shadowproof--2020-07-27--How Transformative Justice Responds To Violence Without The Carceral System

How Transformative Justice Responds To Violence Without The Carceral System In the wake of the police killings of George Floyd , Breonna Taylor , and Rayshard Brooks , protesters have taken to the streets against the violence of policing and to make demands , including defunding policing .
That demand is gaining traction as organizers have ignited a new wave of interest in the abolition of prisons and policing—a concept theorized mostly by Black women and femmes .
But this newfound hunger for abolition is accompanied by questions and concerns about how to implement abolition in practice .
People wonder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violence accountable for their actions , and in particular , use sexual violence as an example .
One way abolitionists have confronted these questions is through the development of Transformative Justice ( TJ ) processes .
These processes , which have roots in Indigenous practices , model a different set of skills and principles for approaching harmful and dangerous situations .
Abolitionists argue we should eliminate all forms of policing and incarceration , and instead fund life-giving , community-based social services .
They understand that properly executing such services requires shifting values and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to give communities the tools they need to disrupt and intervene in patterns of harm .
That ’ s where TJ comes in .
Abolition is not a new idea ; it ’ s been theorized , practiced , and advocated for by Black feminists like Angela Davis , Ruth Wilson Gilmore , and Rachel Herzing for decades .
They argue the carceral state emphasizes individual acts of harm , labeling those who commit harm as criminals to justify dehumanization , isolation , and punishment .
As demonstrated by the violence of policing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incarcerated populations , this is a mechanism of control over the most marginalized in American society : Black and brown people , Indigenous people , and often those who are poor , trans , sex-working , and/or disabled .
Those same people are proposing ways to exist and solve problems outside of this violent system .
In other words , abolitionists identify the punishment bureaucracy as a source of harm itself .
Leila Raven is a queer mama , prison abolitionist , and organizer with Decrim NY and Hacking//Hustling , who points out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by police every year , Black people are three times as likely to be killed as white people , and half of those killed are people with disabilities .
Sexual assault is also the second most common form of police brutality , primarily used against Black women and women of color who are also frequently criminalized for the strategies that we use to survive.
” While the state is actively harming folks at the margins , transformative justice seeks to do the opposite .
According to Mia Mingus , a writer , educator @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and transformative justice , the process is “ a political framework and approach for responding to violence , harm and abuse .
At its most basic , it seeks to respond to violence without creating more violence and/or engaging in harm reduction to lessen the violence.
” Je ’ Kendria—a fat , Black , disabled , non-binary femme who is the Executive Director of Collective Action for Safe Spaces ( CASS ) —argues TJ necessitates an understanding that the carceral system does not actually protect or heal survivors , but rather “ thrusts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and trauma.
” Like other abolitionists , she points out that sexual harm is still so prevalent despite having carceral systems in place .
Not only is sexual violence prevalent within the carceral system , but she says that most rapists are not actually incarcerated .
Instead , many have “ prominent positions of power.
” Erin Gar-Yun Andriamahefa is a queer , genderfluid , Malagasy , Chinese person , who volunteers with CASS .
She describes TJ as a framework through which people can begin to understand and address why harm is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seek accountability when it happens .
It is a humanizing process , she told Shadowproof , that “ equips us to move beyond shame and punishment to normalize navigating conflict , seeing it as a portal for accountability , transformation , and healing.
” CASS facilitates the creation of such a portal to accountability , transformation , and healing .
Je ’ Kendria describes the organization as a small grassroots group that “ trains and supports communities , workplaces , bars/restaurants , and collectives in building safer environments that address harassment and assault @ @ @ @ @ @ @ By prioritizing the survivors ’ consent , safety , and healing , TJ ensures that carceral culture and systems aren ’ t recreated within communities .
Transformative justice is not one type of response , explains Ejeris Dixon , Executive Director of Vision Change Win .
“ We use transformative justice depending on what has happened , ” Dixon told Shadowproof .
“ This can mean accountability processes , ways that we protect and interrupt violence in the moment through de-escalation or bystander intervention , ways that we can support survivors to heal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communities to address violence , harm , and emergencies outside of the carceral state.
” On an individual level , Je ’ Kendria explains that survivors lead the process , explaining what they need to feel safe .
On a larger community scale , they say it can look like “ creating consistent containers for people to engage in co-learning , co-processing , and co-conspiring around upholding principles of collective safety and wellness .
Communities have to be ready to pause , to assess and be accountable , to [ create ] shared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facilitate safety for everyone.
” To Je ’ Kendria , this internal processing and work is paramount in collectives that organize externally as well .
A common refrain about transformative justice and other alternatives to carcerality is that they would only work in a utopia , or that they have never been used effectively .
Though TJ generally requires community buy-in and consent of all of those involved , it ’ s untrue that alternatives to state solutions are not being practiced .
Raven points out that “ trans and queer people of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ working , disabled , and housing insecure , have always known that we could not rely on policing for safety , and so we experiment frequently with many other strategies to keep each other safe.
” “ Many of these folks may not have known or used the terms ‘ transformative justice , ’ ” Dixon adds .
“ But if we ask folks what they worked on , we will hear these practices in their answers.
” Apart from engaging in community accountability and TJ processes , other non-carceral responses to harm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provide safety and stability to people by helping them rapidly exit houselessness .
It can also look like public calls for consequences .
In these instances , people use the strength and reach of their combined platforms in an attempt to impose consequences on powerful individuals , who will not take accountability for engaging in harm .
Abolitionists are keenly aware that some people who engage in abuse will continue their harmful behaviors .
That ’ s why TJ practitioners still believe in boundaries and consequences .
Je ’ Kendria emphasizes that consequences @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grounded in minimizing future harm , taking power away from the harm-doer , and increasing the survivor ’ s agency and ability to thrive .
This is different from punishment because to punish someone is to dehumanize , villainize , and inflict more harm on someone.
” She offered examples of consequences , including “ the harm doer moving out of a housing situation , stepping down from a job , making a statement to every group they ’ re a part of disclosing the harm they caused , taking a break from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , dispersing funds to the survivor or to survivor-centered work , moving to another city , ” and “ gathering a dedicated group of accountability partners.
” These steps require acknowledgment of the harm , as well as intentional and explicit actions to rectify it .
According to Je ’ Kendria , this is something that punishment does not and can not accomplish .
“ Consequences for gendered violence don ’ t naturally occur in a cis heteropatriarchal society , ” Raven told Shadowproof .
” We have to actively disrupt oppressive behaviors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” To her , such consequences can include the removal of someone engaging in abuse from spaces where they have power or access .
Since many people who engage in abuse are able to continue harming others and avoid taking accountability by expanding their access to important positions on multiple platforms , it can be important to deplatform them on social media , magazines , podcasts , and other media .
But experimentation is still necessary , as are adequate resources , to attempt to refine and increase the capacity of these approaches @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ rigorous study and training to continuously evolve in collective understanding of community safety and accountability…healing spaces that are proactive and address ancestral trauma…radical consent and Black queer feminist trainings as a requirement for entering a movement space ( shoutout to BYP100 ! )
.
” Abolitionists apply these frameworks to their own lives and organizing spaces .
To make those spaces safer , abolitionists continually analyze the environments they create and the harm that is perpetuated within them .
“ By questioning the conditions , environments , and systems that have allowed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says , “ we reveal the spectrum and connection between our individual behavior and experiences and larger oppressive systems , including and upheld by the carceral state.
” Understanding everyone is capable of committing harm , abolitionists have had to reckon with harms committed by other self-described abolitionists .
Je ’ Kendria argues that this should be a wake-up call “ for us to investigate how often we ’ re perpetuating harm in our movement spaces , how often we ’ re ignoring the signs of survivors , how easy it is for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some of us weaponize and manipulate each other with TJ language.
” It ’ s not easy work , as it requires us to focus on ‘ killing the cop in our heads ’ and owning when we commit harm or enable others to do so .
As we begin to actualize a world without police and prisons , we have to do the work to build communities of trust , with infrastructures of care to prevent the resurgence of carcerality as a solution .
Right now , organizers in New York City @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Lily Mishra , a Brooklyn-based organizer , is part of several organizing collectives in NYC .
In response to abuse within one of her collectives , she and others entered a TJ process .
( Shadowproof is using a pseudonym for Lily to protect the identity of those involved in the TJ process ) .
“ One of the difficult things , ” she says , “ is that we ’ re all at different points of personal reflection regarding everything that occurred.
” This makes an already difficult problem even harder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ individual processes while realizing “ there were deeper structural issues that led to..how we collectively enabled abuse.
” As Mishra notes , entering a transformative justice process is the beginning of a long journey—a journey that takes commitments and consensus .
Though these commitments are not always the most comfortable because of differences of opinion , they ’ re necessary when a group is prioritizing “ deep collective reflection.
” She says that this is particularly important in abolitionist collectives , where it ’ s important to “ organize at the scale of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” As such , it ’ s important to center survivors where they hadn ’ t been centered before , such as within this particular collective .
If not , the TJ process will not be “ a vehicle through which we learn how to transform that harm into vigilance and care , ” says Mishra .
Raven shared that after a recent experience of abuse and assault , she engaged in a process of community accountability with her abuser and their community .
“ I found myself revictimized and abused all over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who harmed me , and so I turned instead to the broader community to call on this group to be accountable by dissolving their collective and shifting resources toward Black-led abolitionist anti-violence work , ” Raven shared .
“ Something that I learned through this process , that now seems obvious , is that people who rape and abuse others are often surrounded by people who enable them.
” Raven reiterates that despite the traumatic experience , she is hopeful that we can implement community accountability and TJ processes where we all acknowledge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Je ’ Kendria comments .
Dixon shared that one of the most important things to note is that TJ builds into the framework mechanisms through which we can support people who are “ navigating intense forms of violence.
” They note that TJ is as much about creating cultures of consent as it is about encouraging people to hold their friends and loved ones accountable , even when it is them who have committed sexual violence .
“ I ’ m in a process right now holding a dear friend accountable , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both heartwrenching , challenging , and hope-creating.
” Harm exists and will continue to exist .
But the frameworks communities can use to address that harm are not static and can be improved .
Transformative justice provides space to explore and react to individual situations as they arise .
“ We can use [ transformative justice ] to interrogate which systems need to be abolished and replaced in order for everyone to have their basic needs fully met , ” Je ’ Kendria said , “ and to grow communities that are communal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each other .
”

