Podcasts about soffiyah elijah

The Alliance of Families for Justice works to end mass incarceration by empowering families with formerly incarcerated loved ones seeking legal support, skills and voting rights. Soffiyah Elijah, afj's tireless leader, discusses programs and campaigns.

After serving 49 years behind bars, political prisoner Sundiata Acoli is released from prison. We speak to a key organizer, Attorney @Soffiyah Elijah, who worked for decades for Acoli's release. And for young activists from #FridaysForFutureDC rallying on Capitol Hill, the urgent issues of school shootings, abortion rights and the climate catastrophe are all intertwined. The show is made possible only by our volunteer energy, our resolve to keep the people's voices on the air, and by support from our listeners. In this new era of fake corporate news, we have to be and support our own media! Please click here or click on the Support-Donate tab on this website to subscribe for as little as $3 a month. We are so grateful for this small but growing amount of monthly crowdsource funding on Patreon. PATREON NOW HAS A ONE-TIME, ANNUAL DONATION FUNCTION! You can also give a one-time or recurring donation on PayPal. Thank you!

Soffiyah Elijah is an advocate, attorney, scholar, and educator, and the executive director of the Correctional Association of New York. Prior to joining the Correctional Association, Elijah served as deputy director and a clinical instructor at the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School.Subscribe also to iMWiL!https://imixwhatilike.orgFULL STATEMENT OF THE FREEDOM CAMPAIGN FOR SUNDIATA ACOLINew York, NY (January 13, 2021) - A former employee of NASA and a civil rights era Freedom Rider, Sundiata Acoli turns 84 on January 14. The college graduate and grandfather of two has been incarcerated for over forty-seven years. Acoli has been consistently denied parole for more than twenty-five of those years, going all the way back to 1994.The Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign (SAFC) is the largest coordinated campaign to free Acoli since his incarceration and follows years of behind the scenes advocacy and legal filings. The campaign will use the hashtag #BringSundiataHome and kicks off this week. There are media appearances planned throughout the week as well as a major social media push on Thursday where individuals, advocates and other organizations and religious institutions will join in the wishes of love and support for the soon to be 84 year old.Following his conviction in the murder of New Jersy State Trooper Werner Foerester in 1973, Acoli was sentenced to life. In the Garden State, those convicted and sentenced to life are eligible for parole after twenty-five years.“Sundiata Acoli has had a near perfect disciplinary record for 40 years, with no violations of any kind for the past twenty-five years,” explains Acoli's attorney, Bruce I. Afran. “I have come to know Mr. Acoli well over the past nine years. He has emerged into a useful, law abiding and productive member of the community, albeit while incarcerated. He has evolved so far in his life and thought that he has been approved to teach the Federal Bureau of Prisons's course in Avoiding Criminal Thinking, the program to teach younger inmates how to avoid recidivism.”Sundiata's health is deteriorating in his late stage of life and is now being treated for advancing dementia, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, emphysema and glaucoma. The frail senior citizen also lost 30 pounds during a long battle with the Covid-19 virus; he was one of those blessed to survive the health scare. He should be released before his health is further compromised.Nearly fifty religious leaders across New Jersey said the following in a joint statement to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy last June when asking for a commutation of Acoli's sentence: “Mr. Acoli had to be rushed to a hospital in Maryland when he fell ill from the COVID19 virus. For several days he was maintained on oxygen,” says the group of faith leaders across multiple denominations and thirty-nine religious institutions. “Recently, he was bedridden for a week due to intestinal complications. For all of the reasons stated above, we unconditionally call upon you to release Mr. Acoli from prison immediately. When he is released, we pledge to support you and champion your just and humane decision,” the statement concludes.“As his daughter, I can say that the Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign means so much to me and our entire family,” says Sunni Middleton, an executive in finance. “The death of officer Foerester was a tragic event and we grieve for that loss and pray for the healing of all families involved. My dad is in his twilight years and he has paid for that terrible incident while showing us how to be accountable for one's actions.Our family is so grateful for this outpouring of support from members of the community and the Freedom Campaign,” adds Middleton. “It gives us the strength, and faith, to see this through and to know that our prayers may one day be answered and my father will be in his family's care to live out the remaining years of his life.”The Freedom CampaignThe Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign (SAFC) kicks off this week with the following activities:Thursday, January 14thSundiata Acoli birthday letter writing campaign● The letter writing campaign started at the turn of the new year and will culminate on his birthday, January 14.Saturday, January 16th12:00 P.M.The People Are Suffering: Martin Luther King March For Racial And Economic Justice Location:​ Lincoln Statue12 Springfield Avenue(Intersection of Springfield Avenue and West Market Street)Newark, NJ 07102 ● The SAFC will participate in this MLK march carrying signs to #BringSundiataHome. They will also hand out informational flyers to spread the word in the Black and Brown community as the group begins its public outreach around this case.For more information visit our ​Facebook page​ or email ​Sundiataacolifc@gmail.com​.Media Contact:Scott McDowellCommunications Director Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign scottmcdowellny@gmail.com Mobile: 929-351-5887 ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In the final installment  of Season 1 of SpeakVolumes, Hanna G hosts the incomparable and effervescent Soffiyah Elijah, the Founder and President of Alliance of Families for Justice.  We can think of no better guest to cap off our 2020 debut.  Born amid the original civil rights protests of MLK and Malcom X, Soffiyah shares how her personal experiences as a black woman in America helped her find her purpose as a teacher, a criminal justice attorney and an advocate for prisoner rights. As the BLM movement has taken on renewed urgency, never has her story been more timely.

