Alan Perez first said what was to become the theme of Project UNSHACKLE’s first Community Forum in New York. And it was almost an afterthought. Alan is the Volunteer Coordinator for Gay Men’s Health Crisis’ Action Center. On our presenter check-in call, he was explaining what he wanted to cover during his talk at the forum. Pausing for a moment to find the right words to describe the Action Center’s work, Alan offered, “You know… We’re trying to turn thought into action.” Those words caught the essence of our work on that call as they framed the efforts at the forum Wednesday, December 10th.
There’s an often-quoted statistic from the Bureau of Justice that two-thirds of people will be rearrested within three years of their release from prison.
In a packed room on the LGBT Center’s third floor, forum presenters, Alan, Waheedah Shabazz-el, Stacey Thompson, and John Bell painted a vivid picture of what happens to the other one-third. They all came to their work around HIV and imprisonment through stints in the New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore jail/prison systems. And they all have now set their hands to changing the very systems they once found inescapable. That’s how they have stayed home. And that’s precisely the message they are trying to pass on to the members of their communities: Reach out. Get involved. Turn thought into action.
With the New Year nearly upon us, it’s this message that is guiding me in thinking about Project UNSHACKLE’s work in 2009.
HIV and prisons are lonely, often painful, places. Our idea, our thought, is that we can change this. Sure, the work of dismantling the imprisonment policies that are making our communities more vulnerable to HIV is hard. But when it came time for our last question at the forum and one of the audience members jumped up to offer a reply, I knew Project UNSHACKLE was up for the challenge. We don’t need to have the answers. We only need to be willing to walk together to figure them out. With Alan, Waheedah, Stacey, and John, with all of you reading this blog post, I am looking forward to doing just that.
PS: Thanks to Teresa Sullivan of Philly's Support Group with Action for sharing her photos of the forum with us! We've also posted videos of each presenter's talk on www.champnetwork.org!
John Bell, Philadelphia FIGHT
Stacey Thompson, Women in Prison Project, Correctional Association of New York
Waheedah Shabazz-El, CHAMP
Alan Perez, Gay Men's Health Crisis, Action Center
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