In the wake of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks, protesters have taken to the streets against the violence of policing and to make demands, including defunding policing.
That demand is gaining traction as organizers have ignited a new wave of interest in the abolition of prisons and policing—a concept theorized mostly by Black women and femmes.
But this newfound hunger for abolition is accompanied by questions and concerns about how to implement abolition in practice. People wonder how society would hold people who commit violence accountable for their actions, and in particular, use sexual violence as an example.
One way abolitionists have confronted these questions is through the development of Transformative Justice (TJ) processes. These processes, which have roots in Indigenous practices, model a different set of skills and principles for approaching harmful and dangerous situations.
Abolitionists argue we should eliminate all forms of policing and incarceration, and instead fund life-giving, community-based social services. They understand that properly executing such services requires shifting values and resourcing the development of valuable relationship skills to give communities the tools they need to disrupt and intervene in patterns of harm. That’s where TJ comes in.
What Is Transformative Justice?
Abolition is not a new idea; it’s been theorized, practiced, and advocated for by Black feminists like Angela Davis, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and Rachel Herzing for decades. They argue the carceral state emphasizes individual acts of harm, labeling those who commit harm as criminals to justify dehumanization, isolation, and punishment.
As demonstrated by the violence of policing, as well as the demographics of incarcerated populations, this is a mechanism of control over the most marginalized in American society: Black and brown people, Indigenous people, and often those who are poor, trans, sex-working, and/or disabled.
Those same people are proposing ways to exist and solve problems outside of this violent system.
In other words, abolitionists identify the punishment bureaucracy as a source of harm itself. Leila Raven is a queer mama, prison abolitionist, and organizer with Decrim NY and Hacking//Hustling, who points out that “a thousand people are killed by police every year, Black people are three times as likely to be killed as white people, and half of those killed are people with disabilities. Sexual assault is also the second most common form of police brutality, primarily used against Black women and women of color who are also frequently criminalized for the strategies that we use to survive.”
While the state is actively harming folks at the margins, transformative justice seeks to do the opposite.
According to Mia Mingus, a writer, educator, and community organizer for disability justice and transformative justice, the process is “a political framework and approach for responding to violence, harm and abuse. At its most basic, it seeks to respond to violence without creating more violence and/or engaging in harm reduction to lessen the violence.”
Je’Kendria—a fat, Black, disabled, non-binary femme who is the Executive Director of Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS)—argues TJ necessitates an understanding that the carceral system does not actually protect or heal survivors, but rather “thrusts [them] into cycles of harm and trauma.”
Like other abolitionists, she points out that sexual harm is still so prevalent despite having carceral systems in place. Not only is sexual violence prevalent within the carceral system, but she says that most rapists are not actually incarcerated. Instead, many have “prominent positions of power.”
Erin Gar-Yun Andriamahefa is a queer, genderfluid, Malagasy, Chinese person, who volunteers with CASS. She describes TJ as a framework through which people can begin to understand and address why harm is happening, while emphasizing collective responsibility to seek accountability when it happens.
It is a humanizing process, she told Shadowproof, that “equips us to move beyond shame and punishment to normalize navigating conflict, seeing it as a portal for accountability, transformation, and healing.”
CASS facilitates the creation of such a portal to accountability, transformation, and healing. Je’Kendria describes the organization as a small grassroots group that “trains and supports communities, workplaces, bars/restaurants, and collectives in building safer environments that address harassment and assault through an intersectional, anti-carceral lens.”
By prioritizing the survivors’ consent, safety, and healing, TJ ensures that carceral culture and systems aren’t recreated within communities.
Modeling Different Approaches To Harm
Transformative justice is not one type of response, explains Ejeris Dixon, Executive Director of Vision Change Win.
“We use transformative justice depending on what has happened,” Dixon told Shadowproof. “This can mean accountability processes, ways that we protect and interrupt violence in the moment through de-escalation or bystander intervention, ways that we can support survivors to heal, and structures that we create for communities to address violence, harm, and emergencies outside of the carceral state.”
On an individual level, Je’Kendria explains that survivors lead the process, explaining what they need to feel safe. On a larger community scale, they say it can look like “creating consistent containers for people to engage in co-learning, co-processing, and co-conspiring around upholding principles of collective safety and wellness. Communities have to be ready to pause, to assess and be accountable, to [create] shared agreements, principles, and methods that facilitate safety for everyone.”
To Je’Kendria, this internal processing and work is paramount in collectives that organize externally as well.
A common refrain about transformative justice and other alternatives to carcerality is that they would only work in a utopia, or that they have never been used effectively. Though TJ generally requires community buy-in and consent of all of those involved, it’s untrue that alternatives to state solutions are not being practiced.
Raven points out that “trans and queer people of color, especially those who are sex working, disabled, and housing insecure, have always known that we could not rely on policing for safety, and so we experiment frequently with many other strategies to keep each other safe.”
“Many of these folks may not have known or used the terms ‘transformative justice,’” Dixon adds. “But if we ask folks what they worked on, we will hear these practices in their answers.”
Apart from engaging in community accountability and TJ processes, other non-carceral responses to harm can look like shared housing models that provide safety and stability to people by helping them rapidly exit houselessness.
It can also look like public calls for consequences. In these instances, people use the strength and reach of their combined platforms in an attempt to impose consequences on powerful individuals, who will not take accountability for engaging in harm.
Abolitionists are keenly aware that some people who engage in abuse will continue their harmful behaviors. That’s why TJ practitioners still believe in boundaries and consequences.
Je’Kendria emphasizes that consequences should be “a series of steps grounded in minimizing future harm, taking power away from the harm-doer, and increasing the survivor’s agency and ability to thrive. This is different from punishment because to punish someone is to dehumanize, villainize, and inflict more harm on someone.”
She offered examples of consequences, including “the harm doer moving out of a housing situation, stepping down from a job, making a statement to every group they’re a part of disclosing the harm they caused, taking a break from social spaces where the survivor is present, dispersing funds to the survivor or to survivor-centered work, moving to another city,” and “gathering a dedicated group of accountability partners.”
These steps require acknowledgment of the harm, as well as intentional and explicit actions to rectify it. According to Je’Kendria, this is something that punishment does not and cannot accomplish.
“Consequences for gendered violence don’t naturally occur in a cis heteropatriarchal society,” Raven told Shadowproof. ”We have to actively disrupt oppressive behaviors and create consequences to keep people safe.”
To her, such consequences can include the removal of someone engaging in abuse from spaces where they have power or access.
Since many people who engage in abuse are able to continue harming others and avoid taking accountability by expanding their access to important positions on multiple platforms, it can be important to deplatform them on social media, magazines, podcasts, and other media.
But experimentation is still necessary, as are adequate resources, to attempt to refine and increase the capacity of these approaches.
Je’Kendria sees this as “rigorous study and training to continuously evolve in collective understanding of community safety and accountability…healing spaces that are proactive and address ancestral trauma…radical consent and Black queer feminist trainings as a requirement for entering a movement space (shoutout to BYP100!).”
The Challenging & Personal Work Of Confronting Harm
Abolitionists apply these frameworks to their own lives and organizing spaces. To make those spaces safer, abolitionists continually analyze the environments they create and the harm that is perpetuated within them.
“By questioning the conditions, environments, and systems that have allowed the harm to happen,” Andriamahefa says, “we reveal the spectrum and connection between our individual behavior and experiences and larger oppressive systems, including and upheld by the carceral state.”
Understanding everyone is capable of committing harm, abolitionists have had to reckon with harms committed by other self-described abolitionists.
Je’Kendria argues that this should be a wake-up call “for us to investigate how often we’re perpetuating harm in our movement spaces, how often we’re ignoring the signs of survivors, how easy it is for us to evade accountability, and how some of us weaponize and manipulate each other with TJ language.”
It’s not easy work, as it requires us to focus on ‘killing the cop in our heads’ and owning when we commit harm or enable others to do so. As we begin to actualize a world without police and prisons, we have to do the work to build communities of trust, with infrastructures of care to prevent the resurgence of carcerality as a solution.
Right now, organizers in New York City are confronting harm in their movement spaces. Lily Mishra, a Brooklyn-based organizer, is part of several organizing collectives in NYC. In response to abuse within one of her collectives, she and others entered a TJ process. (Shadowproof is using a pseudonym for Lily to protect the identity of those involved in the TJ process).
“One of the difficult things,” she says, “is that we’re all at different points of personal reflection regarding everything that occurred.” This makes an already difficult problem even harder, because people are going through their individual processes while realizing “there were deeper structural issues that led to..how we collectively enabled abuse.”
As Mishra notes, entering a transformative justice process is the beginning of a long journey—a journey that takes commitments and consensus. Though these commitments are not always the most comfortable because of differences of opinion, they’re necessary when a group is prioritizing “deep collective reflection.” She says that this is particularly important in abolitionist collectives, where it’s important to “organize at the scale of interpersonal relationships as well as institutional ones.”
As such, it’s important to center survivors where they hadn’t been centered before, such as within this particular collective. If not, the TJ process will not be “a vehicle through which we learn how to transform that harm into vigilance and care,” says Mishra.
Raven shared that after a recent experience of abuse and assault, she engaged in a process of community accountability with her abuser and their community.
“I found myself revictimized and abused all over again by the community of the person who harmed me, and so I turned instead to the broader community to call on this group to be accountable by dissolving their collective and shifting resources toward Black-led abolitionist anti-violence work,” Raven shared.
“Something that I learned through this process, that now seems obvious, is that people who rape and abuse others are often surrounded by people who enable them.”
Raven reiterates that despite the traumatic experience, she is hopeful that we can implement community accountability and TJ processes where we all acknowledge our role in causing harm, echoing Je’Kendria comments.
Dixon shared that one of the most important things to note is that TJ builds into the framework mechanisms through which we can support people who are “navigating intense forms of violence.” They note that TJ is as much about creating cultures of consent as it is about encouraging people to hold their friends and loved ones accountable, even when it is them who have committed sexual violence.
“I’m in a process right now holding a dear friend accountable,” says Dixon, and “it is both heartwrenching, challenging, and hope-creating.”
Harm exists and will continue to exist. But the frameworks communities can use to address that harm are not static and can be improved. Transformative justice provides space to explore and react to individual situations as they arise.
“We can use [transformative justice] to interrogate which systems need to be abolished and replaced in order for everyone to have their basic needs fully met,” Je’Kendria said, “and to grow communities that are communal, interdependent, and boldly accountable to each other.”


