Dear Friends of CLJ and GHIAA,

I write to you from the context of the ongoing and devastating COVID-19 pandemic and the continuing idolatrous realities of white supremacy plaguing this nation. The murder of George Floyd has ignited a spark within many of our institutions and congregants that has created a new wave of engagement with the work of GHIAA. This is great. It is also concerning.

A friend recently offered a metaphor that I think provides some wise guidance. Harkening back to the days of college, I’m sure you can recall the student (because it surely was none of us) who ran into class an hour late, having slept through their alarm. The most appropriate behavior is for that student to sit down quietly, and immediately start listening intently to what is being said to try to understand. Then, they put in some hard work after class because they slept through their alarm, for whatever reason.

We have slept through many alarms! Many of us – especially those of us who are white – are rushing into class trying to figure out what we’ve missed, but instead we need to sit down quietly and start listening intently. We are rushing “to do” things and “react” instead of taking this opportunity to create an environment for long term systemic change.

Our lateness requires awareness. Awareness that our colleagues of color are asking for a lot more than the posting of Black Lives Matter signs and showing up at marches.  Awareness that while our spirit is renewed and reenergized for fighting for racial justice, our colleagues of color are tired and fighting for their lives.

We at CLJ and GHIAA, under my leadership, are guilty of responding in the current moment with a frenzied response, to do something urgently in wake of George Floyd’s murder and the realities of the racial disparities being experienced through the COVID-19 pandemic. We launched several letter writing campaigns, we engaged in marches and protests, and deliberated whether or not our standard organizing approach is right for this moment. We made mistakes over the last few months, for sure, but what we did, hopefully well, is listen.

Through rounds of virtual individual meetings, clergy caucus gatherings, and internal strategy sessions with your organizers and leaders, we have listened to hard lessons about the need for internal engagement with racism, to be sure that our reactions do not result in a misalignment between our intentions and impact. As we continue to engage in the steady and ongoing work of deconstructing systemic oppression through organizing, we also need to deeply engage with our own internalized racism, as individuals and institutions.

What follows is a summary of where GHIAA stands on various campaigns and where we are headed.

Where we are:  GHIAA was founded on a commitment to root our organizing in anti-racist practices. We have engaged The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (PISAB) from day one, with most of our clergy and over 150 core team members having attended antiracism training. It is not enough.

Where we are going: We have built a broad based organization that consists of many white institutions. Our white religious institutions, not just our members, perpetuate white supremacy and maintain practices of institutionalized racism. Our commitment from the beginning was not just to train our congregants, but also to work to move our individual institutions toward being more anti-racist. A team of GHIAA leaders is working with consultants to develop a process to help our institutions do this hard and necessary work so that GHIAA can genuinely continue to develop as an anti-racist organizing body. If you are interested in being part of the first cohort of congregations to go through this still-developing process, please let me know by contacting Cori Mackey at cmackey@cljct.org.

Where we started at the founding:

Asking all Superintendents in Greater Hartford to commit to:

  1. Implementing one anti-racism training during the 2019-2020 academic year for a cohort of teachers, staff, and/or administrators in a manner, size, and duration that works for their district*.
  2. Developing a district plan to implement on-going anti-racism professional development for all teachers, staff, and administrators and to commit to having the plan (not the implementation) complete by August 1, 2020*.
  3. Work together, as a cohort, with GHIAA leaders, in the development of your district-wide plans.

 Where we are now:

  • Ten school districts have committed to this campaign (Hartford, CREC, Simsbury, West Hartford, Avon, Bloomfield, South Windsor, Farmington, Newington, and Manchester).
  • On January 31, 2020, all ten superintendents and other leaders from their districts convened with the GHIAA leadership team for a planning meeting. We were set to reconvene when the pandemic shutdown happened.
  • The education team is meeting on August 18, 2020, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm via zoom. If you are interested in joining this team or participating, please contact GHIAA organizer Cesar Alaman at caleman@cljct.org or 860-272-6575.

Where we started at the founding: Repeal welfare lien statutes: CT and NY are the only two states that have a law allowing the state to label welfare benefits as a lifelong debt for the recipient and collect on that debt by placing a lien on the person and their home.

GHIAA will introduce a bill to repeal Connecticut General Statutes § 17b-93 & §17b-94, 95.

Where we are now:  GHIAA introduced a repeal bill that made it to a hearing in the Health and Human Services committee at the state legislature in February. We were awaiting a final report on what the fiscal impact would be if this bill were to pass and had over ten lobby days planned with GHIAA leaders from 16 different congregations signed up. We had a large public assembly planned on this issue that we had to cancel because of the pandemic. At the moment, we are working with some key legislators to see how best to position the bill for the January session.

In addition to the welfare lien issue, the housing team is looking at the issue of exclusionary zoning and ensuring legal representation for anyone going through the eviction process. These two issues are still in a research phase and have been hampered by the current pandemic, but remain long term priorities.

The housing team will be meeting in August. Please contact GHIAA organizer Derrick Everett if you are interested in learning more about this team: deverett@cljct.org.

Where we were at the founding:  GHIAA will join with CONECT to pass Clean Slate legislation that will make expungement of criminal records automatic after remaining crime-free for a period of time.

