December 6

O come, O Key of Freedom, come, give everyone a place to call home.
Break shackles, chains and open cells; bring prisoners in Love to dwell.

The Join the Movement Team

 

Abolitionist Profile

Black & Pink is a prison abolitionist organization dedicated to abolishing the criminal punishment system and liberating LGBTQIA2S+ people and people living with HIV/AIDS who are affected by that system through advocacy, support, and organizing.  The group recognizes that the LGBTQ community is heavily policed and disproportionately imprisoned, and that, once in prison, queer and transgender people suffer disproportionate abuses, so Black and Pink supports its incarcerated members through services such as newspaper written by people who are locked up, court accompaniment and ​“know your rights” trainings. Their pen pal program, the largest of its kind is especially vital to their members. Coordinating correspondence with the free world is essential because, as former director Tray Johns explains, ​“a lot of LGBTQ people have already been ostracized before they went to prison, so there’s no mother, no one writing them, nobody saying, ​‘I’m going to be here when you come home. I care. You matter. Somebody loves you.’”  Founded in 2005, the organization now has a strong grassroots network of 11 volunteer-led chapters and more than 20,000 current and formerly incarcerated members located across the country.

Prayer

With dreams and visions of open doors, come Key of Freedom.
In ways made out of no way, come Key of Freedom.
With blessings that find their way behind the bars, come Key of Freedom.
In the daily practice of abolition, come Key of Freedom.  Amen.