shadowproof--2020-07-28--Whistleblower Center Warns Fossil Fuel Industry Fraud Spurred By Climate Change Is A ‘Ticking Time B

Whistleblower Center Warns Fossil Fuel Industry Fraud Spurred By Climate Change Is A ‘Ticking Time Bomb’

Fossil fuel companies dramatically understate the risks posed to them by climate change and threaten the global economy , according to the National Whistleblower Center ( NWC ) .
NWC , a whistleblower advocacy organization in Washington , D.C. , compiled a report [ PDF ] , “ Exposing a Ticking Time Bomb : How Fossil Fuel Industry Fraud is Setting Us Up For A Financial Implosion—and What Whistleblowers Can Do About it.
” It is a call to action for “ executives of fossil fuel companies and others with knowledge of improper accounting and disclosure practices , such as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to work with the Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) to obtain “ protected whistleblower status ” in order to help government officials root out industry fraud .
“ In light of the deceptions we found , the handful of pending fraud cases challenging climate risk disclosures by fossil fuel companies are probably just the tip of the iceberg , ” declared John Kostyack , who is the executive director for NWC and lead author of the report .
While calling attention to a looming economic catastrophe , the report educates potential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For example , the Dodd-Frank Act offers a route for whistleblowing on climate risk fraud , and more than $ 500 million in whistleblower rewards have been paid out since the legislation passed in 2010 .
The NWC breaks the risks , which they believe the fossil fuel industry is systematically hiding , into two categories : “ transition risks ” and “ physical risks.
” Transition risks are “ financial risks associated with the global shift away from fossil fuels as environmental policies change ( through court rulings , tax and subsidy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rise of inexpensive “ low-carbon technologies ” also threatens the industry .
Physical risks are the “ risk of physical damage to property , economic productivity , and household wealth from climate change , including an increase in frequency and severity of catastrophic weather events as well as long-term environmental changes.
” As the report notes , the fossil fuel industry has a “ long history of fraud and deception , from systematic underpayment of oil and gas royalties to schemes by mining companies to defeat benefit claims from minors with black lung @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the oil and gas sector and mining sector ( which includes coal ) , the management consulting firm EY found that 35 percent of respondents would ‘ act unethically to help a business survive an economic downturn.
’ EY concluded that increased pressure on managers provides ‘ a strong incentive to do whatever it takes to make the numbers look good . '
” The report adds , “ Rationalization of cheating appears to be prevalent in the fossil fuel sector .
In the same EY survey referenced above , 43 percent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ action could be justified to meet financial targets . '
” COVID-19 has intensified the compulsion to commit fraud to deceive shareholders and the wider public .
Forbes described , “ As Covid-19 spread to other countries and quarantines were implemented , oil prices ultimately fell into negative territory , which had never happened before with a major benchmark .
Power demand fell as businesses closed and people stopped traveling or commuting .
This created a perfect storm that obliterated fossil fuel demand in April.
” Furthermore , fossil fuel corporations are likely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to “ plans for removing carbon from emissions ” and their liability for toxic waste , carbon pollution , or other environmental degradation .
“ Oil and gas companies are required by law to close wells no longer in use in accordance with environmental standards .
As demand for fossil fuels falls below the projections that justified development of wells , companies must accelerate the date of the wells ’ retirement , ” according to the report .
Fossil fuel corporations have also accumulated “ extensive liabilities ” for cleaning up toxic waste @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a failure to disclose has previously resulted in securities fraud .
“ In 2015 , oil & gas company Anadarko Petroleum ( now owned by Occidental Petroleum ) agreed to a $ 5.15 billion penalty to settle allegations that Kerr-McGee Corporation ( acquired by Anadarko ) had fraudulently sold assets in order to avoid substantial environmental liabilities when spinning off a new company , ” the report recalls .
One fraudulent technique corporations employ to avoid paying to clean up the messes they create involves offloading liabilities “ onto poorly managed companies destined @ @ @ @ @ @ @ focuses on Murray Energy , a coal company that filed bankruptcy in 2019 to ensure it did not have to pay $ 2.7 billion in debts or $ 8 billion for coal miners ’ pension and health care plans .
“ Bankruptcy filings show that Murray earmarked nearly $ 1 million to fund political action committees and groups working to deny climate change and roll back emission reduction laws , ” the report notes .
“ For example , Murray gave $ 300,000 to Government Accountability & Oversight , a group that describes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to climate campaigner efforts.
” “ Other beneficiaries [ included ] the Competitive Enterprise Institute , a free-market think tank that denies human activity is the main cause of global warming , and the Heartland Institute , which has worked for years to instill doubt about climate science.
” NWC has a history of challenging industry-wide practices and well-financed opposition in the energy sector .
In particular , NWC ’ s first case challenged a nuclear energy practice that involved coercing employees to sign non-disclosure agreements to prevent them from blowing the whistle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ centered on expanding laws like Dodd-Frank and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act so that whistleblowers are incentivized to come forward with information and risk their careers and livelihoods .
In addition to lawsuits against corporations , like Exxon Mobil , that states , local governments , and children have filed , NWC recommends potential whistleblowers provide anonymous and confidential tips to the SEC under Dodd-Frank that will root out securities fraud within the fossil fuel industry .
“ One group of whistleblowers , led by former Exxon senior accounting analyst Franklin Bennett and including a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ firm , has elected to publicize the key allegations of a pending complaint with the SEC challenging Exxon ’ s asset valuations , ” the NWC highlights .
Bennett ’ s whistleblowing centers on Exxon ’ s “ failure to write down assets to account for the dramatic recent declines in demand for shale gas , ” which directly relates to climate change risks .
“ It will be important for whistleblowers to pay attention to whether the SEC acts on this complaint and if so , how it approaches Exxon ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Editor’s Note Substack is dealing with a bad bug that has disrupted our ability to bring on new paid subscribers for over a week. This is unfortunate, as it has undermined the launch of The Dissenter newsletter. Until Substack can fix this, all editions , including exclusive editions, will be sent to everyone. To subscribe, visit https://dissenter.substack.com/subscribe
Fossil fuel companies dramatically understate the risks posed to them by climate change and threaten the global economy, according to the National Whistleblower Center (NWC).
NWC, a whistleblower advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., compiled a report [PDF], “Exposing a Ticking Time Bomb: How Fossil Fuel Industry Fraud is Setting Us Up For A Financial Implosion—and What Whistleblowers Can Do About it.”
It is a call to action for “executives of fossil fuel companies and others with knowledge of improper accounting and disclosure practices, such as external auditors.”
NWC urges such individuals to work with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to obtain “protected whistleblower status” in order to help government officials root out industry fraud.
“In light of the deceptions we found, the handful of pending fraud cases challenging climate risk disclosures by fossil fuel companies are probably just the tip of the iceberg,” declared John Kostyack, who is the executive director for NWC and lead author of the report.