In the second episode of the Soffiyah Elijah story, Hanna G guides the conversation with “the Queen” from the Ivied halls of Cornell University to the responsibilities of being a young revolutionary to the role of popular culture--music and entertainment in forming our identities. Along the way, Soffiyah reminds us that understanding history, finding our pride and our voices is key to finding our purpose.

In this last and final episode with Ms. Soffiyah Elijah, we focus on the American prison system and the unique approach to helping the incarcerated that the Alliance of Families for Justice is taking during these most bizarre times of COVID-19 and the BLM movement as the backdrop.  With every story, Soffiyah inspires with her infectious energy and her ferocious spirit, reminding us, that “we ain’t got no time to be tired!!!”

Soffiyah Elijah works to alter the landscape of injustice in American courts and prisons as Founder and CEO of Alliance of Families for Justice.  Following, we discuss the incarceration of women with Donna Hylton, advocate and author, and Elaine Lord, Former NYS prison Warden.

First of All you are now tuning into a great interview with H2O, the visionary creator of Ballin' 4 Peace. He's discussing charity and sports. We've also have special FOA segments in this episode! And also*We have a great interview with Soffiyah Elijah founder of Alliance for Family Justice. She's discussing how families can enact prison reform changes. We also have special FOA segments in this episode!

First of All you are now tuning into a great interview with H2O, the visionary creator of Ballin' 4 Peace. He's discussing charity and sports. We've also have special FOA segments in this episode! And also*We have a great interview with Soffiyah Elijah founder of Alliance for Family Justice. She's discussing how families can enact prison reform changes. We also have special FOA segments in this episode!

Soffiyah Elijah is interviewed by Carmen Lopez at the Central Library on November 18th, 2016.

In New York, more than 54,000 people are in prison at a cost of $60,000/year/inmate under 40 and $240,000/year/inmate over 40 due to increased health issues. Soffiyah Elijah, Correctional Association, talks about If the Risk is Low, Let Them Go! campaign.