Where we are now:   In February, a Clean Slate bill was introduced at the legislature. GHIAA, in partnership with CONECT, had a strong legislative strategy to help pass clean slate legislation when the legislature shut down. We collected hundreds of postcards from our member congregations and had a strong public action planned for March that was cancelled.  At this time we are reconvening with CONECT and other organizations to see how best to position Clean Slate and strengthen the bill in light of renewed interest around racial justice priorities.

If you are interested in joining this team please contact the criminal justice chair, Dwayne Paul at dwayne@ccfj.org or GHIAA organizer Derrick Everett at deverett@cljct.org.

Where we were at the founding:

  • Establishing a new law in CT that would allow for the use of reclaimed medications from CT (i.e. from nursing homes, etc), to be dispensed in “safety net” pharmacies to qualified uninsured/underinsured patients (CT is one of only 12-13 states that don’t have this law in place).
  • Making connections with Hartford area entities that would want to open a “safety net” pharmacy and use existing unclaimed medication pharmacy service in Georgia (these meds are free, would pay only a nominal amount for shipping).

 Where we are now

We made exciting developments on this issue prior to the shutdown, including securing a partnership with a major local healthcare institution that wanted to help establish and operate the safety net pharmacy. We also were in touch with major donors who wanted to support this effort.

In one of our reviews to check in on how GHIAA was living into our anti-racist commitments, we realized that this team was not racially balanced, the leadership was all white, and that we were not accountable to people of color in the strategy that was being developed. To that end, we slowed the campaign down and are in the process of making sure that this effort is grounded in anti-racist practices. This team needs to expand to include people of color who have an interest in the issue of healthcare. Please reach out to GHIAA organizer Pat Speer if you are interested: sheeaun@gmail.com or 203-410-1398.

Where we were at the founding:

GHIAA proposed to set the stage for a campaign across towns and cities in Greater Hartford to join onto the existing “Do Not Stand Idly By” Campaign. Launched by the Industrial Areas Foundation, it involves getting commitments from local municipalities and various sectors of the government that purchase guns to purchase smart guns and pressure manufactures to develop smart gun technology. Please see this website for a fuller description: http://donotstandidlyby.org/our-goals/

Where we are now:

This campaign was on hold until we hired our organizing staff post-founding. Once we hired our staff, we had to put the issue on hold due to the pandemic. However, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and focus on police brutality, GHIAA responded to an invitation to address specifically police reform issues from Rev. Trevor Beauford, Rev. AJ Johnson, Rev. Tracy Johnson Russell, Rev. Hollis Cotton, and Rev. Jeff Powell, all clergy of color based in Hartford.

On Friday, June 12, GHIAA clergy led 90 clergy in a march from Union Baptist Church to City Hall, with a stop at the Hartford Police Headquarters. At City Hall, GHIAA leaders made demands of Hartford’s Mayor, Police Chief, and Police Union President.

At this time, we are seeking GHIAA endorsement to engage our suburban towns in getting their police departments to adopt strategies outlined in the “8 Can’t Wait Campaign” to reduce police brutality. We are also seeking GHIAA endorsement to launch a statewide effort to grant subpoena power to Civilian Police Review Boards. A separate explanation of these proposals will be coming out shortly in advance of regional delegate assemblies (via zoom).

In time, we anticipate that the original gun violence campaign will become a part of this strategy, but that is still unfolding.

Very early into the pandemic we engaged GHIAA congregations in letter writing campaigns around: 1) cancelling rent, 2) establishing a rent stabilization fund, 3) establishing a fund for providing financial support for undocumented immigrants left out of COVID-relief programs, and 3) a call for early release of a subset of incarcerated individuals in anticipation of a coronavirus outbreak in prisons.

We do not have an accurate count of how many letters were sent, but thanks to those who participated.  These were important efforts to raise the profile of these issues as they were emerging. At this time, some of the issues are beyond the scope of what we are able to work on at GHIAA and/or they do not have specific, winnable goals which is how we form our campaigns.

We continue to support the efforts to cancel rent, which also provides provisions for landlords who will be hurt in any rent cancellation effort (cancel rent is a catch-all phrase for making sure we stem the onslaught of evictions that are due to occur as a result of COVID-19 if there is no intervention). However, these will not be active GHIAA campaigns now. We will stay connected and see how we might join efforts when it is possible and effective for us to do so.

Finally, as you know, GHIAA recently hired two new organizers, Cesar Aleman and Derrick Everett. They were hired just as the pandemic shutdown was happening, significantly slowing the orientation and onboarding process. We have now assigned all GHIAA congregations a primary organizer. Each organizer has been reaching out to clergy for a one-to-one check-in and is then working to meet all core team members. Your primary organizer is your first point of contact for any GHIAA needs, questions, assistance, etc. You can expect contact from your organizer by the end of July.

Moreover, each issue team now has a lead staff member working closely with the chair/co-chairs. They are as follows:

I am the lead organizer and you should feel free to contact me any time for any reason. You can reach me at cmackey@cljct.org or on my cell at 860-810-9736. Thank you for all that you do and please know that we are here to support you.

Peace,

Cori Mackey