February Birthday Cards and More

Roses are Red
Gender's Performative
Mass Market Romance
Is Heteronormative
This February, in honor of St Valentine, let's send some LOVE to our inside fam.
We'll be sending birthday cards to our LGBTQ+ and HIV+ community members in California who have birthdays in February, but feel free to do it up hearts and cupid style and let everyone know they are loved and not forgotten .
If you can sign up to send a card or two from home, please fill out this form. We will send you the address(es) - and some tips if it’s your first time.
You will need to provide your own stamps and supplies, but we have plenty of both and can coordinate to get you some, if needed.


***COMMUNITY EVENTS***

Tuesday February 23, 3-5pm PST: We Do This Till We're Free Book Launch: "Celebrate the publication of We Do This 'Til We Free Us with a discussion about prison industrial complex (PIC) abolition, seeking justice beyond the criminal punishment system, and finding hope in collective struggle for abolition, featuring contributors and organizers from the book." 

***BECOME A PENPAL****
It is always a great time to become a penpal. If you want to start a penpal relationship, you can learn more and sign-up here anytime: https://blackandpinkpenpals.org/
Or if you want us to match you with a penpal, just reach out to us! Or check out our instagram page where we highlight potential penpals (@FlyingOverWalls).
Once you become a penpal, you can join this group to stay connected to other outside penpals for support and resources: 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/blackandpinkpenpalsupport/

****DEMAND DECARCERATION*****
300,000 prisoners in state and federal prisons have tested positive for COVID, and over 2,000 prisoners have already died. Instead of releasing people, CDCR puts people in solitary confinement and in unsanitary and unsafe conditions, and punishes them for sharing crucial information with the public. This is a public health crisis, and Governor Newsom, CDCR, and the California State Legislature are failing to address it. The ONLY way that incarcerated people will be safe is if the state releases people NOW!
WE CALL FOR MASS RELEASES, NOT MASS TRANSFERS.
The #StopCDCROutbreak Coalition is coordinating a push for the CA department of corrections (CDCr) to stop transfers of prisoners, which has caused CA’s COVID-19 outbreak inside. Sign the petition here: change.org/StopTheTransfers and check out the toolkit to take action: Bit.ly/StopCDCROutbreak
Between the neglect we have seen in response to COVID-19 and during last year's wildfires, NOW is a critical time to fight to get our people safe and free. In addition to the one listed here, there are many campaigns currently to decarcerate our folks from jails, prisons and detention centers. Please find a campaign or an organization and support it!
Search these hashtags to connect to more info:
#StopSanQuentinOutbreak #StopCDCROutbreak #StopCCWFOutbreak #CareNotCages #ReleasesNotTransfers and #BringThemHome

****SUPPORT OUR CHAPTER****
There have been major outbreaks at a number of prisons recently. This month, we will be sending solidarity funds to every B&P member incarcerated at CA Medical Facility in Vacaville. You can donate here to support our local chapter, and we will continue to prioritize using these funds to support our incarcerated members as well as any support we can offer to our formerly incarcerated community: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/blackandpinkfow

****EVEN MORE RESOURCES****
Check out this organizers' toolkit from Critical Resistance on developing campaigns to abolish policing: http://criticalresistance.org/abolish-policing-toolkit/
Our partner collective, A.B.O. Comix, publishes the work of incarcerated queer and trans people with profits going back to them and their families. They have comic anthologies written and drawn by LGBTQ+ prisoners, including Confined Before COVID-19, as well as zines, artwork and merch. You can support the artists and buy copies for yourself or your penpals at 
https://www.facebook.com/abocomix
Watch this webinar from Boston Black & Pink, called "Queer Abolition: Building Love and Power.” It's a strategic discussion about abolishing police, prisons, and how how these systems target LGBTQ people, B/I/POC people, and those living with HIV: https://vimeo.com/435145000
Sign up for the Prisoner Advocacy Network's bi-monthly announcement of
CDCr news & resources, community events and ways to get involved: https://www.prisoneradvocacynetwork.org/join-us.html