Building workers' power in Roanoke, VA
For those who don’t know: there’s a new giant fracked gas pipeline, the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), that was proposed by a private corporation (EQT) in 2014, “approved” by government regulators in 2018, and since then has been in the process of being forced through the Appalachian mountains & rivers stretching from WVa through VA,... Continue Reading →
Building the Revolving Fund After organizing a Mama's Day Bail Out in May 2018, Roanoke Jail Solidarity decided to launch a wider-ranging and continuous project: the Roanoke Community Bail Fund (RCBF). The idea with this project is to raise a large fund open to anyone locked up in a local jail who can't afford to... Continue Reading →
Since the last inmate testimony we published on 7.4.19 regarding the inhumane conditions in Roanoke City Jail (RCJ), we've received updates from 2 incarcerated workers there, and it sounds like we got a win *even if temporary*! However; it is worth reminding ourselves that humane conditions (including the basic means of sanitation) are minimum requirements... Continue Reading →
As the White House desperately tried to stoke patriotism by parading U.S. tanks in the streets of D.C., and we were encouraged by conservatives, liberals and capitalists alike to celebrate another year of a nation built on slavery, genocide, and colonization... and as even pediatricians and Congresspersons are affirming details of the continued crimes against... Continue Reading →
We were recently contacted by an inmate currently locked up on the 3rd floor of Roanoke City Jail about the nature of the conditions there: inhumane. He informed us the cells on the 2nd and 3rd floors don't have toilets and, due to illegal lock-downs, many inmates have had to urinate or defecate in bottles... Continue Reading →
Roanoke Jail Solidarity organized our first Mama's Day Bail Out action this year with the main goals of helping free as many moms from local jails by Mother's Day as possible, while highlighting the need to end money bail, pretrial (and indefinite) detention, and divest from police and prisons. We recognize that the whole damn... Continue Reading →
Last year for Mother's Day, groups organizing around prison issues and ultimately toward abolition (Southerners On New Ground, BYP 100, Charlotte Uprising, Dream Defenders, National Bail Out, Brooklyn Community Bail Fund and others) raised enough money to free over 120 Black moms in Atlanta, Durham, Charlotte, Tampa Bay, Brooklyn and elsewhere who (despite not being... Continue Reading →
If we want an end to police violence and murders, as every human being should, we must look at and then remember the nature of the police institution in the so-called U.S.. One of the biggest falsehoods we're continuously told is that the police's primary function is to serve and protect the people, the masses,... Continue Reading →
The election for Roanoke City Sheriff was yesterday, and instead of wasting our time endorsing the "lesser evil" of the 3 people running, we decided to engage in some different-style 'campaigning': encouraging people to demand specific safety measures in the city jail, accountability and divestment from the sheriff's office regardless of who the next sheriff... Continue Reading →
The Roanoke City Jail (in VA) is among the top 10 jails in the U.S. with the highest death rates and has triple the national average. Two weeks ago another person died there. Local activists and community members rallied outside of the Roanoke City Jail on Tuesday to pull the curtain back on State inaction... Continue Reading →