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.
Racial Bias, Even When We Have Good Intentions
By Sendhil Mullainathan- professor of economics at Harvard The deaths of African-Americans at the hands of the police in Ferguson, Mo., in Cleveland and on Staten Island have reignited a debate about race. Some argue that these events are isolated and that racism is a...
Holiday Card Writing to Inmates at Sing Sing
Hello everyone. Join us at the WESPAC office on Monday, December 22nd from 4pm to 8pm for a holiday card writing to the inmates at Sing Sing prison. We will provide all materials. Light refreshments served.
Community Speak Out, Saturday, December 20th at the Slater Center
Hitting the Streets for Justice
Stand Up for Justice: Fight Militarism, Racism and Occupation Thank you to Yoram for taking this footage. Dave Lippman composed this excellent song that we sang along to before marching around White Plains: ...
Chamberlain Vigil
Cri de Coeur from Lynne Stewart
It is certainly sobering to be celebrating the start of my 74 year mired down in this prison. It is even more so when there is my life line that must be considered. Nonetheless, I remain my ebullient self and face my fight and my future with optimism. Part of the...
White Plains March for Trayvon Martin and Local Police Accountability
Scores of people gathered to march for justice for Trayvon Martin and for local police accountability. Participants gathered at the Slater Center after the march for a community meeting. Full story at...
Stand with Prisoners
Take Action: Stand with Prisoners From Palestine to California, prisoners are organizing to end torture in prison and prison as a form repression of popular movements and poor communities of color. Included in this action alert are three opportunities to support...
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity
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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!