While calling attention to a looming economic catastrophe, the report educates potential whistleblowers on rewards and protections available. For example, the Dodd-Frank Act offers a route for whistleblowing on climate risk fraud, and more than $500 million in whistleblower rewards have been paid out since the legislation passed in 2010.
The NWC breaks the risks, which they believe the fossil fuel industry is systematically hiding, into two categories: “transition risks” and “physical risks.”
Transition risks are “financial risks associated with the global shift away from fossil fuels as environmental policies change (through court rulings, tax and subsidy changes, etc).” The rise of inexpensive “low-carbon technologies” also threatens the industry.
Physical risks are the “risk of physical damage to property, economic productivity, and household wealth from climate change, including an increase in frequency and severity of catastrophic weather events as well as long-term environmental changes.”
As the report notes, the fossil fuel industry has a “long history of fraud and deception, from systematic underpayment of oil and gas royalties to schemes by mining companies to defeat benefit claims from minors with black lung disease.”
“In a 2016 survey of the oil and gas sector and mining sector (which includes coal), the management consulting firm EY found that 35 percent of respondents would ‘act unethically to help a business survive an economic downturn.’ EY concluded that increased pressure on managers provides ‘a strong incentive to do whatever it takes to make the numbers look good.'”
COVID-19 Intensifies The Rationale For Deception
The report adds, “Rationalization of cheating appears to be prevalent in the fossil fuel sector. In the same EY survey referenced above, 43 percent of respondents said that ‘potentially unethical action could be justified to meet financial targets.'”
COVID-19 has intensified the compulsion to commit fraud to deceive shareholders and the wider public.
Forbes described, “As Covid-19 spread to other countries and quarantines were implemented, oil prices ultimately fell into negative territory, which had never happened before with a major benchmark. Power demand fell as businesses closed and people stopped traveling or commuting. This created a perfect storm that obliterated fossil fuel demand in April.”
Furthermore, fossil fuel corporations are likely to engage in deception when it comes to “plans for removing carbon from emissions” and their liability for toxic waste, carbon pollution, or other environmental degradation.
“Oil and gas companies are required by law to close wells no longer in use in accordance with environmental standards. As demand for fossil fuels falls below the projections that justified development of wells, companies must accelerate the date of the wells’ retirement,” according to the report.
Fossil fuel corporations have also accumulated “extensive liabilities” for cleaning up toxic waste and environmental damage they caused, and a failure to disclose has previously resulted in securities fraud.
“In 2015, oil & gas company Anadarko Petroleum (now owned by Occidental Petroleum) agreed to a $5.15 billion penalty to settle allegations that Kerr-McGee Corporation (acquired by Anadarko) had fraudulently sold assets in order to avoid substantial environmental liabilities when spinning off a new company,” the report recalls.
One fraudulent technique corporations employ to avoid paying to clean up the messes they create involves offloading liabilities “onto poorly managed companies destined for bankruptcy.
…A 2004 report by the Rose Foundation found that BP, ConocoPhillips, Chevron USA, Oxy USA and Atlantic Richfield had offloaded millions in asset retirement obligations by selling old wells to Panoco, a smaller company that declared bankruptcy after racking up $60 million in costs for decommissioning wells. A 2019 study of coal companies published in the Stanford Law Review found that between 2012 and 2017, four of the largest coal companies in the U.S. managed to evade US$5.2 billion of environmental and retiree liabilities by filing for bankruptcy…
The National Whistleblower Center focuses on Murray Energy, a coal company that filed bankruptcy in 2019 to ensure it did not have to pay $2.7 billion in debts or $8 billion for coal miners’ pension and health care plans.
“Bankruptcy filings show that Murray earmarked nearly $1 million to fund political action committees and groups working to deny climate change and roll back emission reduction laws,” the report notes. “For example, Murray gave $300,000 to Government Accountability & Oversight, a group that describes its efforts as an ‘antidote’ to climate campaigner efforts.”
“Other beneficiaries [included] the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank that denies human activity is the main cause of global warming, and the Heartland Institute, which has worked for years to instill doubt about climate science.”
A Key SEC Lawsuit
NWC has a history of challenging industry-wide practices and well-financed opposition in the energy sector. In particular, NWC’s first case challenged a nuclear energy practice that involved coercing employees to sign non-disclosure agreements to prevent them from blowing the whistle on safety concerns.
Their work has centered on expanding laws like Dodd-Frank and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act so that whistleblowers are incentivized to come forward with information and risk their careers and livelihoods.
In addition to lawsuits against corporations, like Exxon Mobil, that states, local governments, and children have filed, NWC recommends potential whistleblowers provide anonymous and confidential tips to the SEC under Dodd-Frank that will root out securities fraud within the fossil fuel industry.
“One group of whistleblowers, led by former Exxon senior accounting analyst Franklin Bennett and including a former partner in a major U.S. accounting firm, has elected to publicize the key allegations of a pending complaint with the SEC challenging Exxon’s asset valuations,” the NWC highlights.
Bennett’s whistleblowing centers on Exxon’s “failure to write down assets to account for the dramatic recent declines in demand for shale gas,” which directly relates to climate change risks.
“It will be important for whistleblowers to pay attention to whether the SEC acts on this complaint and if so, how it approaches Exxon’s obligations with regard to climate risk disclosures.”


shadowproof--2020-07-29--Protest Songs Of The Week: ‘This Walk’ and ‘Orgone’ By Jyoti

Protest Songs Of The Week : ‘ This Walk ’ and ‘ Orgone ’ By Jyoti The following was originally published at Ongoing History Of Protest Songs .
Jyoti is the one-woman jazz ensemble moniker of experimental soul artist , Georgia Anne Muldrow and it is the nickname given to her by a family friend , the legendary Alice Coltrane .
Muldrow ’ s forthcoming studio album “ Mama , You Can Bet !
” is out August 28 , and she released two socially conscious singles from the album “ This Walk ” ( which includes the B-side “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Orgone.
” “ This Walk ” is a vocal driven tune , which according to Muldrow deals with how “ violence can both ignite and snuff out a voice.
” It is accompanied by a beautiful animated lyric video which includes Georgia ’ s powerful illustrations .
“ Orgone ” is a more direct protest tune , and it is timely in light of the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests .
According to Muldrow , the song is “ a double entendre , ‘ Orgone ’ being a supposed device that helps to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ electronics.
” Muldrow hopes “ this song can be a device for the extra low frequencies that occur to people in places , namely in the African Diaspora , in the way that the diaspora affects the people in places.
” “ The second part of the double entendre is “ Orgone , ” which means “ repatriated back to the source of origin ; gone from here .
And the song is another poem , and it ’ s my way of being able to get my feelings out .
I just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and then I wrote to it , and then I orchestrated on it , and then at the end , I sang the blues on it.
” Elaborating further , Muldrow said , “ This is a song for all of us , in this transatlantic nightmare .
And this is a song just to say ‘ I know how you feel , and maybe you feel the way I feel , ’ and maybe we can live in a place where being Black ain ’ t such a big deal , because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s a natural thing.
” “ It ain ’ t a result of… somebody else ’ s story on our lives , we ’ re just human beings , that are looked upon with a little bit more… Je ne sais… plain , you know ?
” Muldrow added .
“ Even though we ’ re not plain people , we ’ re much more than that .
We ’ re beautiful people .
We ’ re ugly people .
We ’ re happy people .
Sad people .
Peaceful people.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ like everybody else .
”

