Forward Justice Action Network

Join us for an amazing line-up of activists, artists, vendors and more at the Festival next Saturday! Get your tickets at www.carolinadaze.com.

Kentucky, like NC and SC, has a ballot amendment in November to ban noncitizen voting, which is already not allowed by law and, when violated, could be met with any number of penalties from fines, deportation or prison time.

Constitutional Amendment 1 asks if you are in favor of amending Sections 145​ and 155 of the Constitution of Kentucky to prohibit persons who are not citizens of the United States from being allowed​ to vote in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

It's time to ➡️ TAKE ACTION!

Kentucky’s constitution already states that “every citizen of the United States” with Kentucky residency is eligible to vote in the state’s elections. This is an attempt at voter intimidation and voter suppression. You can learn more about the amendment at sos.ky.gov.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR ➡️ November 5, 2024 (Election Day)
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FJAN is a 501c4 organization that engages in educational and advocacy activities to promote political and grassroots support for laws and public policies that advance racial, social, and economic justice in the US South. Founded in 2019, we serve as a strategic partner for nonprofit organizations, coalitions, and networks at the forefront of movements organizing for a more just, equitable, and free South. Our work expands democratic opportunities for people affected by injustice.

Check out the photos from our team + Forward Justice recently attending the PolicyLink Equity Summit in Atlanta. We learned from powerful panelists, including Manuel Pastor, Crystal Echo Hawk, Angela Glover Blackwell, Michael McAfee, Isabel Wilkerson, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ashleigh Gradere, and Ibram Kendi.

We attended informative sessions like Spirituality in Organizing, Realizing the Promise of Democracy in the US Territories, Water Affordability for All, Imagining Flourishing Communities, Legislative Scoring in Action, Policy is My Love Language, Supporting Indigenous Leadership and Resistance for a Better Future, and Pathways to an Inclusive Economy.

Join us for the Long March for Unity & Justice from September 20-29th! Learn more at belovedcommunitycenter.org

We've been reading Rest Is Resistance and were able to share this book with the attendees of our Black Women's Healing Retreat. This intentional text is a reminder that we deserve rest, we need rest and we must take our rest. Rest IS resistance. Get your copy, we highly recommend it!

to our team at the 2023 Black Women's Healing Retreat!

Save the date for the Long March for Unity & Justice from September 20-29th! Learn more at belovedcommunitycenter.org

Save the date for our August 24th Protect Our Vote tour stop in Stoneville, NC!

Join us this Saturday for the Protect Our Vote tour stop in Burlington, NC!

Happy birthday to our Co-Founder/Co-Director!

Belated birthday blessings to my boss and friend, Dr. Ashley Marshall!

What an honor to be in community with and to work with a leader who adds so much value to building political power. I pray that your birthday week is full of joy.

🔍 ALL EYES ON KENTUCKY! 📊

Here’s a quick primer on Congressman Hal Rogers’ and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) attempt to fast track a new federal prison in eastern Kentucky. Understanding the economic and environmental impacts of this prison are important for folks who care about Appalachia and stopping the prison industrial complex. Here's the deal, if you or a loved one gets caught up in the federal criminal justice system, you or your loved one could get sent to this toxic prison. We can stop it before a shovel hits the earth. Scroll through for details and more information!

CALL TO ACTION: Contact the BOP and your member of Congress today and tell them NO NEW LETCHER PRISON! Visit bit.ly/BOPcomment to take immediate action!



Kentuckians For The Commonwealth
Concerned Letcher Countians
Abolitionist Law Center

Jackson, MS residents deserve clean, safe, and reliable drinking water!

Learn more about the ongoing fight for clean water in Jackson: https://www.mississippifreepress.org/opinion-beneath-the-surface-jacksons-ongoing-struggle-for-clean-water-and-justice/ #:~:text=In%20the%20almost%20year%2Dand,sense%20of%20the%20remediation%20plan.

Save the date for our Protect Our Vote Tour Stop on August 17th from 3-5pm!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Moral March on Washington in June!

Check out the full livestream ➡️ https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1MYGNowOnRvJw

👀 Check out the pics from our team at the “Southern Summit: Reclaiming Democracy and Defeating Facism by Worker and Community Organizing” in Durham, NC!

Southern Vision Alliance

The water and sewer system in the majority Black city of Jackson, MS has created an ongoing, major public health crisis.

Learn more: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/05/jackson-mississippi-black-water-crisis-privatization-epa/

Second Chances for a Stronger Workforce will be coming to Charlotte, NC on 7/25!

The event will feature a resource fair in support of formerly incarcerated community members as well as a short film and panel of local experts.

Register today: https://secondchances-nc.splashthat.com

Join us this week for Thursday Thoughts in Greensboro!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 2024 People's Convening on Fines & Fees in NC!

Photos taken by

📢 Check out these major legislative victories in North Carolina including:

🎉 Saving the Second Chance Act

🎉 Lawmakers passing $67 million in childcare coverage

🎉 Voter ID + tax amendment legislation will not be on the November ballot for voters

We spent this weekend in Nashville at the Democracy Summit. We engaged in workshop topics, including Organizing with AI: Exploring technology's role in democratic participation; Nothing But The Truth: Strategies to combat misinformation; Free and Fair Elections: Ensuring election integrity and voter participation; and Tennessee and the Disenfranchised: Addressing voter suppression and felony disenfranchisement.

There were insightful panel discussions from Democracy, Culture, and Politics in Tennessee: Examining the threats and opportunities in our state; to the Role of Judiciary in a Healthy Democracy: Upholding the rule of law and individual rights.

It was important to us to engage in meaningful discussions around What In The Democracy!? Reflecting on the past, present, and future of democracy in Tennessee; and Tennessee’s Missing: Addressing the impact of over 1.3 million missing registered voters.

Check out some of the pics from the Kentucky Organizing Revival in Wi******er hosted by VOCAL-Kentucky!

The Second Chance Act lives on!

Learn more about the recently passed legislation restarting automated expunctions of dismissed charges in North Carolina here: https://www.dailyitem.com/wire/north-carolina-lawmakers-say-yes-to-restoring-automatic-erasure-of-some-criminal-charges/article_50a279ae-a81d-5774-84be-7c0b86ca9397.html

Join us on July 13th for the Protect Our Vote Tour Stop from 1-2:30pm at the Upper Room Outreach Center in Concord, NC!

WHAT WE'RE READING:

"The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate of any independent democracy on earth — worse, every single state incarcerates more people per capita than most nations. In the global context, even “progressive” U.S. states like New York and Massachusetts appear as extreme as Louisiana and Mississippi in their use of prisons and jails."

Of the 10 states with the highest rates of incarceration, almost all are in the US South.

States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2024 Criminal justice policy in every region of the United States is out of step with the rest of the world.

Our team attended the Southern Summit in Durham, NC where folks from across the continental US south converged.

We explored the economic, political and social landscape of the south. We explored alternatives to policing and the carceral state, voting rights, and what power means for liberation. We strategized around Black, Brown and Muslim organizing; running for office and pipeline building; and digital organizing.

It was important to offer sessions on movement journalism and storytelling, and defeating fascism globally.

We’re motivated on this Monday morning and look forward to a restful week.

Thank you to the Muhammad Ali Center for hosting this week’s Black Wellness Matters Summit.

Black wellness takes many forms and the Summit felt like an acknowledgment, an opportunity to be fed well (figuratively and literally), and a reminder to center ourselves while also centering others.