Jail for Justice Tour event here tonight

Published 10:37 pm Wednesday, July 30, 2014

The Moral Monday Georgia Coalition, the NAACP-led multi-racial, multi-issue advocacy group, will host an event in partnership with the Georgia Dreamers Alliance, Coalition of Latino Leaders (CLILA), Whitfield NAACP and the Whitfield County Democratic Party at Dalton’s Mack Gaston Community Center tonight from 5 to 9.

This event is part of the Jail for Justice Tour, a statewide, two-week tour hosting daily events across Georgia from through Aug. 11. These events are intended to bring the group’s message from the Capitol to the rest of the state. Each stop will feature a different lineup of three to five Moral Monday Georgia arrestees who will discuss their choice to go to jail in the pursuit of social justice.

There will be stories from those who were arrested at the Capitol and at the Board of Regents offices while appealing to elected and appointed officials to act morally on issues important to Georgians. There will be voter registration and music, and food will be provided at little or no cost. A candlelight vigil will be at nightfall to support the undocumented children refugees coming to our borders and to compel elected state leaders to stand on the higher ground of morality in the laws that they pass.

The tour aims to bring together progressive elements in communities across the state to plant seeds for local actions and coalition-building during the approaching 2014 election and upcoming legislative session. The Rev. Dr. Francys Johnson, Georgia NAACP president and Moral Monday arrestee, states, “For far too long, we have let our elected officials ignore the moral implications of their actions and inactions in regards to the most vulnerable among us. It is time to move Georgia forward.”

Modeled on the North Carolina NAACP’s Forward Together Movement led by the Rev. Dr. William Barber, Moral Monday Georgia is a broad-based coalition of churches, mosques, labor unions, teachers organizations and progressive groups. It is a continuation of North Carolina’s movement to shift Southern politics toward a moral center where civil and human rights are protected and advanced.

During the 2014 Georgia legislative session, Moral Monday Georgia brought a national spotlight on the repressive laws being passed by the General Assembly. The movement drew attention to issues from Medicaid expansion and Stand Your Ground laws to reproductive justice and workers’ rights through a series of dynamic actions, including rallies and voter registration as well as mass civil disobedience. The arrestees — 72 over the course of the session — came from all generations, backgrounds, races and religions. Elected officials and prominent faith leaders also participated in civil disobedience.