The following was originally published at Ongoing History Of Protest Songs.
Jyoti is the one-woman jazz ensemble moniker of experimental soul artist, Georgia Anne Muldrow and it is the nickname given to her by a family friend, the legendary Alice Coltrane.
Muldrow’s forthcoming studio album “Mama, You Can Bet!” is out August 28, and she released two socially conscious singles from the album “This Walk” (which includes the B-side “The Cowrie Waltz”) and “Orgone.”
“This Walk” is a vocal driven tune, which according to Muldrow deals with how “violence can both ignite and snuff out a voice.” It is accompanied by a beautiful animated lyric video which includes Georgia’s powerful illustrations.
“Orgone” is a more direct protest tune, and it is timely in light of the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests.
According to Muldrow, the song is “a double entendre, ‘Orgone’ being a supposed device that helps to dampen extra low frequencies that come from electronics.”
Muldrow hopes “this song can be a device for the extra low frequencies that occur to people in places, namely in the African Diaspora, in the way that the diaspora affects the people in places.”
“The second part of the double entendre is “Orgone,” which means “repatriated back to the source of origin; gone from here. And the song is another poem, and it’s my way of being able to get my feelings out. I just closed my eyes and played piano, and then I wrote to it, and then I orchestrated on it, and then at the end, I sang the blues on it.”
Elaborating further, Muldrow said, “This is a song for all of us, in this transatlantic nightmare. And this is a song just to say ‘I know how you feel, and maybe you feel the way I feel,’ and maybe we can live in a place where being Black ain’t such a big deal, because it’s just normal. Because it’s a natural thing.”
“It ain’t a result of… somebody else’s story on our lives, we’re just human beings, that are looked upon with a little bit more… Je ne sais… plain, you know?” Muldrow added. “Even though we’re not plain people, we’re much more than that. We’re beautiful people. We’re ugly people. We’re happy people. Sad people. Peaceful people.”
“We’re people just like everybody else.”


shadowproof--2020-07-30--Beyond Prisons: Abolition Is Our Obligation feat. Dylan Rodríguez

Beyond Prisons : Abolition Is Our Obligation feat .
Dylan Rodríguez Professor , author , and abolitionist scholar Dr. Dylan Rodríguez joins Kim Wilson and Brian Sonenstein on an episode of the Beyond Prisons podcast .
This is the first part of a two part conversation .
In Part 1 , Dr. Rodríguez explains his belief that abolition is our obligation , touching on the development of anti-Black algorithms used to keep people in prison , what it means to be vulnerable in the context of doing this work and how vulnerability is the starting point for an abolitionist practice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Allen ’ s book Black Awakening in Capitalist America had on shaping Dylan ’ s own thinking .
We also talk about how academia declares institutional solidarity with white supremacy , and how some academics are the planners and architects of domestic war .
Dr. Rodríguez reminds us that terror is not a thing that you can fix with training and he shares some of the conditions he places on conversations about prison reform .
Dylan Rodríguez is President of the American Studies Association ( 2020-2021 ) .
He served as the faculty-elected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( 2016-2020 ) and a Professor at the University of California , Riverside .
He spent the first sixteen years of his career in the Department of Ethnic Studies ( serving as Chair from 2009-2016 ) and joined the Department of Media and Cultural Studies in 2017 .
Dylan ’ s thinking , writing , teaching , and scholarly activist labors address the complexity and normalized proliferation of historical regimes and logics of anti-Black and racial-colonial violence in everyday state , cultural , and social formations .
His work raises the question of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regimes and logics in ways that enable the collective genius of rebellion , survival , abolition , and radical futurity .
What forms of shared creativity emerge from conditions of duress , and how do these insurgencies envision—and practice—transformations of power and community ?
In addition to co-editing the field-shaping anthology Critical Ethnic Studies : A Reader ( Duke University Press , 2016 ) , Dylan is the author of two books : Forced Passages : Imprisoned Radical Intellectuals and the U.S. Prison Regime ( University of Minnesota Press , 2006 ) and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the Filipino Condition ( University of Minnesota Press , 2009 ) .
His next book , White Reconstruction : Domestic Warfare and the Logic of Racial Genocide , is forthcoming from Fordham University Press in Fall 2020 and will be followed in 2021 by White Reconstruction II .
Support our show and join us on Patreon .
Check out our other donation options as well .
Please listen , subscribe , and rate/review our podcast on iTunes , Spotify , and on Google Play Join our mailing list for updates on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kim Wilson is available for speaking engagements and to facilitate workshops .
Please contact beyondprisonspodcast @ gmail.com for more information

Professor, author, and abolitionist scholar Dr. Dylan Rodríguez joins Kim Wilson and Brian Sonenstein on an episode of the Beyond Prisons podcast.
This is the first part of a two part conversation. In Part 1, Dr. Rodríguez explains his belief that abolition is our obligation, touching on the development of anti-Black algorithms used to keep people in prison, what it means to be vulnerable in the context of doing this work and how vulnerability is the starting point for an abolitionist practice, and the profound impact that Robert Allen’s book Black Awakening in Capitalist America had on shaping Dylan’s own thinking.
We also talk about how academia declares institutional solidarity with white supremacy, and how some academics are the planners and architects of domestic war. Dr. Rodríguez reminds us that terror is not a thing that you can fix with training and he shares some of the conditions he places on conversations about prison reform.
Dylan Rodríguez is President of the American Studies Association (2020-2021). He served as the faculty-elected Chair of the UC Riverside Academic Senate (2016-2020) and a Professor at the University of California, Riverside. He spent the first sixteen years of his career in the Department of Ethnic Studies (serving as Chair from 2009-2016) and joined the Department of Media and Cultural Studies in 2017.
Dylan’s thinking, writing, teaching, and scholarly activist labors address the complexity and normalized proliferation of historical regimes and logics of anti-Black and racial-colonial violence in everyday state, cultural, and social formations. His work raises the question of how insurgent communities of people inhabit oppressive regimes and logics in ways that enable the collective genius of rebellion, survival, abolition, and radical futurity. What forms of shared creativity emerge from conditions of duress, and how do these insurgencies envision—and practice—transformations of power and community?
In addition to co-editing the field-shaping anthology Critical Ethnic Studies: A Reader (Duke University Press, 2016), Dylan is the author of two books: Forced Passages: Imprisoned Radical Intellectuals and the U.S. Prison Regime (University of Minnesota Press, 2006) and Suspended Apocalypse: White Supremacy, Genocide, and the Filipino Condition (University of Minnesota Press, 2009). His next book, White Reconstruction: Domestic Warfare and the Logic of Racial Genocide, is forthcoming from Fordham University Press in Fall 2020 and will be followed in 2021 by White Reconstruction II.
Follow Dylan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dylanrodriguez
Support Beyond Prisons
Support our show and join us on Patreon. Check out our other donation options as well.
Please listen, subscribe, and rate/review our podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and on Google Play
Visit our website at beyond-prisons.com
Join our mailing list for updates on new episodes, events, and more
Send tips, comments, and questions to beyondprisonspodcast@gmail.com
Kim Wilson is available for speaking engagements and to facilitate workshops. Please contact beyondprisonspodcast@gmail.com for more information
Twitter: @Beyond_Prison
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondprisonspodcast/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beyondprisons/


shadowproof--2020-07-30--Celebrating National Whistleblower Appreciation Day, Despite All Its Contradictions

Celebrating National Whistleblower Appreciation Day , Despite All Its Contradictions On July 30 , 2013 , United States Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning was convicted of violating the Espionage Act and various other offenses .
It was National Whistleblower Appreciation Day , and though she was not found guilty of “ aiding the enemy , ” the verdict in her trial crystallized a contradiction among the political establishment .
Officials profess a commitment to whistleblowers except when they blow the whistle on abuse , fraud , or corruption that they have a vested interest in defending .
The resolution for this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , like prior resolutions , stipulates that the United States will encourage whistleblowing but only according to federal law and only if it protects classified information ( including “ sources and methods of detection of classified information ” ) and also only if the whistleblowing involves “ honest and good faith reporting of misconduct , fraud , misdemeanors , and other crimes to the appropriate authority at the earliest time possible.
” With those disqualifiers , Manning , NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden , FBI whistleblower Terry Albury , NSA whistleblower Reality Winner , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a number of other whistleblowers in recent history are rendered criminals .
Both Albury and Winner pled guilty to violating the Espionage Act and were sentenced to federal prison , where they are at the mercy of the Bureau of Prisons ’ ( BOP ) cold-hearted protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic .
Hale was charged with violating the Espionage Act , but the pandemic delayed his trial .
Snowden remains in Russia , where he has lived for around seven years under political asylum .
He was charged with violating the Espionage Act @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State Department revoked his passport .
( The Justice Department is now criminalizing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and other WikiLeaks staff for engaging in source protection and helping Snowden travel from Hong Kong . )
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and other U.S. senators , who support National Whistleblower Appreciation Day , do not view these whistleblowers as the whistleblowers they are .
They did not blow the whistle the right way .
They did not prioritize the interests of the national security state or military industrial-complex .
That makes them “ insider threats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” There are whistleblowers from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons ( OPCW ) , who have exposed lies and disinformation around the case for military strike against Syria .
Unfortunately , neither Democrats nor Republicans care much for what they have exposed to the world .
Who is and is not a whistleblower has grown more partisan .
Under President Donald Trump , Democrats have their whistleblowers , who Republicans refuse to recognize .
Likewise , when Barack Obama was president , Republicans had their own individuals who they designated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ illegitimate ( Larry Alt and Pete Forcelli , who exposed the Operation Fast and Furious scandal , are good examples ) .
Support for whistleblowers may always be fraught with contradictions and inconsistencies within institutions and among political elites .
Yet , the global COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on low-income , working class , and middle class Americans has shown how crucial it is to protect whistleblowers .
Countless citizens have risked their careers and jobs during a time when unemployment has skyrocketed and millions have been stripped of their health insurance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the whistle on unsafe working conditions .
Medical center staff in California revealed that management kept them in the dark as COVID-19 spread among nurses .
Prison staff at Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth , Texas , complained in April that the BOP was knowingly misleading the public on the threat of COVID-19 to prisoners and staff .
Months later , Carswell had a massive outbreak where around 40 percent of prisoners tested positive for COVID-19 .
Lauri Mazurkiewicz was fired from her job as a nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she did not want to work without a mask .
She has asthma and an elderly father with a respiratory disease .
Corporate retaliation against whistleblowers was documented throughout the country .
At an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island , New York , Chris Smalls was fired after he brought attention to Amazon ’ s lack of concern for worker safety .
But what Smalls and others revealed was largely validated , and it sparked an investigation by the New York Attorney General ’ s office that forced Amazon to make modest changes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , media reports have brought attention to a blacklist that McDonald ’ s management apparently has at some franchise locations , where “ mitoteros , ” which translates into gossipers or troublemakers , are designated for termination , especially if they organize workers for better conditions .
The Occupational and Safety Health Administration ( OSHA ) , which is part of the Labor Department , was reportedly receiving two dozen whistleblower complaints a day during the COVID-19 pandemic .
OSHA had over 1,000 open complaints in May .
However , when Grassley and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the kind of whistleblowers they support because they make it harder for corporations that fund their campaigns to continuously make record profits .
Days for celebrating whistleblowers are certainly important , and there are plenty of lesser known whistleblowers , who this newsletter will spotlight .
But as necessary is a shift in the culture away from one that lets officials arbitrarily decide who is and is not a whistleblower and which dissenters citizens are allowed to support .
Our advocacy must not limit whistleblowing to “ proper channels ” that are compromised @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see to it that they do not work .
To truly appreciate whistleblowers , we need to see the press and public as one of the proper channels for revealing corruption and create greater protections for freedom of speech and expression that shield employees in corporations and governments from termination and prosecution .
Note : The July 30 edition of “ Dissenter Weekly ” will air at 1:45 PM ET and feature CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou .
We ’ ll be spotlighting some lesser known whistleblowers who deserve celebration .
You can watch @ @ @ @ @ @

