Moral Monday Statewide Tour In Georgia!!

 American Friends Service Committee is excited to announce that we will be working with the Moral Monday Georgia movement to organize a statewide tour called, "Jail For Justice".

Can you help host "Jail for Justice' tour in your community between July 28th and August 11th?

What is the 'Jailed for Justice' tour?

Over the course of the 2014 Georgia legislative session Moral Monday brought a national spotlight on what many have called the worst session in a generation. Moral Monday was able to create real dialogue about Medicaid expansion, Stand Your Ground law, a woman's right to choose, workers' rights, and other important issue through a series of dynamic actions that included mass civil disobedience.

Over the course of the year there were 81 arrests. Arrestees were young, old, white, black, brown, gay, straight and everything between. Elected officials and prominent faith leaders also participated in civil disobedience with the intention of bringing attention to the attack on poor people.

The, "Jailed for Justice" tour will feature a diverse group of 3-5 Moral Monday  arrestees who will talk about why they choose to put their freedom on the line for their beliefs and what their hopes and dreams for the movement are as we count down to November's election and look forward to the 2015 legislative session.

Each tour stop may include a different line-up of Arrestees.

What are some of the Goals for the, "Jailed for Justice" tour?

*We hope to bring the message of the Moral Monday Georgia movement across the state.

*We hope to create space to hear about the issues Georgian's are most concerned about and foster discussion about how we might work together to create the change we want to see.

*We plan to do voter registration at every stop!

*We plan to organize a meeting with community/faith leaders after each tour stop.

*We hope to begin the hard work of building the statewide movement Georgia needs to change the political landscape.

Please email tfranzen@afsc.org or jrodriguez@afsc.org if you are interested in hosting a stop on the tour!

Forward Together!

Undocumented Youth Risk Freedom to End Segregation in Georgia

Today Georgia undocumented youth led a coalition that included Moral Monday Georgia folks in disrupting the Georgia Board of Regents meeting today. Why? As Lucino Gopar puts it, "Today we celebrate 50 years since desegregation, but students are still banned from colleges, we must end segregation now!"

The Georgia Board of Regents has created policy that bans undocumented students from attending the top 5 Georgia colleges and forces them to pay international tuition anywhere else, which is basically impossible for regular people to attend college.

On this election day as Georgians head to the poll we should keep in mind that tens and thousands of very hard working Georgians are locked out of the system.

Today, in an act of civil disobedience,  undocumented youth and allies blocked Washington st outside the Board of Regents meeting much like the Board of Regents is blocking access to education for some of our most talented young Georgians.

We are asking folks to support arrestees by donating to the bail fund: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/georgia-civil-disobedience-fund 

We also ask that you sign and SHARE  this new online petition calling on the Board of Regents to lift the ban:

https://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/end-university-segregation-in-georgia-1?bucket=&source=twitter-share-button

Finally if you could take a moment to call the Georgia Board of Regents at 404-962-3050 & demand an end to university segregation in GA! Reverse policy 4.1.6!

Moral Monday Arrestees Speak Out

Over the course of Georgia's 2014 legislative session the American Friends Service Committee has been excited to be able to play a leadership role in launching Georgia's Moral Monday movement. We were all inspired by North Carolina last year and as 2014 approached many had come to believe that the Moral Monday model could be an effective southern strategy.

Since Georgia's 2014 session began there have been a number of Moral Monday Georgia actions at the State Capitol. Over the course of two of those actions over 30 Moral Monday Georgia coalition members participated in very principled nonviolent civil disobedience. 

On Monday February 17th arrestees gathered together to speak out about why they felt moved to put their freedoms on the line. Below is their collective statement along with some video footage:

"We are young, we are old, we are black, we are white, we are gay, we are straight, we are men, and we are women. Many of us are very religious, some are not.  As a group we are not aligned with one political party. We have many differences, we are people who would normally not mix, but there is something that has brought as all together for a cause we believe so deeply in that we have been willing to put our freedoms on the line.

We believe that Georgia has been high jacked by an extreme radical agenda that our state simple can no longer afford. Year after year we see a budget and tax code the benefits a few at a cost to everyone else. We see the standard of living going down for the overwhelming majority for the benefit of those that already have too much. We see the majority of our state’s politicians acting in the interest of big business to the detriment of everyday Georgians.

So we have come together to build a Moral Movement in our state, to remind our elected officials who they are accountable to. We believe our state budget is a Moral document, and that all Georgians should benefit from our state's prosperity, not just the rich. We are in a crisis of economic priority, not one of economic resource; we know there is enough to go around.

So far over 30 of us have been willing to put our freedom and public records on the line to bring attention to this extreme radical agenda.

On January 27^th 10 members of the Moral Monday Georgia Coalition refused to leave Govenor Deal’s office until he expanded Medicaid to Georgians, a move that would bring health care to an estimated 600,000+ uninsured Georgians and 70k good paying jobs to our state at no cost initially. Ironically struggling Georgians pay for people all over the country to have these benefits yet we are denied do to our Govenor’s ideological stubbornness.

On Monday February 10^th 24 of us held a sit in State Senator Jesse Stone’s  office because he refused to move forward SB280, which would repeal Georgia’s Stand Your Ground law, a law that has a proven track record in making our state less safe, and has come to represent the legalization of modern day lynching.

We have risked our freedom because we believe that everyday Georgians are worth fighting for, we believe our standard of living should be on the rise, not decline, we believe there’s enough to go around, we believe that the least of these is worth fighting for, we believe that a Georgia that prioritizes education, health care, women's rights, LGBT rights, good jobs with fair wages, fair housing practices,racial justice, and environmental justice is possible and worth fighting for."