Send San Quentin Solidarity Cards and More

Dear FoW community,

Check out the many ways to get involved this month below <3.


VIRTUAL LETTER WRITING


We are continuing to cancel all in-person letter-writing events for community safety. However, because prison visitation is shut down and folks are more isolated than usual, we still want to get cards sent to our folks each month. Letterwriting is one incredible way we have to overcome the isolation intended by the Prison Industrial Complex, and we want our community on the inside to know we are thinking of them. This month, we will focus on sending cards to our 50 members in San Quentin as well as finishing our July and August birthday cards!
If you can sign up to send a card or two from home, please fill out this form (https://forms.gle/KLegJkRxn27nhsFq7). 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 can coordinate to get you some, if needed. 

BECOME A PENPAL

Now is also 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://www.blackandpink.org/penpal-sign-up
Plus, organizers from a few of the B&P chapters put together this amazing penpal webinar to answer all your questions and review the guidelines: bit.ly/penpalwebinarrecording

Once you become a penpal, you can join this group to stay connected here to other outside penpals for support and resources: https://www.facebook.com/groups/blackandpinkpenpalsupport/

SENDING MONEY INSIDE

Thank you to everyone who has joined us these past few months in sending money to hundreds of folks in CA prisons, both directly through FoW and in coalition with the Transgender Advocacy Group (TAG). To date, we have sent money to all of our chapter's inside leaders as well as supporting TAG’s work to send money to about 300 trans folks in CA. We are now in the process of sending $10 each to our 50 B&P members in San Quentin SP, where there is one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks on record.

We are deeply concerned for the lives and wellbeing of our loved ones inside prisons, who aren't able to practice social distancing and who don't have access to basic hygiene supplies. Please donate if you can!! 100% of your contributions will go directly to our folks in CA prisons.

You can donate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/blackandpinkfow or through venmo to @toranneasa

Another way to send money inside: Anastasia (or Stacey) is an incarcerated trans woman of color who for years has been a core member of Flying Over Walls (SF Bay Area Black & Pink) as well as an all around badass & deeply kind person. She has organized (and faced retaliation) for trans prisoners's access to healthcare, privacy curtains and female commissary items, has done a ton of legal work for other prisoners (helping with name changes & parole hearings, for example), and tutored and mentored a whole lot of people. She is usually reluctant to ask for help but it has been her dream for years to finish her Bachelor's degree. We are raising funds for her to enroll in correspondence classes at Adams State University, which is the most affordable accredited option but still is not cheap. Any amount helps, as she will take however many classes she can afford to enroll in. You can donate to the GoFundMe here, or you can send via venmo (@Dorsey-Bass) or paypal (dorseybass@gmail.com) with "Anastasia" or "Stacey" in the memo line (any way of donating is great, but sending it directly cuts out the transaction fee and lets her start enrolling a little sooner).
Living conditions in prison are always awful but Stacey has been toughing it out through one of the worst COVID outbreaks in the country (at CIM/Chino - she has tested negative so far, thankfully) and it would mean a lot to her to know that folks out there want to support her dream of continuing her education. Please share widely!

DEMAND DECARCERATION

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!

Call on Governor Newsom, CDCR, and the State Legislature to de-populate the prisons, release elderly and medically vulnerable people and #BringThemHome!

Newsom’s Email: https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mail/
Newsom’s Phone: (916) 445-2841

Look up your state legislator here:
http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/
Form letter for representatives:
https://bit.ly/ActNowNewsomLetter

Search #StopSanQuentinOutbreak on social media to connect to more info.


EVEN MORE RESOURCES AND COMMUNITY NEWS


Now is a critical time to fight to get our people safe and free. 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!

Invest in and save the San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper, now in it’s 44th year of Liberation Journalism. Read more and donate here.

Watch the recent 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

Our partner collective, ABO Comix, publishes the work of incarcerated queer and trans people with profits going back to them and their families. They currently have 4 comic anthologies written and drawn by LGBTQ+ prisoners, including the most recent 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

Prisoner Advocacy Network has put together step by step guides to #prison #release #decarceration for #covid19 here https://www.prisoneradvocacynetwork.org/covid-19.html

Beyond Prisons - Prisoner Support Guide For The Coronavirus Crisis https://tinyurl.com/vb6yrpp

Check out the Critical Resistance webinar, focused on grassroots campaigns fighting to get people free from cages during the COVID-19 health crisis. Find resources at: http://criticalresistance.org/covid19webinar/

Please join CCWP, Asian Prisoner Support Committee, and others every Tuesday to continue freeing people from ICE detention. We can #FlattenICE and #LetThemGo! Toolkit here: bit.ly/flattenICE

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