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John,
Last week, I had the honor of
joining the #cut50 team and our cofounder Van Jones at the
Congressional Black Caucus’s Annual Legislative Conference. With help
from our Empathy Network Ambassador Britton Smith, we partnered with several Members of
Congress to bring critical conversations about our justice system to
the Caucus' biggest event of the year.
I am deeply committed to
bringing together people closest to the problem with people in
power – because with the opportunity to change hearts and
minds, comes the potential to influence policies. Here’s how we did that at one of the biggest
legislative events in D.C. this year.
One conference moment that has
stayed with me was Van speaking about the challenges of reentering
society after prison. Here’s what he said:
“When people come home they need a springboard to success,
not a trapdoor to failure.”
As a person who has experienced the
hardships of reentering society firsthand, I couldn’t agree more.
Thankfully, I was not the only one in the room to hear him when Van
said this.
 Addressing the crowd at a #cut50 panel at
CBC's Annual Legislative Conference last week
#cut50 brought the topic of ending
mass incarceration and reentry to not one but three panels this year.
Some of our featured guests
included: Empathy Network partner and author Mary Stewart-Holmes,
award winning chef Jeff Henderson, New York Times contributor and
sociology professor Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, former federal prosecutor
and Georgetown professor Paul Butler, and many more. We even had a
probation officer sit on one of our panels!
Too much wisdom was shared for me
to list out all the highlights, but I recommend you take a moment to check
out our recap and experience it for yourself: drm.to/cbc19.
I gained so much from CBC’s
conference this year, and I think you will too. Be
sure to check out our recap of this great event featuring takeaways
from Van himself.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we
enjoyed the conference!
Louis L. Reed
National Organizer, #cut50
Ps. Love Van’s quote from the
conference? Click here to share it on Twitter or on Facebook.
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