Greetings!

Vermonters are organizing to fix our racist policing and criminal justice system. There are many ways you can get involved and take action starting RIGHT NOW.

-Kina Thorpe, Educational Program Manager
In This Issue (in order)
  • PJC Hiring
  • Defund the Police & Abolish ICE!: Building Solidarity in the Fight Against the Carceral State
  • The Loss of Heritage in Pursuit of Whiteness
  • Action Highlights: Stop Spending on War and Militarizing the Police, Support Smart Justice, Return Mount Rushmore/the Black Hills to the Lakota
Click here to for the quarterly Peace & Justice Center Newsletter
July 7, 2020
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Views expressed by entities outside of the Peace & Justice Center do not necessarily represent the views of the PJC
Action Highlights:
  1. Stop Spending on War/Militarizing the Police
  2. Support Smart Justice
  3. Return Mount Rushmore/the Black Hills to the Lakota
Tell Congress: Stop Spending on War
and Militarizing the Police
Right now, Congress is debating the “National Defense Authorization Act,” a bill passed every year to authorize Department of Defense (DoD) spending, including hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons purchases and a program that transfers military “surplus” to domestic police departments. In addition to taking steps to significantly cut bloated military spending overall, it’s imperative that Congress include provisions in this year’s bill to end the DoD’s role in militarizing domestic police.

It is clear that real security comes not from militarized approaches but investment in shared well-being, and Congress must act now to: 

  1. End the federal 1033 Program, which has transferred billions of dollars of surplus military gear to local police departments and immigration enforcement agencies, resulting in the increased use of violent force by police.
  2. Cut 10% of the Pentagon budget, and directly reinvest that money in education, health care, housing, and other programs that truly keep our communities safe.
Support Smart Justice
The ACLU of Vermont is calling on policymakers to address inequalities in the criminal justice system.

In Vermont:
  • Black people made up just 1% of the state’s adult population in 2017, but accounted for 8% of admissions to correctional facilities, resulting in some of the highest racial disparities in the country.
  • Some regions of the state incarcerate people at twice the statewide average.
  • One in four people incarcerated are being held pretrial and have not been convicted of a crime.
  • Prison admissions for violations of probation, parole, and furlough are a key driver of mass incarceration in Vermont. In 2017, an estimated 2 out of every 3 prison admissions fell into this category.
  • Every year, 6,000 children in Vermont are impacted by having at least one parent incarcerated, which is about the same as the total number of children born in Vermont annually.

Sign the ACLU Vermont's petition and be a part of the movement to create a smarter justice system in Vermont that invests in people, not prisons.
Return Mount Rushmore
and the Black Hills to the Lakota!
In 1877, the US federal government unilaterally seized the Black Hills — which contain Mount Rushmore — from the Sioux, a direct violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The treaty language stated that these lands should be reserved for the "absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians.”

In 1980, the Supreme Court agreed that the Black Hills had been unconstitutionally taken. Rather than return the land, the court awarded the tribes a settlement of $120.5 million, equivalent to the value of the land at the time it was stolen.

But the Sioux have never accepted that payment — now, with interest and increased dollar value, worth more than $1 billion — declaring instead that “the Black Hills are not for sale.”

Today, the Lakota People's Law Project is calling on the federal government to right historical wrongs, and to move our society forward. The United States must return what its own judges admit it has stolen. Return the Black Hills to the Great Sioux Nation. Now is the time.
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