Resources and Causes
The resources below represent causes and communities that are especially meaningful to me. I hope you find something(s) to support and learn about.
The Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivor Maddesyn George
Maddesyn George (Colville Confederated Tribes) is a survivor of domestic and sexual violence who has been incarcerated since July 2020 for defending herself against a white man. The Free Maddesyn website is organized by Maddesyn George’s defense committee, a grassroots coalition of members of Maddesyn’s family; members of the Colville Confederated Tribes and Spokane nation; survivors of gender violence; and advocates, organizers, and scholars who work on issues of colonial, sexual, and domestic violence; policing and incarceration; and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples.
Organizations supporting criminalized survivors and other people experiencing incarceration and violence:
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MMIW Washington
Visit missingandmurderedindigenouswomenwashington.org
About: “Due to the Pandemic of Indigenous Women, Children, Men, & Two-Spirits [Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Trans, & Questioning (LGBTQ+)] who have gone Missing or who have been Murdered. Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Washington (MMIWW) create change! MMIWW ensures that Government agencies have the resources they need to prevent crimes against Indigenous People. MMIWW helps educate Schools and Community groups to ensure Indigenous People are Safe and Free from Harm. MMIWW provides Support Services to help Heal Victims and their Families.”
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Participatory Justice Washington
Contact info@participatoryjustice.org or Visit participatorydefense.org/hubs
Participatory Justice “utilizes Participatory Defense strategies, a community organizing model that provides peer support to people (and families) facing criminal charges, detention, incarceration, or child welfare involvement. Participatory Justice assists in creating social biography videos and packets to humanize people in the court process, and intervenes at critical points to impact the outcome of cases. It also works to influence policy reform, train actors in the judicial system on institutional racism and trauma-informed practices, and transform the landscape of power in the court system.” (source)
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Collective Justice
Visit collectivejusticenw.org
Collective Justice is “a restorative justice organization brought together by a diverse group of survivors and imprisoned community members in Washington State. We focus on resourcing our communities to address violence and harm in ways that move us closer to wellness, accountability, and collective liberation, and away from state violence. Through our programs, we are bringing together survivors in the community and in prison to co-create trauma-informed responses to harm that center the dignity and resilience of all people and do not rely on mass imprisonment. We are building leadership and collective power amongst the most marginalized people to influence public policy and drive social change.”
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Survived and Punished
Visit survivedandpunished.org
S&P’s Organizing Vision: “Survived & Punished is a prison abolition organization. We believe that prisons, detention centers, all forms of law enforcement, and punitive prosecution are rooted in systems of violence, including racial, anti-trans/queer, sexual, and domestic violence. Our work specifically focuses on criminalized survivors to raise awareness about the integrated relationship between systems of punishment and the pervasiveness of gender violence. We aim to initiate mass defense projects that will free all survivors, which would require the abolition of prisons and other systems of punishment.”
