June Discussion Group Recap

This month Net Impact Philly kicked off an ongoing discussion group event series for all people who are interested in learning and discussing racial inequality and injustice in society. The first discussion group was on 13th, a documentary by Ava DuVernay. The documentary focuses on the intersection of racism, injustice, and the mass incarceration of African-Americans in the United States. The group found the film to the eye-opening and powerful.  Our decisions focused on two main topics:

1. What can we do as individuals to help dismantle the prison-industrial complex? 

• Put pressure on local and national governments to address injustice and inequities in the criminal justice system
  • Prison Policy Initiative - A legislative guide for winnable, high-impact criminal justice reforms
• Divest from companies who benefit from prison labor
  • Malta Justice Initiative - 12 Major Corporations Benefiting from the Prison Industrial Complex
  • MarketWatch - It's time for investors to dump shares of companies that profit from mass incarceration and prison labor
• Support organizations, locally and nationally, who are doing already doing work to reduce the negative impact the criminal justice system has on communities of color
  • ​Philadelphia
    • ​Philadelphia Community Bail Fund
    • Philadelphia Reentry Coalition
    • The People's Paper Co-op - Reentry Think Tank, Women in Reentry, Expungement Clinics
    • The Reentry Project
  • National
    • ​National Bail Out
    • Innocence Project
    • Ban the Box Campaign

2. What other forms of oppression of BIPOC do we need to be focusing on dismantling?

• Low wages are trapping primary BIPOC workers, many of whom are essential workers, in a cycle of poverty. Meanwhile, business executives, nearly all of whom are white, reap the benefits. Learn more:
  • National Equity Atlas - Demographic information on the working poor and policies for an more equitable economy
  • The Philadelphia Inquirer - ACME owner cuts wages, boots payments to shareholders as it preps for $1.5 billion IPO
  • Economic Policy Institute - Reining in CEO compensation and curbing the rise of inequality