On mothers day weekend a spark was unleashed in Richmond as hundreds of community leaders and city officials came together at Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church to call for one Richmond to be Alive, Free, and United. Sponsored by CCISCO, the Safe Return Project and the Pacific Institute this event was meant to bring people together across racial, cultural and religious differences to create a greater sense of unity in the community as we work towards confronting the serious set of issues facing Richmond today. 

Throughout the event we heard research and powerful testimonies related to decreasing gun violence through the Cease Fire-Life Lines to Healing movement, on creating a first stop welcome home center in Richmond for formerly incarcerated peoples, on the importance of continuing to fund adult education so those most at risk have access to classes which can help them create a better future, and finally we heard testimony from on ending mass deportation and incarceration in Contra Costa County as the community called for the county to stop turning undocumented immigrants over to ICE. As Nora Gonzales, whose husband was nearly deported two weeks ago stated, “Today, I am here because I witnessed the pain a mother goes when anti-immigration laws are imposed on immigrant communities. I do not wish that any mother suffer from this. The future of this society is the children. What can we hope of a society that is torturing children because they are being separated from their parents by massive deportations and incarcerations. Stop turning fathers and mothers into ICE is the right thing to do."

After the testimonials each of the officials in attendance were asked to articulate their views on these issues and one by one Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, Contra Costa County probation officer Philip Kader, Richmond City manager Bill Lindsey, Chief Chris Magnus of the City of Richmond Police Department and Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin each showed their support on these important issues.  Bill Lindsey after reading directly from our recently published report Alive, Free, and United stated, “Your doing so much, and so when I am presented with ideas that you’ve helped to work on how can I possibly say no. What you’re doing is working, your ideas are working and I want to keep that partnership going.” In addition to this in summarizing her support for these issues Mayor McLaughlin stated, The One Stop center is something I fully, fully believe is needed…and funding it is essential. For funding the service provisions for Cease Fire, absolutely…In terms of a community benefits agreement with the Berkeley Lawrence National Labs, absolutely…. I can’t wait to be a sponsor of bringing Ban the Box to the city council, so that we can expand that to vendors working in the city."

In the coming months CCISCO leaders plan on continuing to fight for a Unified Richmond as we engage in negotiations with the Contra Costa Sheriff this month, help to introduce legislation to expand ban the box as a county wide initiative in the next 60 days. We also plan on meeting with the Community Corrections Partnership to ensure funding for the first stop welcoming center and transitional employment, and we are just beginning to gear up for our massive civic engagement campaign where we are going to speak with 10,000 Richmond voters this fall before the 2012 election.  

Read or download our report on Scribd here: Alive, Free, and United: A Community-Driven Strategy to Save Lives and Build Opportunity in Richmond by Reducing Gun Violence and Ending Mass Incarceration & Mass Deportation

To see a summary of the event check out our Storify here, look at our Facebook photos from the event to read the full testimonials.