 SCLC Salutes Veterans
National SCLC Headquarters (click for more information) Duval County for Change
It is time for a US Department of Peace We must get our kids up to global speed in science, math, technology and engineering.
The Bottom Billion
Raising Nonviolent Teens
Florida SCLC chapters asks Gov. Crist to ban tasers until more research proves they are not a treat to health and safety.
More information on meeting with the Governor
President Obama signs Hate Crime Bill 10/28/09
National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009
Suppression of Torture Photos
Vote out Poverty
Nonviolence Is the Essential Idea
World March for Peace and Nonviolence
Rock the VOTE MLK Institute at Stanford University
Professor Michael Hallett's presentation before the city's
Charter Revision Commission. SCLC wants to have a City of Jacksonville Police Department rather than JSO. More information.
SCLC Jacksonville
Census 2010 Partnership Support Pledge WHEREAS, Article I, Section 2 of the United States
Constitution mandates the decennial census of population for the apportionment
of the House of Representatives and the federal tax burden; and
WHEREAS, the
United States Census Bureau has been established for the purpose of conducting
this census and presenting the resultant data; and
WHEREAS,
Census data directly affects how more than $300 billion per year in federal and
state funding is allocated to communities for neighborhood improvements, public
health, education, transportation and much more; and
WHEREAS, the
information provided by the Census Bureau is critical to many planning
decisions, such as where to provide various public services and where to build
new roads and schools; and
WHEREAS, SCLC Jacksonville desires to actively partner with the Census Bureau to
encourage participation in the 2010 Census in order to improve the accuracy and
response to the 2010 Census
NOW
THEREFORE, I, Dr. Henry B. Thomas, President of the Jacksonville Chapter of SCLC, pledge SCLC Jacksonville intent to be an active
participant in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 Partner Support Program for the
betterment of the Jacksonville community, our state and our great nation.
22nd day of October, A.D. 2009.
Dr. Henry B. Thomas, President
SCLC Jacksonville
The 904 (click to see more information)
I urge all friends of SCLC to help support the effort to
produce 904. Frank Goodin is a former student of mine. Both Dr. Gray and I will
be part of the documentary, so the SCLC position will be front and center.
Frank's most recent effort is called Black Dimensions TV.
An ACLU report on the failure of the United States to comply with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
Breaking News from ACLU
Request for a Thematic Hearing on the Discriminatory Effects of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws, Policies and Practices in the Americas (9/8/2009)
The American Civil Liberties Union, in conjunction with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Sentencing Project, has requested that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights grant a thematic hearing concerning the discriminatory effects of felony disenfranchisement policies in the Americas. The Commission is an agency of the Organization of American States (OAS), of which the United States is a member state. Many FRRC member organizations, including the ACLU of Florida, signed in support of the Request. If the Request is granted, the Commission will conduct a hearing and ultimately determine whether felony disenfranchisement laws, policies and practices violate any of the requirements of the OAS Charter, the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man and/or the American Convention on Human Rights.
Important Links:
Request for Thematic Hearing on the Discriminatory Effects of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws, Policies, and Practices in the Americas
OAS Charter
American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man
American Convention on Human Rights
For more information contact Ms. Benétta M. Standly Director, Northeast Region American Civil Liberties Union of Florida 904-353-7600
Current Issues
1) Violence in Jacksonville
SCLC has repeatedly offered assistance to Mayor Peyton on the problems of violence in Jacksonville. To date he has refused our assistance. National SCLC has a global record of peace and reconciliation work. More information
We seek to build the Jacksonville SCLC Jubilee Center for Peace, Nonviolence and Conflict Resolution. We believe that we must adopt evidence based approaches to preventing crime. Learning
about what works is an important first step in wanting to make a
difference in violence and crime. Targeting known risk factors and
populations with a higher prevalence of crime is part of developing
effective community crime prevention strategies.
Evidence-based approaches to preventing crime include: Family-based Programs
Family-based programs which are effective in preventing crime include:
- Parent training (with younger children)
- Home/community parent training (with older children)
- Multisystemic therapy
- Neighborhood Watch programs
Community-based Programs
Three types of community-based programs are considered to be promising in preventing crime:
- Gang member intervention programs that are focused on reducing cohesion among youth gangs and individual gang members
- Community-based mentoring
- After-school recreation
School-based Programs
Three types of school-based programs have been found to be effective in preventing crime:
- School and discipline management
- Interventions to establish norms or expectations for behavior
- Self-control or social competency instruction using cognitive-behavioral instruction methods
Placed-focused Programs
Three types of place-focused programs have been found to be effective in preventing crime:
- Nuisance abatement
- Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) audits and interventions
Restorative Justice
Restorative justice is a different way of thinking about
responding to crime. Restorative justice practitioners view crime as
harm done to people and communities, not just violation of the law.
They seek to put things right by addressing the harm to victims, the
community and by addressing the causes of crime.
Restorative justice processes are based on the principles of:
- Respect (given equally to all participants in a restorative justice process).
- Inclusiveness (full participation and consensus).
- Accountability (the offender takes responsibility for the behaviour that has harmed).
- Reparation (the parties decide what restitution or other measures are appropriate).
- Restoration (restore the harm caused by the criminal event by recognizing the needs of all parties
- Community involvement (victims, offenders and communities) is
changing the way society looks at crime prevention. With involvement
they are all included as key stakeholders in the restorative justice
process.
