OSJ Takes Calvin Students to National Gathering in Washington
Participants in lobbying effort
The Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice recently coordinated a trip for several Calvin College students to attend the 13th annual National Gathering of Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice in Washington D.C.
This annual event and Congressional advocacy day was entitled “Breaking the Chains: Mass Incarceration & Systems of Exploitation.”
OSJ staff and Calvin students joined nearly 1,000 other Christian advocates who made the trip to “recognize that unjust U.S. criminal justice practices and unnecessary immigration detention run contrary to our faith and to our nation’s values of human dignity and due process,” said Kelsey Herbert, a congregational mobilizer fellow with OSJ.
“The conference focused on systems of exploitation both domestically and globally, but I found it especially concerning to learn that the U.S. makes up only five percent of the world’s population yet holds nearly a quarter of the world’s prisoners.”
Panels such as “Reducing Recidivism: The Church Responds to Mass Incarceration,” “The Role of the Church in the ‘War on Drugs’” and “The Churches’ Response to Systems of Exploitation” highlighted the realities of a broken system and challenged participants to action, said Herbert.
She said she found statistics such as these of concern: 50 percent of those imprisoned are African American, while 13 percent of the U.S. population is African American.
“It is impossible to talk about mass incarceration and systems of exploitation without talking about race. Instead of denying racism, the church should be working toward reconciliation and ending systems that perpetuate racism and racial disparities,” she said.
She said she also was troubled to hear about the privatization of prisons and immigration detention centers.
“As a Christian, I am very concerned that major corporations are greatly profiting off of immigrants who have come to this country seeking asylum from dangerous places,” she said.
On Monday, the final day of the conference, participants headed to Capitol Hill to meet with their respective members of Congress.
They called on Congress to reform federal criminal justice and immigrant detention policies toward the goal of ending unfair, unnecessary, costly and racially biased mass incarceration.
Nearly 15 Calvin students and people from Grand Rapids met with U.S. Rep. Justin Amash and Sen. Gary Peters to share what they learned over the weekend and urged them to vote for just policies.
After the event in Washington, many Calvin students said they had no idea about the for-profit prison system, which sets high bed quotas to make sure the companies make a profit.
“No one knows about it but everyone should. I was amazed by the bed quota and also ticked off,” said a Calvin social work major.
“I loved watching the students grow throughout the conference. They were initially too intimidated to speak up, but by the end of the conference were asking questions during panel discussions and speaking boldly during the meetings with their Congress people,” said Paola Fuentes, OSJ’s coordinator of the trip.
Kate Kooyman, project coordinator for restorative justice for the CRC, helped the group of Calvin students explore next steps. She posed the question, “What will you do with this gift God gave you” — the gift of being able to take part in the learning and lobbying effort.
People can join in to amplify their voices in asking Congress to action, said Herbert.
Here are links to OSJ information regarding fair sentencing practices:
