Jailhouse Lawyers Speak
Millions for Prisoners Human Rights
Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee of the IWW (IWOC)
& all incarcerated peoples
Re: In solidarity with the National Prison Strike
On behalf of White Coats 4 Black Lives (WC4BL), please accept this letter of solidarity to all incarcerated peoples participating in the 2018 National Prison Strike and the supporting organizations of Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, Millions for Prisoners Human Rights, IWOC & more.
WhiteCoats4BlackLives is a medical student-run organization born out of the National White Coat Die-In demonstrations that took place on December 10, 2014. Our mission is to dismantle racism in medicine and promote the health, well-being, and self-determination of people of color through dialogue on racism as a public health concern, by ending racial discrimination in medical care, and preparing future physicians to be advocates for racial justice.
We at WC4BL believe America’s criminal punishment system is a constant, dehumanizing threat to marginalized people and communities, fueled by profit and violence. We fully support the work of incarcerated people to end the death penalty, unfair wages, unsafe conditions, racist policing and sentencing practices, and advance prison abolition. We believe all people have a right to therapeutic rehabilitation programs and to express their voice, including through voting and filing grievances. We reject constructions of criminality, which aim to strip people of their basic human rights, and believe everyone has the right to demand equitable treatment. With this in mind, we endorse the National Prison Strike and pledge our support and efforts.
In solidarity,
WhiteCoats4BlackLives National
***Printable version of this statement available here***
More information on the strike and its supporters is available here: https://incarceratedworkers.org/campaigns/prison-strike-2018