Editor’s Note Substack is dealing with a bad bug that has interfered with our ability to bring on new paid subscribers for over a week. This is unfortunate, as it has undermined the launch of The Dissenter newsletter. Until Substack can fix this, all editions , including exclusive editions, will be sent to everyone. To subscribe, visit https://dissenter.substack.com/subscribe
On July 30, 2013, United States Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning was convicted of violating the Espionage Act and various other offenses.
It was National Whistleblower Appreciation Day, and though she was not found guilty of “aiding the enemy,” the verdict in her trial crystallized a contradiction among the political establishment. Officials profess a commitment to whistleblowers except when they blow the whistle on abuse, fraud, or corruption that they have a vested interest in defending.
The resolution for this year’s National Whistleblower Appreciation Day, like prior resolutions, stipulates that the United States will encourage whistleblowing but only according to federal law and only if it protects classified information (including “sources and methods of detection of classified information”) and also only if the whistleblowing involves “honest and good faith reporting of misconduct, fraud, misdemeanors, and other crimes to the appropriate authority at the earliest time possible.”
With those disqualifiers, Manning, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, FBI whistleblower Terry Albury, NSA whistleblower Reality Winner, alleged drone whistleblower Daniel Hale, and a number of other whistleblowers in recent history are rendered criminals.
Both Albury and Winner pled guilty to violating the Espionage Act and were sentenced to federal prison, where they are at the mercy of the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) cold-hearted protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hale was charged with violating the Espionage Act, but the pandemic delayed his trial.
Snowden remains in Russia, where he has lived for around seven years under political asylum. He was charged with violating the Espionage Act and trapped in the country after the State Department revoked his passport. (The Justice Department is now criminalizing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and other WikiLeaks staff for engaging in source protection and helping Snowden travel from Hong Kong.)
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and other U.S. senators, who support National Whistleblower Appreciation Day, do not view these whistleblowers as the whistleblowers they are. They did not blow the whistle the right way. They did not prioritize the interests of the national security state or military industrial-complex. That makes them “insider threats,” or worse, “traitors.”
There are whistleblowers from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), who have exposed lies and disinformation around the case for military strike against Syria. Unfortunately, neither Democrats nor Republicans care much for what they have exposed to the world.
Who is and is not a whistleblower has grown more partisan. Under President Donald Trump, Democrats have their whistleblowers, who Republicans refuse to recognize. Likewise, when Barack Obama was president, Republicans had their own individuals who they designated as whistleblowers, which Democrats treated as illegitimate (Larry Alt and Pete Forcelli, who exposed the Operation Fast and Furious scandal, are good examples).
Support for whistleblowers may always be fraught with contradictions and inconsistencies within institutions and among political elites. Yet, the global COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on low-income, working class, and middle class Americans has shown how crucial it is to protect whistleblowers.
Countless citizens have risked their careers and jobs during a time when unemployment has skyrocketed and millions have been stripped of their health insurance.
A slaughterhouse worker in Denver blew the whistle on unsafe working conditions. Medical center staff in California revealed that management kept them in the dark as COVID-19 spread among nurses.
Prison staff at Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, complained in April that the BOP was knowingly misleading the public on the threat of COVID-19 to prisoners and staff. Months later, Carswell had a massive outbreak where around 40 percent of prisoners tested positive for COVID-19.
Lauri Mazurkiewicz was fired from her job as a nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago after she emailed colleagues that she did not want to work without a mask. She has asthma and an elderly father with a respiratory disease.
Corporate retaliation against whistleblowers was documented throughout the country. At an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, Chris Smalls was fired after he brought attention to Amazon’s lack of concern for worker safety. But what Smalls and others revealed was largely validated, and it sparked an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office that forced Amazon to make modest changes to workplace conditions.
In recent weeks, media reports have brought attention to a blacklist that McDonald’s management apparently has at some franchise locations, where “mitoteros,” which translates into gossipers or troublemakers, are designated for termination, especially if they organize workers for better conditions.
The Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA), which is part of the Labor Department, was reportedly receiving two dozen whistleblower complaints a day during the COVID-19 pandemic. OSHA had over 1,000 open complaints in May. However, when Grassley and others celebrate whistleblowers, these are not the kind of whistleblowers they support because they make it harder for corporations that fund their campaigns to continuously make record profits.
Days for celebrating whistleblowers are certainly important, and there are plenty of lesser known whistleblowers, who this newsletter will spotlight. But as necessary is a shift in the culture away from one that lets officials arbitrarily decide who is and is not a whistleblower and which dissenters citizens are allowed to support.
Our advocacy must not limit whistleblowing to “proper channels” that are compromised or terribly constrained by authorities that will see to it that they do not work.
To truly appreciate whistleblowers, we need to see the press and public as one of the proper channels for revealing corruption and create greater protections for freedom of speech and expression that shield employees in corporations and governments from termination and prosecution.
***
Note: The July 30 edition of “Dissenter Weekly” will air at 1:45 PM ET and feature CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou. We’ll be spotlighting some lesser known whistleblowers who deserve celebration. You can watch a livestream on our Youtube.


shadowproof--2020-07-29--For Black & Pink Organizers, Decarceration Must Grapple With Constant Violence Against LGBTQ+ People

