THE TRANSFORMER- National Voter Registration Day & Millennial Votes Matter Convening Review

Hi Everyone! September 27, 2016

Thanks for supporting the work of the Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC)!

The Transformative Justice Coalition is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization , formed in 2015

by Renowned Civil Rights Leader Barbara R. Arnwine.

IGNITING CHANGE ON “Fight for Justice: Millennial Votes Matter Convening, Charlotte Uprising and Elections 2016!”

On Tuesday, September 27th from 12:00-1:00 p.m. EDT, radio show host Barbara Arnwine, Founder and President of Transformative Justice Coalition, was joined by her guests: Charlotte leader and activist, Rev. Glencie Rhedrick ; New Mexico Native American Rights youth activist, Hope Alvarado; and, Michigan young leader, Rasheed Atwater.

Rashad and Hope were among a group of 30 young leaders, including students and grassroots activists from 15 states, who were convened by the Transformative Justice Coalition for an intensive non-partisan training and dialogue focusing on Millennial Votes Matters at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland this past weekend. Voter registration, voter education, GOTV, election protection, and accountability were main subjects of this convening. Rashad and Hope discussed their experiences and what they hoped Millennials would remember on why it's important to vote.

Sadly, since the last show, there have been more unjustified police killings of Black men and women. The slaying of Keith Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina by the Charlotte Police Department has ignited the Charlotte Uprising! The show talked with those who have been in the street demanding justice in Charlotte, such as show guest Rev. Glencie. What are the next steps for the Charlotte community and what has been happening with the racial tensions in Charlotte?

Other critical issues that were discussed included: some of the overlooked police killings such as that of #TerrenceSterling in Washington, D.C.; the Presidential debate; and, National Voter Registration Day.

If you missed the show, you can listen to the podcast on BarbaraArnwine.com. You can also catch up on key highlights from the show by searching " #IgnitingChange" on your twitter or scrolling down the timeline of our @TJC_DC Twitter account. We live tweet during every show!

Mark Your Calendars Now

The African American Women and the Law Conference and other supporters have declared October 6th as the Annual Fannie Lou Hamer Day of Political Action . Events will include a twitter town hall and other events to celebrate African American political power and the need for African American women to be elected into office.

September 27th kicked off National Voter Registration Week.

#NationalVoterRegistrationDay

Reporting by: Caitlyn Cobb

"In 2008, 6 million Americans didn’t vote because they missed a registration deadline or didn’t know how to register. In 2016, we want to make sure no one is left out. On September 27, 2016, volunteers, celebrities, and organizations from all over the country...“hit the streets” for National Voter Registration Day. This single day of coordinated ﬁeld, technology and media efforts [created] pervasive awareness of voter registration opportunities–allowing us to reach tens of thousands of voters who we could not reach otherwise... National Voter Registration Day is set for the fourth Tuesday of September by resolution of the National Association of Secretaries of State."

Click here to read the rest of this article and view the source

Google, FOX news, Facebook, Twitter, and many other organizations and corporations were all promoting a massive campaign yesterday and this week to encourage as many people as possible to vote. Here at Transformative Justice Coalition, we are doing the same. We are encouraging everyone to get 5 people registered to vote or to ask if they're voting. Make sure you, yourself, are registered to vote and verify your registration. Below, we provide some links to make it as easy as possible:

Google has compiled how to register to vote in every state

Blacks killed by police,

does anyone care?

"...The pain of the Scott family and the Black community in Charlotte is part of a collective pain wrenching at the heart of Black America...Many national organizations, civil rights groups and activists expressed continued outrage and frustration over what many see as the extrajudicial killings and abuses of Blacks at the hands of law enforcement...

...Attorney Barbara Arnwine of the Transformative Justice Coalition said that in the two years since the killing of unarmed Black teen Michael Brown, Jr. in Ferguson, Mo., there have been some positive changes, including increased use of police dash and body cams...'It is important that citizens are themselves more emboldened than ever to record events, record police interactions that they see,' the longtime attorney told The Final Call. What’s happening is being seen as a national pattern now and not isolated incidents like in the past, she said...

...St. Louis-area activist Anthony Shahid said little has changed since Ferguson and the death of Michael Brown, Jr. at the hands of then Off. Darren Wilson. Mr. Shahid fully supports the protests and uprisings particularly from young people....Additionally, said Mr. Shahid, young people still see the 'blue code of silence' in effect in police departments, meaning officers do not report the wrongdoing of one another. Yet law enforcement constantly condemns a 'no snitch' position on the streets that inhibits their ability to apprehend those that commit crimes...

...'How much more can Black people take is the 'billion dollar question,'' Damon Jones, New York representative of Blacks in Law Enforcement of America, said. The tendency for police to escalate from physical force to deadly force quickly, with no perceived threat, happens because of who we are as Black people, said Mr. Jones. 'That’s still at the core of policing, since it was created to enforce the slave codes and the Black Codes so until we have honest conversation on what policing is about and what policing is to Black communities since the creation of policing, we’ll never be able to change it,' he said..."

Click here to read full article and source

The Millennial Votes Matter Convening was a SUCCESS!

Inspiration, Education, and Dedication

Reporting by: Caitlyn Cobb

#MVM2016

This past weekend, Transformative Justice Coalition, in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, flew in 30 young leaders and activists including African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Asians and persons with disabilities, who were themselves remarkable in the breadth of their local, state and national activism. The were flown into Baltimore from 15 states to attend the Millennial Votes Matter Convening. They shared amazing learning among themselves. The informal and highly interactive programming helped to prepare the attendees for voting rights challenges from now until 2020. Voter registration, voter education, GOTV, election protection, and accountability were main subjects of this convening. We also covered reapportionment and redistricting, voter suppression, voter purging and recent court victories. The 2020 Census was largely highlighted, as well as what the Census meant and why it mattered.

Throughout the training, current issues such as Flint water crisis, police killings, and felon disenfranchisement were discussed. Renowned civil rights attorney Junius Williams also gave a riveting speech about SNCC and student organizing in the South and in Selma. There were panels of millennials that covered many issues including vulnerable communities, particularly people with disabilities. Another highlight was the interactive media training conducted by Hands Up United leaders T-Dubb-O and Rika Tyler. Everyone left the training with more knowledge and skills than they had beforehand. Many stated that they were going to train others and share their learning.

We cannot begin to list all the activities, panels, discussions, posts, comments, tweets, livestreams, and everything else that went on in the entirety of the conference. You're better off taking it straight from the attendee's mouths and looking at the facebook and twitter highlights and pictures below. Facebook has said that #MVM2016 is a popular search and has over 1,000 people talking about us. While we would love to take you on a complete journey of each experience, the tweets, the topics, the speakers, and everything else- this newsletter just can't do the Millennial attendee's own voices justice. Below are links to our Facebook and Twitter, which caught a lot of the moments from the conference, and below that are some pictures and highlights taken from various social media accounts. For a more in-depth breakdown of the two-day event, look down our timelines of our twitter and Facebook accounts. We'll post updates for the next Millennial Votes Matter Convening and will be continuously posting more videos and testimonials. Also, be sure to simply search #MVM2016 to get directly to all the tweets concerning this conference.