The Campaign to End the Death Penalty hosts a National Speaking Tour every year. Last year's tour was called Live From Death Row and went all over the country. Many different prisoners called in and spoke via live speakerphone, including Mumia Abu-Jamal from Pennsylvania, Stanley Howard from Illinois, and Kevin Cooper from California (to name just a few).
The Tour stops were held in a variety of places, at schools like Howard University and the University of Texas, at progressive conferences like Critical Resistance, and in communities nationwide. Many of these places did not have a CEDP, and worked with our national tour organizer to build and promote these events within their communities.
We hope to match that success with our tour events this year. The tour this year is designed for folks to get an in-depth look at the effects of racism historically in the US, and the impact racism has currently on our criminal "injustice" system. With the election of Barack Obama comes a new opportunity to discuss the continuing impact of systemic racist ideas and policies in America.
We'd like these events to be a place where folks can come and hear an amazing array of speakers with a wide diversity of experiences and expertise. From discussions of historical movements against slavery, lynching, and jim crow laws, to ideas for challenging racism today, the Anti-Lynching Tour is a key event for anti-racist activists to attend in the coming months.
This blog will include reports from Tour Stops all over as well as news reports on the events (and whatever else we think of). We hope the blog can help people all over feel part of a bigger project and give inspiration to those who are organizing or would like to organize one of these events!