"... I survived, carried on, glad to be like a weed, a wild red poppy, rooted in life," Marilyn writes in her book: Wild Poppies. On Tuesday, August 3, 2010, long-time political prisoner and acclaimed poet and translator Marilyn Buck, 62, passed peacefully at her home in Brooklyn, New York. A few short weeks earlier, on July 15th, Marilyn had been released from the federal Bureau of Prisons medical facility in Carswell, Texas and paroled to New York City. Thanks to the efforts of her long-time friend and lawyer Jill Soffiyah Elijah, her release came several weeks before the date originally set for her release on parole, August 8th. Marilyn served a total of 33 years of an 80-year prison sentence for politically motivated actions undertaken in support of self-determination and national liberation and in opposition to racial injustice and U.S. imperialism. Throughout her years in prison, Marilyn remained a steadfast supporter of fellow political prisoners and an advocate for the women with whom she was imprisoned. A Memorial for Marilyn Buck is planned for Sunday, November 7, 2010, 4:00 PM to 7:30 PM at the First Unitarian Church, 685 14th Street, in Oakland, CA. It is wheel chair accessible and childcare is available also. Visit www.marilynbuck.com www.marilynbuckpresente.org We are joined by Linda Evans, J. Soffiyah Elijah, Yuri Kochiyama, Miranda Bergman, Hafsa Al-Amin. Music: "I'm Going to Live the Life I Sing About," Mahalia Jackson & Somi's "Inspiration."

Claude Marks is the Project Director of The Freedom Archives, a political, cultural oral history project in SF. He is a former political prisoner who served time for a conspiracy to break a Puerto Rican political prisoner out of Leavensworth. Claude taught ESL, literacy, writing and history inside. He will speak about the the San Francisco Premiere of COINTELPRO 101, Sunday, October 10, 2010, at 4 and 7 pm at Mission Cultural Center of Latino Arts in San Francisco, CA, 2868 Mission Street. Suggested donation $10, youth $5. Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Soffiyah Elijah and the filmmakers we speak after the program. Regina Y. Evans is a Poet, Storyteller and Playwright from Oakland, Ca. She is the Writer of Echo: A Poetic Journey Into Justice, a theatrical performance designed to bring awareness to the horrors of sex trafficking/slavery. "Echo: A Poetic Journey into Justice," braids together the fabric of poetry, Negro Spirituals and movement in an effort to shine a light upon the extraordinarily similar threads that run between present day sex trafficking/slavery and past day African-American slavery. The work has two performances, Saturdays, Oct. 9 & 16, both at 7 PM at the City of Refuge United Church of Christ, 1025 Howard Street, San Francisco. It is a fundraiser for several organizations combating child sexual exploitation. Visit echopoeticjustice.blogspt.com; Executive Director: Mbarouk Saad & Project Director: Alice Aida Ayers of creativesolutionszanzibar.co.tz join us to talk about an event this weekend: Creative Solutions Africa, Sunday, Oct. 10, 2010, 6-9 PM at the Afrikan Children's Advanced Learning Center, 959-33rd Street, Oakland. We close with Barbara Thompson, Ph.D., Phyllis Wattis Curator of the Arts of Africa and the Americas, about two exhibits: Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas and the new exhibition opening Wed., Oct.13,2010: "Vodoun/Vodounon: Portraits of Initiates." There is a blessing at 5.

We'll be talking about women political prisoners with Pam Africa and Linda Evans, Marilyn Bucks' co-defendant, and Marilyn's attorney, J. Soffiyah Elijah is the Deputy Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School, at 8 AM. There is an event for Marilyn, who will be released next year, this Sunday, March 8. Author, Cheo Tyehimba follows. His new book is "Like Loving Backward." His official Bay Area book party is at MoAD 3/7. Director, Barry Jenkins is on at 9 AM. His Black San Francisco postcard: "Medicine for Melancholy," opens at the Embarcadero in San Francisco, and we close with Mama Naomi Diouf, Diamano Coura West African Dance Company host of the 14th annual “Collage des Cultures Africaines” Festival, March 12-15 in Oakland and Berkeley.