WESPAC Foundation is concerned about the criminal justice system. We work in solidarity with other groups and organizations in Westchester County to repeal the Rockefeller Drug Laws, to eliminate racial profiling, and to address the structural and institutional biases inherent in our criminal justice system. We stand to permanently remove the death penalty as a legal option for the state, and we seek to significantly reduce the prison populations by working towards a more benevolent economic system that guarantees meaningful jobs and training at a living wage to all people.
Introducing the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform to the Yonkers Community
Protecting Civil Liberties and Public Safety in an Age of Terror
When Police Unions Impede Justice
From The New York Times: When Police Unions Impede Justice It’s time to revise police contracts that make it almost impossible to bring officers to justice. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/opinion/sunday/when-police-unions-impede-justice.html?mwrsm=Email
Hundreds Come Out in Support of Police Accountability
Justice for the Wrongfully Incarcerated
Over 90 people have registered to join family, friends and loved ones of the wrongfully convicted for an eight day march from Harlem to Albany starting on Mother’s Day, May 8th, 2016. 20 walkers are committed to walking for the whole eight days in order to highlight the plight of the wrongfully convicted and to demand specific legislative reforms found at http://
WESPAC Intern Attends Local Conference
Imani McCalla is a Journalism Major at SUNY Purchase and has been interning this semester at WESPAC. She recently attended the Westchester MLK Institute's annual conference on Ending Violence, Building Hope and took the time to write an article about her experience....
Evening of Political Prisoner and Trans Prisoner Support at WESPAC
A group gathered the evening of Tuesday, January 26, 2016, focused on supporting parole for Herman Bell as well as for the First International Day of Action in Solidarity with Trans Prisoners. We wrote birthday cards to former Black Panther Herman Bell...
Please support WESPAC’s 2015 Membership Drive!
WESPAC Open House and Prisoner Writing
We are writing to invite you all to see our new space located on the fourth floor of the Westchester Arts Council building in downtown White Plains at 31 Mamaroneck Avenue on Monday, July 20th from 1pm to 5pm. We will be joined by high school students who are engaging...
WESPAC on Facebook
November 19th marks the tragic police killing of Mr. Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr. Kenneth his son will open up the community forum with welcoming words and thoughts on this current moment:Please save the date and help us share widely!Our current slate of confirmed panelists includes: - Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety for the City of White Plains Joseph Castelli (Commissioner Hardy is already committed to another panel that evening)- Peekskill Police Chief Adam Renwick - Omar Lopez (Deputy Mayor and CCRB Chairman, Ossining) - Dennis Adams (CCRB Chairman, Peekskill) - Jay Buckiewicz (Secretary CCRB, Peekskill)Invited but not yet confirmed - City of Yonkers Public Safety Commissioner and Westchester County Public Safety CommissionerWe will have light refreshments from 6pm to 6:15pm and then we will head to the auditorium: @followers
WESPAC Foundation has secured the screening rights to make the documentary Who Killed Alex Odeh? available to our community for one day. This film is deeply personal to me. I was a high school student here in Westchester County at Horace Greeley when Alex Odeh, a Palestinian American civil rights leader and regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, was assassinated by a bomb planted at his office in Santa Ana, California, on October 11, 1985. I remember how deeply disturbing it was to learn of his murder, and I remain profoundly shaken by the fact that, more than four decades later, no one has been brought to justice. Even more troubling is the history of suspects who were able to leave the United States without facing prosecution. For me, Alex Odeh’s murder came to symbolize something that Palestinians have experienced for generations: a devastating sense that those who take Palestinian lives can do so with impunity. That failure of accountability has continued to haunt our people, culminating in the mass killing and destruction we have witnessed in Gaza over these past several years. When violence against Palestinians goes unpunished, it sends a dangerous message that Palestinian lives are somehow less worthy of protection, dignity, and justice. I hope our WESPAC community will take the time to watch this important film with me on December 2nd at 7pm at WESPAC, reflect on the decades of injustice it exposes, and recommit ourselves to the principle that every human life is sacred and that justice must never depend on one’s nationality, ethnicity, or identity.Wednesday, December 2nd at 7pm at WESPAC77 Tarrytown Road, Suite 2WWhite Plains, NY 10607
Come out on Sunday and support the Yonkers Sanctuary Movement!