Hope in Hardship
More than just a screening:
conversation and convening to carry us forward.
“You don’t have to be in jail to experience something. Pain can grind our emotions- you can feel sad, depressed, angry, not confident in yourself. You can’t give into your feelings and your emotions, you have to persevere and the things you’re taught that you know are right… you can’t give up. You gotta fight.”
Leave a Message for Leonard
Resources
Provided by Shining Light
Media Links:
“The Future of Race in America: Michelle Alexander at TedxColumbus”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ6H-Mz6hgw
“13th” (Documentary on Netflix)
https://www.netflix.com/title/80091741
“Ear Hustle” Podcast out of San Quentin State Prison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcyicAiXMZY
“The Big Graph” Eastern State Penitentiary
https://www.easternstate.org/explore/exhibits/big-graph
Fact Sheet on mass incarceration in PA from the Pennsylvania Prison Society
https://www.prisonsociety.org/reports-fact-sheets
“Creations of a Caged Bird Vol. 1 & 2” - Shining Light
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hREOJObN768
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrHKC10bsBI
Books/Readings:
“Just Mercy” - Bryan Stevenson
“The New Jim Crow” - Michelle Alexander
“A Colony in a Nation” - Chris Hayes
“Let Justice Roll Down” - John Perkins
“Tattoos on the Heart” - Father Gregory Boyle
Fact Sheet on mass incarceration in PA from the Pennsylvania Prison Society
https://www.prisonsociety.org/reports-fact-sheets
Public Source news coverage of Allegheny County Jail
https://www.publicsource.org/series/allegheny-county-jail/
Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project 2020 Annual Report https://static1.squarespace.com/static/589b4d9f725e250f864b8d07/t/6091d37bd0b212390389de1b/1620169598000/2020+Annual+Report_Final.pdf
Foundational Research to Shining Light Page:
https://www.shining-light.com/research
Organizations in Pittsburgh
Provided by Anna Shabalov
Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project
Statewide non-profit organization representing indigent incarcerated and institutionalized people in impact litigation to fight constitutional and civil rights abuses in Pennsylvania’s prisons and jails
Abolitionist Law Center
Pittsburgh public interest law firm fighting against human rights abuses, with a specific focus on race and class based discrimination and promotion of a movement against mass incarceration in the US
https://abolitionistlawcenter.org/
Bukit Bail Fund of Pittsburgh
Raises and distributes bail funds for Allegheny County Jail inmates and advocates for the abolition of the cash bail system, which disproportionately impacts the already marginalized
https://www.bukitbailfund.org/home
Foundation of Hope
https://www.foundationofhope.org/
Other Pittsburgh Artist’s Projects with Similar Topics:
“Milton” - Kaylin Horgan
https://newhazletttheater.org/events/milton/
Ways to Get Involved
Donate! A lot of work to be done and never enough funds.
Follow Abolitionist Law Center and its ALC Court Watch on social media for up to date info and calls to action (Instagram: @abolitionistlc and @alccourtwatch)
Volunteering opportunities (neither require legal training)
Court Watch in Allegheny County
https://alccourtwatch.org/get-involved/
Prison Monitor for state and county facilities