For Black & Pink Organizers , Decarceration Must Grapple With Constant Violence Against LGBTQ+ People For many people dissenting from the carceral state , namely the policing and prison systems , the act of existing outside of these modes is about the value they place on their life and the lives around them .
They say the state fails to give said value and care to much of the country ’ s population from urban communities of color to poor , white rural pockets of the midwest .
And if you ’ re queer or transgender , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black or trans and formerly or currently incarcerated , our culture says you ’ re disposable , ” said Dominique Morgan ( they/them ) .
“ We ’ re comfortable engaging in throwing them away because we ’ ve made it seem like ‘ Oh , they chose to not be amongst us .
So this is their consequence.
’ It ’ s a false narrative we ’ ve been sold to dispose of us.
” Morgan is a queer organizer and executive director of Black & Pink , an open family of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support each other .
They ’ re a national abolitionist organization dedicated to dismantling the carceral system and the harms caused to LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV/AIDS .
They are building a world without dependence on prisons and policing .
For a national organization with 13 chapters and more than 20,000 members , Morgan ’ s rise to leadership was far from the norm in the non-profit industrial complex .
A decade before Morgan ’ s ascension , they spent a year and a half in solitary confinement at the Tecumseh @ @ @ @ @ @ @ isolation within an institution already existing to isolate , is often used as retribution for the most minuscule of things—a tool used to break down incarcerated people .
According to the last data released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2011-12 , there are more than 80,000 people in solitary confinement in prisons , jails , and detention centers across the United States .
In 2015 , Black & Pink conducted a survey taken by 1,118 incarcerated LGBTQ+ people across the country .
They found that 85 percent of respondents had been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their sentence totaling more than 5,110 years combined .
Beyond the harmful psychological effects of long-term solitary confinement , solitary confinement poses an insidious public safety and community health threat once folks are released .
Much like the hundreds of thousands of formerly incarcerated people re-entering “ society ” annually , those subjected to the atrocities of solitary confinement are not given the tools to succeed once they ’ re released .
And even when traditional success is afforded to them , there are lingering effects around respectability .
“ I ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ added Morgan .
“ But it took me doing all the right structural things , going to Georgetown and becoming a director , for the world to say ‘ okay , you have value again.
’ That ’ s not how this world is supposed to work.
” As a result , under Morgan Black & Pink works to center those who have been what they call “ system impacted , ” and to create an environment where they ’ re given the value their lives deserve .
System impacted people are those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inherently perpetuates queer violence by a policing system that disproportionately ends queer lives .
This is especially true for Black and Brown LGBTQ+ people , according to Morgan .
“ When we see folks who are system impacted , especially young folks , who are looking for safe housing or in need of direct aid , these babies are drowning in all of their needs , ” declared Morgan .
“ They ’ re suffocating from the amount of trauma and struggles they ’ re holding.
” Their 2015 report found that only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ living in a home of their own before being incarcerated .
In the same vein , their unemployment rate was seven times higher than the national average , nearly two-thirds of respondents ’ first arrest occurred before their 18th birthday and less than one-third of respondents completed high school outside of prison .
Following their 2015 national survey , the organization created a report meant to be a tool for organizers , both inside and outside of prisons , to build national and grassroots level campaigns to alleviate the immediate suffering of incarcerated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ centering the needs of LGBTQ+ prisoners .
The tool packet has helped to inform their own work as well .
Black & Pink has various working groups on everything from immigration to decriminalizing sex work .
Their Transitions program works to facilitate safe housing for people who are system impacted .
The organization also runs a Youth Leadership Institute , not to mention the three programs they are most known for REAP , their pen pal letter-writing group , and Black & Pink News .
REAP stands for “ Restore , Embolden , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ addressing issues that queer and transgender formerly incarcerated people face when they reenter the community , including increasing access to mental health services , job training , and housing .
The letter-writing group is a life-affirming practice between incarcerated people and folks existing outside of the prison walls .
It “ reminds people of their inherent value ” in a system that can be especially dehumanizing .
It also serves as harm reduction inside prisons because it shows that there are people paying attention to an incarcerated person ’ s wellbeing and reaffirms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their gender and sexuality .
Black & Pink News , which is sent to thousands of incarcerated folks for free , is the only source of outside news for roughly half of the people who receive it inside of prisons .
As of lately , they ’ ve been gathering self-care tips to send to the incarcerated readers through the newspaper .
“ It ’ s about loving each other in spite of all the harm that has been inflicted upon us , ” suggested Morgan .
“ We have to see each @ @ @ @ @ @ @ amongst us .
Because otherwise , we ’ re not going to get collective liberation.
” “ Abolition and the world-building outside of the carceral system is the only answer ” With the globally catalyzing murders of Breonna Taylor , Ahmaud Arbery , and Tony McDade underscoring thousands of other murders at the hands of U.S. police officers per year , abolition has entered the mainstream consciousness .
However , those who have been personally addressing harm in their communities without police and fighting for a world where police aren ’ t needed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the historical call for abolitionist world-making from current calls to defund police .
“ Black communities don ’ t often call the police , ” said Morgan .
“ Those are the remnants of abolition that Black people have always had .
That ’ s something that has been ours and should be our legacy .
Even as it has been co-opted and stolen , making it harder for us to navigate our communities and communities around us.
” It ’ s no surprise that communities that exist outside the confinements of respectability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Queer and/or transgender communities alike , are forced to work outside of policing for their safety .
Not only does carcerality function as a gendering apparatus , meaning it dictates and enforces sexual and gender conformity under the gender binary , it also creates the conditions where sexual and gender violence thrives .
Nearly 50 percent of LGBTQ+ victims of violence report police misconduct and one-in-two Black trans people have been to prison , often as punishment for crimes of survival .
To alleviate LGBTQ+ people ’ s interactions with police , Black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , intermediate , and long-term levels .
In the short-term , they suggest ending “ Quality of Life ” policing practices , in which LGBTQ+ people who are disproportionately unhoused , involved in sex trading , and live with mental illness , are criminalized for doing what they need to do to survive .
This means redistributing the billions of dollars spent in local municipalities on policing and prisons , including a hundred billion in funding from the federal government , into safe housing , food sovereignty , and access to green spaces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to Morgan .
To help in this process of mutual aid and wealth redistribution , Black & Pink organizes aid funds and donation zaps like their “ Give Out Day.
” The money is directly injected into Black and Brown trans communities .
Intermediately they suggest creating addiction treatment‐on‐demand programs , as well as public physical and mental health treatment programs in non‐carceral settings .
They understand that the acts of policing and isolation exist outside of traditional carceral modes and that many mental health facilities , public health workers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well .
“ People aren ’ t randomly positioned to be impacted by the carceral state and these carceral systems , ” stated Morgan .
“ There were years of harm positioning them to experience the carceral violence that was enacted against them .
And that ’ s why abolition and the world-building outside of the carceral system is the only answer because otherwise , we ’ re always going to be chasing our tails.
” “ We ’ re talking about a system and world that wasn ’ t created for them.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the traumas of prisons and detention centers would cease to exist as well .
However , organizations are needed on both ends of the carceral system to ensure a freer world for LGBTQ+ people , according to Morgan .
One organization working on the detention side of the system is the LGBTQ+ Freedom Fund .
Those organizing for LGBTQ+ liberation understand the daunting hold carcerality has on LGBTQ+ bodies and acting outside of carcerality is a key way for them to live with the love and freedom they deserve .
LGBTQ+ people are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ in the country , so it ’ s vitally important that the struggle is against the carceral disposition of LGBTQ+ bodies , according to Tremaine Jones , the project director for the LGBTQ+ Freedom Fund .
“ It ’ s very important that we look at ways of making sure that we ’ re getting LGBTQ+ folks out of jail and immigration detention centers , ” declared Jones .
“ But we must always constantly make sure that we ’ re building a critical mass insurrection against the incarceration of LGBTQ+ folks.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the insurrection , or revolution , against LGBTQ+ incarceration .
The fund pays bails to free LGBTQ+ folks from jails and detention centers while raising awareness of the “ twin epidemics ” LGBTQ+ people are facing , carcerality , and HIV/AIDS .
In Black & Pink ’ s survey , they found nearly three-quarters of respondents were held in jail before their conviction , more than half of those were detained for a year or more before being convicted of any crime .
Pretrial detainees have a suicide attempt rate that is about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While those with the financial means are released from confinement , those in poverty face only maleficent choices : accept deportation or a guilty plea to get out of jail—often to crimes they didn ’ t commit .
“ The bail system is not a system that is set up for equity , ” stated Jones .
“ It ’ s a system that perpetuates poverty and , unfortunately , without it people are taking horrible routes just to get out of prison and jail conditions.
” In addition to bailing detainees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social , and medical support systems as well as doing on-site HIV rapid testing and counseling , pre-exposure prophylaxis ( PrEP ) linkage , and condom distribution .
Freedom Fund staffer Gabby Mahabeer ( they/them ) believes on-site connections are the best part of the job , it ’ s about creating a world where LGBTQ+ are affirmed rather than punished , especially where the organization is based in Florida .
Of the more than 75 reported murders of transgender or gender non-conforming people since 2018 , about one in seven were in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ talking about LGBTQ+ people , especially LGBTQ+ folks of color , we ’ re talking about a system and world that wasn ’ t created for them , ” contended Mahabeer .
“ It ’ s a world that is set up to have them fail and cycle through a system of terror.
” As Mahabeer described , the Freedom Fund builds a “ path towards recently incarcerated lives being valued ” through their different programs , but most importantly by building relationships .
And at its core , that is what abolition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a new , free world for everyone just as much as it ’ s about ridding the world of carceral violence .
“ So many people just don ’ t get the support they need .
All they want is relief , ” concluded Jones .
“ There ’ s a level of violence that the state enforces against people and just by doing something as simple as building relationships we ’ re combatting that .
”

