PRESS CONTACT: George Jackson Freedom Coalition 

PHONE: (706) 420-6164

EMAIL: gjfreedomcoalition@gmail.com 

WHEN: APRIL 30TH 2021, @ 11AM

WHERE: KING COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, 5TH AVE, DOWNTOWN SEATTLE

WHAT: The George Jackson Freedom Coalition would like to invite you to attend Mass Decarceration Now on April 30th at 11 am. We hope to bring awareness to the disproportionate incarceration of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in Washington state. This event will highlight the prosecutorial misconduct and racially-motivated overcriminalization that has created these disparities – specifically for BIPOC youth in King County – ignoring science regarding brain development and using policies, like discretionary and auto decline. Join us to bring awareness to these inequalities and apply pressure to the institutions that have incarcerated our communities for generations. We are featuring voices of those directly impacted by the system and community members who are actively working to dismantle it. Along with the Kids Are Kids WA campaign, a delegation of community members impacted by mass incarceration will deliver The Bull Connor Award to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, to recognize their continued legacy of oppressing poor kids of color. 

“Washington state disproportionately incarcerates more black people than the national average, and despite postulating as “progressive,” King County is one of the biggest contributors. For decades, this office has idolized and promoted racist practices and policies, creating a culture that upholds racist Jim Crow Laws. In recent months, King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office (KCPAO) worked with Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to petition the Federal Supreme Court to make it harder for those who received excessive sentences as youth to get resentenced. We know that corrupt police and prosecutors have manipulated drug laws and perjured evidence to target poor people. And even now, after the Blake decision eliminating drug possession as a crime, KCPAO has yet to bring anyone back for resentencing when they have a mandate to undo the destruction and exploitation they have inflicted on the Black community.

This office pardons and covers for racist police, such as detective Cloyd Steiger, who has a history of perjury and tampering with evidence. This office is allowing their prosecutors to commit federal and state crimes. This office protects this type of corruption and uses its connections to the Court of Appeals to deny appeals to individuals affected by these types of prosecutors. This office steals ideas from black prisoners, manipulates the trust of the people while bolstering laws that perpetuate white supremacy. 

This office has refused to right its wrongs. All while the wrongfully convicted by this office are subjected to suffer, beat down, and tortured by Trump-supporting fanatics hired as prison guards. This is our community’s problem. Our human rights have been violated, our voices suppressed. Even the Washington state supreme court justices, in their 6/4/2020 letter, admitted that racist Jim Crow laws still exist and that black lives are devalued in Washington state courts, affirming that this is a corrupt system. 

Nelson Mandela stated, “It stands to reason that an immoral and unjust legal system would breed contempt for its laws and regulations.”

Today we stand on the side of equality and justice. We’ve had enough of these immoral racist laws, practices, and policies. We want Daniel Satterberg to reopen dismissed cases involving Cloyd Steiger. We demand a change in the culture of this office. Meet our 7 demands. It is time for equal justice, it’s time for action and change. Now. Today. No justice, no peace.” 

— Seattle, Washington