There are many different types of restorative justice. The three most common models are:
- Family group (or community) conferencing
- Circles (sentencing circles, healing circles, or peace circles)
- Victim-offender conferences
Most models involve some form of encounter between the victim
and offender. The meetings are led by facilitators who oversee and
guide the process, balancing concern for all parties involved:
- Victims: The needs of the victims are
addressed first in restorative justice. They may wish to ask
questions. Victims may need to tell their story again to gain some
sense of control. Victims are offered support and decide what their
role in this process will be. They don't have to forgive the
offender.
- Offenders: Offenders come
face-to-face with victims to acknowledge the harm they have caused.
They are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their actions
and encouraged to share their understanding of how their behavior has
impacted the victim.
2) Citizen's Review Board for Jacksonville
A local coalition including SCLC, NAACP, The Baptist Ministerial Alliance of Jacksonville, Victims of Crime in Jacksonville, The New Black Panther Party of Jacksonville, The Millions More Movement Ministry of Education, The National Justice Coalition (TOPS); are calling for a Citizens Review Board in Jacksonville. For more information
An important resource for us is the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement.
For more information
The Sentencing Project estimates that "5.3 million Americans are denied the right to vote because of laws that prohibit voting by people with felony convictions. This fundamental obstacle to participation in democratic life is exacerbated by racial disparities in the criminal justice system, resulting in an estimated 13% of Black men unable to vote." These ex-felons pay taxes, but cannot vote.
Gov. Charlie Crist signed an order last year that automatically restored the right to vote for some nonviolent offenders, individuals who have completed their sentences and probation and paid victim restitution.
More than 150,000 former felons in Florida are eligible to cast ballots in this year's elections, but most of them may not even know their rights have been restored, according to state parole commission officials
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SCLC Leadership
Jacksonville
President - Dr. Henry B. Thomas
Vice President - Rev. Levi M. Wilcox
Chairman of the Board - Rev. Dr. Juan P. Gray Nation & State
National President - Rev. Bernice King
Florida President - Rev. Henry Steele
Florida Chairman of the Board - Dr. Art Rocker
SCLC needs you
Join our mailing list: Please provide
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SCLC wants to talk with you
If you believe that you have been subjected to
discrimination by the City of Jacksonville or by firms the City of Jacksonville
has outsourced contact work, then SCLC would like to interview you. We are
particularly interested in speaking with you if you believe that the
discrimination was related to the location of your residence.
If you own a minority business or a Jacksonville small and emerging business and you believe that your business has been subjected to discrimination by the City of Jacksonville or its contractors, then SCLC would like to interview you.
If you believe that you have been the subject of excessive police force, then SCLC would like to speak with you. Police officers work hard to protect us every day. We salute their fundamental decency, generosity and dignity. But citizens confer upon them the right to use lethal force that we give no other. We and they have a responsibility to reach commensurate levels of transparency and accountability. If you believe that you have been the subject of excessive police force, then SCLC would like to interview you.
It has
always been about Peace Building
We are the Jacksonville, Florida chapter of
SCLC. The very beginnings of the
SCLC can be traced back to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Montgomery Bus
Boycott began on December 5, 1955 after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to
give up her seat on the bus. The newly
established Montgomery Improvement Association carried out the boycott. Martin
Luther King, Jr. served as President and Ralph David Abernathy served as
Program Director. It was one of history’s most dramatic and massive nonviolent
protests, stunning the nation and the world.
The leaders of the Montgomery Improvement
Association and other protest groups met in Atlanta on January 10 – 11,
1957, to form a regional organization, which was called the Southern Leadership
Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration. Further organizing was done at a meeting
in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 14, 1957. The organization shortened its
name to Southern Leadership Conference, established an Executive Board of
Directors, and elected officers, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as
President, Dr. Ralph David Abernathy as Financial Secretary-Treasurer, Rev. C.
K. Steele of Tallahassee, Florida as Vice President, Rev. T. J. Jemison of
Baton Rouge, Louisiana as Secretary, and Attorney I. M. Augustine of New
Orleans, Louisiana as General Counsel.
As the Jacksonville chapter of SCLC the majority of our funding comes from membership
dues and grants from government and foundations. While essential, this support
is project-specific and does not extend to research and development of new
programs. Unrestricted donations would allow SCLC Jacksonville to assess and
develop new projects and share our experiences with the world at large. Once a
project is researched and planned (with unrestricted donations), we are almost
always able to attract government or foundation funding for the actual program.
In this way, we leverage individuals' unrestricted gifts into grants, making
the individual the essential foundation of our financial base. When we say you
can make a big difference through your unrestricted donation, we mean it - your
money can be leveraged to many times its original amount.
The public policy
reality that we face is that governments have very short-term perspectives. It
can take several generations for a society to truly make a policy shift. Consider
desegregation here at home in the United States or a developing nation trying
to get out of a conflict-ridden situation. These are not short-term projects.
Additionally, government and institutional funding is vulnerable to the
political winds that blow attention and interest from one project to another.
The funding shifts as political agendas shift, leaving peace builders and the communities
and societies with whom we work with little or no support at the very time they
need it most.
You can make an
investment in helping to create a more rational, safer world - both at home and
abroad. You can donate to SCLC by
contacting our president. You may designate that your investment in the work of
SCLC Jacksonville be in honor of a loved one, someone you respect or especially
appreciate. For example, you might designate SCLC Jacksonville as the
organization you would like family and friends to support in lieu of wedding
gifts. Similarly, gifts can be made as a memorial to honor a cherished friend
of family member who is deceased. When making such gifts, please let SCLC know
the name and address of anyone you wish to have notified of the gift, and
whether you would like the amount mentioned. For more information about bequests
contact Dr. Henry B. Thomas.
Please Donate
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