TRULY EQUAL.

“AS LAWYERS, WE MUST ALSO LOOK AT WHAT WE ARE DOING, OR FAILING TO DO, TO PROVIDE LEGAL ASSISTANCE TO THOSE WHO CANNOT AFFORD IT; TO DIMINISH THE ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL INEQUALITIES ARISING FROM RACE....

“AND AS MEMBERS OF THE LEGAL COMMUNITY, WE NEED TO REEXAMINE WHY, TOO OFTEN, OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM FAILS TO TREAT AFRICAN-AMERICANS THE SAME AS WHITE AMERICANS, AND RECOMMIT OURSELVES TO SYSTEMIC CHANGE NEEDED TO MAKE EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW AN ENDURING REALITY FOR ALL. THIS MUST BE A TIME NOT JUST OF REFLECTION BUT OF ACTION.

“...WE MUST RECOGNIZE AND ADDRESS OUR OWN BIASES, CONSCIOUS AND UNCONSCIOUS. WE MUST RECOGNIZE AND CONDEMN RACISM...

“WE MUST RECOGNIZE AND CONFRONT INEQUITY AND INJUSTICE THAT IS THE LEGACY OF SLAVERY, OF JIM CROW, AND OF THE DISPROPORTIONATE INCARCERATION OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS, AND CHALLENGE THE UNTRUTHS AND UNFAIR STEREOTYPES ABOUT AFRICAN-AMERICANS THAT HAVE BEEN USED TO JUSTIFY OR RATIONALIZE THEIR REPRESSION.... ”
---June 3, 2020 letter from Massachusetts' SJC seven Justices

 

E.M.P.O.W.E.R. inc., Emancipate Minority Prisoners Oppressed Without Entitled Redemption: We are a nonprofit movement organized to fight not only to abolish the death sentence of Life Without the Possibility of Parole, not only because this sentence has been disproportionately imposed on black and brown men. EMPOWER also endeavors to reduce mass incarceration all together, and reverse the oppressive domino effects systemic, institutional racism has had on minorities in the United States for far too long, beginning right here in MA.. Not to in return oppress the race of majority to whom the system has given more preferable and superior treatment, but to begin to level the plain fields between all races in every sense of equity and equality as our Constitution promises. This will only materialize by bringing from the rare A WHOLE RACE OF PEOPLE LEFT BEHIND BECAUSE THE LAWS HAVE NOT PROTECTED NOR RENDERED JUSTICE TO FAIRLY NOR EQUALLY: BLACK PEOPLE--- AND OTHERS OF COLOR. WE CALL EVERY WALK OF LIFE TO STAND WITH US BY SIGNING THIS PETITION IN SUPPORT OF THE GOOD HEARTED LAWMAKERS, JUSTICES, AND OTHER CHAMPIONS, AS YOU READ THIS, WHO ARE HELPING US FIGHT TO BRING ABOUT THE CHANGES WE NEED TO SEE IN MASSACHUSETTS.

What needs to happen:

If the Massachusetts government sincerely wish and intend to bring an end to systemic, institutional racism, this must be AN ACT TAKEN WITH GREAT CONSIDERATION OF EVERY BLACK MAN OR WOMAN, AND OTHER PERSONS OF COLOR, MUCH, IF NOT THE MAJORITY, OF WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN WASTING IN PRISON BECAUSE OF THE TRAVESTIES OF JUSTICE IMPOSED UPON THESE MEN AND WOMEN SIMPLY BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY LOOKED LIKE--- TRAVESTIES IMPOSED IN THE FORM OF LIFE WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE (LWOP).

LIFE ENDING HARMS CAUSED IN THE COURTS MUST BE REPAIRED!

The injustices caused by indisputable discrimination against black people and others of color in the COURTROOMS, BECAUSE OF SYSTEMIC, INSTITUTIONAL RACISM, HAVE BURIED SO MANY BLACK MEN IN PRISON FOR THE REST OF THEIR NATURAL LIVES, ANY CRIMINAL JUSTICE LAW REFORMS ABOLISHING LWOP MUST BE RETROACTIVE TO GIVE THESE MEN ANOTHER CHANCE IN A MORE JUST SOCIETY.

