Day of Action: Justice for Children & Incarcerated Marylanders

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We partnered with Maryland Youth Justice Coalition, Jews United for Justice, the Baltimore Algebra Project, the Maryland Second Look Coalition, Fenix Youth Project, Racial Justice NOW!, Brotherly Love, Young People for Progress, Advanced Maryland, and more on February 19, 2024, to push for equitable children’s rights policies this session. Together, we can lift up the humanity of all children and call for an end to racist mass incarceration in Maryland.

Watch the full livestream video for the issue presentations

Watch speakers at the rally portion of the event

Nehemiah Bester produced and edited this video. Lorena Diaz and Nicole McCann provided photos used in it.

TRANSCRIPT

00:00 – 00:14
Amber Green
Listen. Yall know why we're here. We're here because we have a voice. We're here because we have to use that voice. And we're here because we are amplifying youth voices.

00:14 – 00:24
Dana Vickers Shelley
This year, we have a huge contingent of folks who are 25 years old and younger, and I am really excited.

00:24 – 00:33
Yanet Amanuel
For the last several years, there's been some remarkable things that we've been able to get done down here, thanks to the community organizing and building off the years of organizing on these issues.

00:33 – 00:38
Sergio España
We need to call out the explicit intentional racism that we're challenging.

00:38 – 00:51
Magdalena Tsiongas
Alot of times we see legislators passing laws that impact people who are in prison and they don't understand, right, that those people are also somebody's son they’re somebody father, they’re somebody's mother and are loved.

00:51 – 01:13
Desmond Haneef-Perry
Every individual, should be afforded the opportunity to demonstrate whether they should have a second. For 20 years of incarceration, they saw and they said that individual needs to be released so that he can take that light out into the community and shine it with everyone else. And I’ve been doing that everyday since I’ve been here now.

01:13 – 01:21
Zakiya Sankara-Jabar
To recognize the humanity of Black children, period. And we do that in a way that is unapologetic.

01:21 – 01:38
Dana Vickers Shelley
This is how we make a difference. And we can only, we the ACLU of Maryland, can only make a difference because of the work that you're doing. We can do this. We must do this. And I'm so grateful that we get to do it together.