For many people dissenting from the carceral state, namely the policing and prison systems, the act of existing outside of these modes is about the value they place on their life and the lives around them. They say the state fails to give said value and care to much of the country’s population from urban communities of color to poor, white rural pockets of the midwest. And if you’re queer or transgender, it’s tenfold.
“When you’re Black or trans and formerly or currently incarcerated, our culture says you’re disposable,” said Dominique Morgan (they/them). “We’re comfortable engaging in throwing them away because we’ve made it seem like ‘Oh, they chose to not be amongst us. So this is their consequence.’ It’s a false narrative we’ve been sold to dispose of us.”
Morgan is a queer organizer and executive director of Black & Pink, an open family of LGBTQ+ prisoners and free world allies who support each other. They’re a national abolitionist organization dedicated to dismantling the carceral system and the harms caused to LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV/AIDS. They are building a world without dependence on prisons and policing.
For a national organization with 13 chapters and more than 20,000 members, Morgan’s rise to leadership was far from the norm in the non-profit industrial complex. A decade before Morgan’s ascension, they spent a year and a half in solitary confinement at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution.
Solitary confinement, isolation within an institution already existing to isolate, is often used as retribution for the most minuscule of things—a tool used to break down incarcerated people.
According to the last data released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2011-12, there are more than 80,000 people in solitary confinement in prisons, jails, and detention centers across the United States.
In 2015, Black & Pink conducted a survey taken by 1,118 incarcerated LGBTQ+ people across the country. They found that 85 percent of respondents had been in solitary confinement at some point during their sentence totaling more than 5,110 years combined.
Beyond the harmful psychological effects of long-term solitary confinement, solitary confinement poses an insidious public safety and community health threat once folks are released.
Much like the hundreds of thousands of formerly incarcerated people re-entering “society” annually, those subjected to the atrocities of solitary confinement are not given the tools to succeed once they’re released. And even when traditional success is afforded to them, there are lingering effects around respectability.
“I’ve been out for 11 years,” added Morgan. “But it took me doing all the right structural things, going to Georgetown and becoming a director, for the world to say ‘okay, you have value again.’ That’s not how this world is supposed to work.”
“It’s about loving each other”
As a result, under Morgan Black & Pink works to center those who have been what they call “system impacted,” and to create an environment where they’re given the value their lives deserve.
System impacted people are those seemingly shoveled into a prison system that inherently perpetuates queer violence by a policing system that disproportionately ends queer lives. This is especially true for Black and Brown LGBTQ+ people, according to Morgan.
“When we see folks who are system impacted, especially young folks, who are looking for safe housing or in need of direct aid, these babies are drowning in all of their needs,” declared Morgan.
“They’re suffocating from the amount of trauma and struggles they’re holding.”
Their 2015 report found that only 52 percent of the survey respondents were living in a home of their own before being incarcerated. In the same vein, their unemployment rate was seven times higher than the national average, nearly two-thirds of respondents’ first arrest occurred before their 18th birthday and less than one-third of respondents completed high school outside of prison.
Following their 2015 national survey, the organization created a report meant to be a tool for organizers, both inside and outside of prisons, to build national and grassroots level campaigns to alleviate the immediate suffering of incarcerated folks and abolish the carceral system while centering the needs of LGBTQ+ prisoners. The tool packet has helped to inform their own work as well.
Black & Pink has various working groups on everything from immigration to decriminalizing sex work. Their Transitions program works to facilitate safe housing for people who are system impacted. The organization also runs a Youth Leadership Institute, not to mention the three programs they are most known for REAP, their pen pal letter-writing group, and Black & Pink News.
REAP stands for “Restore, Embolden, Amplify, Power, and focuses on addressing issues that queer and transgender formerly incarcerated people face when they reenter the community, including increasing access to mental health services, job training, and housing.
The letter-writing group is a life-affirming practice between incarcerated people and folks existing outside of the prison walls. It “reminds people of their inherent value” in a system that can be especially dehumanizing. It also serves as harm reduction inside prisons because it shows that there are people paying attention to an incarcerated person’s wellbeing and reaffirms their feelings of being accepted regardless of their gender and sexuality.
Black & Pink News, which is sent to thousands of incarcerated folks for free, is the only source of outside news for roughly half of the people who receive it inside of prisons. As of lately, they’ve been gathering self-care tips to send to the incarcerated readers through the newspaper.
“It’s about loving each other in spite of all the harm that has been inflicted upon us,” suggested Morgan. “We have to see each other and respect and appreciate the diversity amongst us. Because otherwise, we’re not going to get collective liberation.”
“Abolition and the world-building outside of the carceral system is the only answer”
With the globally catalyzing murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade underscoring thousands of other murders at the hands of U.S. police officers per year, abolition has entered the mainstream consciousness. However, those who have been personally addressing harm in their communities without police and fighting for a world where police aren’t needed, have made it clear to separate the historical call for abolitionist world-making from current calls to defund police.
“Black communities don’t often call the police,” said Morgan. “Those are the remnants of abolition that Black people have always had. That’s something that has been ours and should be our legacy. Even as it has been co-opted and stolen, making it harder for us to navigate our communities and communities around us.”
It’s no surprise that communities that exist outside the confinements of respectability and what is acceptable, like Black Queer and/or transgender communities alike, are forced to work outside of policing for their safety.
Not only does carcerality function as a gendering apparatus, meaning it dictates and enforces sexual and gender conformity under the gender binary, it also creates the conditions where sexual and gender violence thrives. Nearly 50 percent of LGBTQ+ victims of violence report police misconduct and one-in-two Black trans people have been to prison, often as punishment for crimes of survival.
To alleviate LGBTQ+ people’s interactions with police, Black & Pink recommends goals on the short-term, intermediate, and long-term levels. In the short-term, they suggest ending “Quality of Life” policing practices, in which LGBTQ+ people who are disproportionately unhoused, involved in sex trading, and live with mental illness, are criminalized for doing what they need to do to survive.
This means redistributing the billions of dollars spent in local municipalities on policing and prisons, including a hundred billion in funding from the federal government, into safe housing, food sovereignty, and access to green spaces among a plethora of other life-affirming practices, according to Morgan.
To help in this process of mutual aid and wealth redistribution, Black & Pink organizes aid funds and donation zaps like their “Give Out Day.” The money is directly injected into Black and Brown trans communities.
Intermediately they suggest creating addiction treatment‐on‐demand programs, as well as public physical and mental health treatment programs in non‐carceral settings. They understand that the acts of policing and isolation exist outside of traditional carceral modes and that many mental health facilities, public health workers, and social workers use carceral techniques as well.
“People aren’t randomly positioned to be impacted by the carceral state and these carceral systems,” stated Morgan. “There were years of harm positioning them to experience the carceral violence that was enacted against them. And that’s why abolition and the world-building outside of the carceral system is the only answer because otherwise, we’re always going to be chasing our tails.”
“We’re talking about a system and world that wasn’t created for them.”
By eradicating interactions with police, the traumas of prisons and detention centers would cease to exist as well. However, organizations are needed on both ends of the carceral system to ensure a freer world for LGBTQ+ people, according to Morgan. One organization working on the detention side of the system is the LGBTQ+ Freedom Fund.
Those organizing for LGBTQ+ liberation understand the daunting hold carcerality has on LGBTQ+ bodies and acting outside of carcerality is a key way for them to live with the love and freedom they deserve. LGBTQ+ people are some of the most ‘system impacted’ in the country, so it’s vitally important that the struggle is against the carceral disposition of LGBTQ+ bodies, according to Tremaine Jones, the project director for the LGBTQ+ Freedom Fund.
“It’s very important that we look at ways of making sure that we’re getting LGBTQ+ folks out of jail and immigration detention centers,” declared Jones. “But we must always constantly make sure that we’re building a critical mass insurrection against the incarceration of LGBTQ+ folks.”
The fund is working to build the insurrection, or revolution, against LGBTQ+ incarceration. The fund pays bails to free LGBTQ+ folks from jails and detention centers while raising awareness of the “twin epidemics” LGBTQ+ people are facing, carcerality, and HIV/AIDS.
In Black & Pink’s survey, they found nearly three-quarters of respondents were held in jail before their conviction, more than half of those were detained for a year or more before being convicted of any crime.
Pretrial detainees have a suicide attempt rate that is about 7.5 times higher than the general population. While those with the financial means are released from confinement, those in poverty face only maleficent choices: accept deportation or a guilty plea to get out of jail—often to crimes they didn’t commit.
“The bail system is not a system that is set up for equity,” stated Jones. “It’s a system that perpetuates poverty and, unfortunately, without it people are taking horrible routes just to get out of prison and jail conditions.”
In addition to bailing detainees, they connect people to legal, social, and medical support systems as well as doing on-site HIV rapid testing and counseling, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) linkage, and condom distribution.
Freedom Fund staffer Gabby Mahabeer (they/them) believes on-site connections are the best part of the job, it’s about creating a world where LGBTQ+ are affirmed rather than punished, especially where the organization is based in Florida. Of the more than 75 reported murders of transgender or gender non-conforming people since 2018, about one in seven were in Florida.
“When we’re talking about LGBTQ+ people, especially LGBTQ+ folks of color, we’re talking about a system and world that wasn’t created for them,” contended Mahabeer. “It’s a world that is set up to have them fail and cycle through a system of terror.”
As Mahabeer described, the Freedom Fund builds a “path towards recently incarcerated lives being valued” through their different programs, but most importantly by building relationships. And at its core, that is what abolition is; It’s about building a new, free world for everyone just as much as it’s about ridding the world of carceral violence.
“So many people just don’t get the support they need. All they want is relief,” concluded Jones. “There’s a level of violence that the state enforces against people and just by doing something as simple as building relationships we’re combatting that.”