ALL THESE MEN SENTENCED WITH LWOP BEFORE THE AGE OF MATURITY MUST HAVE THEIR CASES REVIEWED WITH THE INTENTION OF RELEASING THE REFORMED ON PAROLE.

AND IT IS SCIENTIFIC FACT, MALES DO NOT REACH THE POINT OF MATURITY UNTIL THE AGE OF 25. NOT 24. AND CERTAINLY NOT 21. TO MAKE THE JUVENILE AGE ANY NUMBER LESS THAN 25 IS TO SUGGEST SCIENCE IS MERELY DEBUNKED THEORIES, AND IN WHICH CASE WOULD ALSO DEBUNK ALL OTHER EVIDENCE COMPILED THROUGH SCIENCE, MUCH OF WHICH HAVE DETERMINED GUILTY VERDICT FATES OF EVERY MAN SENTENCED WITH LWOP.

IF TAKING ACTION WITH CONSIDERATION OF NECESSARY REPARATION FOR SO MUCH OF THE HARM CAUSED BY SYSTEMIC RACISM, IT MUST BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION SYSTEMIC RACISM'S BREEDING OF HOSTILE ENVIRONMENTS LIKE THE INNER CITY STREETS LIKE THAT OF BOSTON, BROCKTON, CAMBRIDGE, LAWRENCE, LOWELL, WORCESTER, SPRINGFIELD. PAROLE ELIGIBILITY MUST BE IN THE DISCUSSION AFTER 15YEARS HAVE BEEN SERVED BY THE MANY MEN AND WOMEN SENTENCED WITH LWOP BEFORE THE AGE OF MATURITY AND AFTER HAVING HAD AN UPBRINGING DEFINED BY THE SYSTEM'S SUBJUGATION OF MINORITIES TO THE LEAST SUBSIDIZED COMMUNITIES IN THESE CITIES AND OTHERS LIKE THEM.

PAROLE ELIGIBILITY MUST BE MADE MANDATORY AFTER 25 YEARS IS SERVED(FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT SERIAL KILLERS, SERIAL RAPISTS, MASS MURDERERS NOR TERRORISTS). TIME IS UP. LWOP HAS GOT TO GO.

IF VERMONT CAN ABOLISH LWOP BECAUSE THEY DEEMED IT IS DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPOSED ON BLACK PEOPLE NATION WIDE, WHY SHOULDN'T MASSACHUSETTS, WHEN MASSACHUSETTS HAS AN EVEN GREATER BLACK POPULATION THAN VERMONT?

STAND WITH EMPOWER BY SIGNING THIS PETITION TO ABOLISH LWOP.

(Beyond this point is simply further enlightenment on EMPOWER's motives and intent should you desire more information before signing this petition)

 

Considerations:

BECAUSE FOR ALL ACTIONS ARE REACTIONS, NO MATTER YOUR RACE, ALL HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY RACISM. HATE ONLY BREED HATE. AND HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE. ON THE FLIP SIDE OF THE SPECTRUM, HEALED PEOPLE HEAL PEOPLE. EVERY MAN OR WOMAN CAN THINK OF AT LEAST ONE THING IN ONE'S JOURNEY THROUGH LIFE FOR WHICH ONE WISH TO BE FORGIVEN. ...EVEN THE FORGIVENESS OF SELF. SUCH FORGIVENESS,HOWEVER, ONLY COMES BY THE COMPASSION TO FORGIVE OTHERS. AND TO DENY OTHERS OF FORGIVENESS SIMPLY FOR THE SAKE OF ONE'S PERSONAL SENSE OF JUSTICE IN THE FORM OF RETRIBUTION IS TO DEPRIVE ONE'S SELF OF HEALING, WHOLESOME, AND JOY, WHICH LIES, SOLELY, IN FORGIVENESS. E.M.P.O.W.E.R. MOVES NOT ONLY TO EMPOWER THE DISENFRANCHISED IN PRISON DEPRIVED OF REDEMPTION, BUT TO EMPOWER VICTIM SURVIVORS, THE DISENFRANCHISED COMMUNITIES IN MASSACHUSETTS, AND THESE UNITED STATES AS A WHOLE. ...BEGINNING RIGHT HERE IN MA.

EMPOWER is in touch with countless rehabilitated and reformed lifers, still in prison, who wants and need nothing more than a second chance to reconstruct what they have been deemed guilty of destructing---lives and communities(guilty or innocent). Men who have made necessary sacrifices and commitments to reform their lives from every sense of their former lifestyles--- guilty or innocent. Men of conscience who either extends the deepest of remorse for their contributions to the destruction of lives and their communities as sincere responsible parties in acceptance of accountability, and; MEN WHOM ALTHOUGH IN MAINTAINING THEIR INNOCENCE, STILL FORGIVE THE POWERS THAT BE BEHIND A SYSTEM RIGGED AGAINST THEM SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN, AND STILL EXTEND THE DEEPEST OF SYMPATHIES TO ALL VICTIM SURVIVORS OF CRIME.

Lest we forget:

THE INSIDIOUSLY FATAL DOMINO EFFECTS SYSTEMIC RACISM HAS HAD UNFORTUNATELY SPARED NO ONE. ONE THING LED TO ANOTHER: From the times of slavery it broke up the households of the African family by removing the fathers out of the homes; the women were raped by the slave masters; the children before even the age of teenager were sold into labor, made orphans, forced to fend for themselves, all the while even forbidden to acquire an education. This trend went on for generations and, in many ways, continue. WE WENT FROM THE ABOVE INDIGNATIONS TO THE OPPRESSIONS OF JIM CROW LAWS IMPOSED ON THE AFRICAN AMERICAN. THE REALITY IS, JIM CROW LAWS WEREN'T ONLY IMPOSED IN THE SOUTH, IT JUST WENT BY “STAY IN YOUR PLACE ” UP NORTH. The systemic racist subjugations of black people never stopped. The trend simply took new forms with time: Black fathers are still disproportionately removed from the black family households; the children, fortunate not to be made orphans, still must fend for their selves and thus turn to the streets for love, ways, and means; in the process a young, desperate, frustrated, black adolescent will make an erratic decision in a circumstance he was forced into by the system to begin with, which will either cost his life or another's; and his day in court will, more often than not, be a travesty defining the end of his natural life, simply because of what he looks like. The fatally, insidious, domino effect of systemic, institutional racism.

STUDY FOUND WHERE A WHITE DEFENDANT'S POOR UPBRINGING 7 OUT OF 10 TIMES WILL EARN HIM A REDEEMING LESSER SENTENCE WHEN FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER, A BLACK DEFENDANT FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER WILL ONLY BE SO FORTUNATE 1 OUT OF 10 TIMES.

The biggest American contradiction:

The moral fabric on which America was founded is Christian faith. THE MOTTO ON OUR CURRENCY STATES “IN GOD WE TRUST” , YET GOD'S WAYS HAS BEEN CONTRADICTED FROM THE VERY DAY AFRICANS WERE BROUGHT TO THIS COUNTRY : The judicial system has woefully underrepresented the indigent in court; from the lynching of innocent Africans to the disproportionate imposition of LWOP on African Americans and others of color simply because whites deem them inferior; that Courtroom judges are permitted to financially invest in Correctional Jails and Prisons morally removed the idea of correction and replaced it with capitalism; AND FROM THE ENSLAVEMENT OF AFRICANS WHEN BROUGHT TO AMERICA, TO THE MODERN DAY SLAVERY DISGUISED IN THE FORM OF MASS INCARCERATION OF BLACK PEOPLE.

Exodus 23:6-9 (NCV) “YOU MUST NOT BE UNFAIR TO A POOR PERSON WHEN HE IS IN COURT.... NEVER ALLOW AN INNOCENT
OR HONEST MAN TO BE PUT TO DEATH AS PUNISHMENT, BECAUSE I WILL TREAT GUILTY PEOPLE AS
IF THEY WERE INNOCENT. YOU MUST NOT ACCEPT MONEY FOR LIES IN COURT.... YOU MUST NOT
MISTREAT A FOREIGNER. ”

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