(ATLANTA, GA – 6/13/2019) The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today encouraged people of all faiths and backgrounds to join “Ending Mass Incarceration: Let My People Go,” an interfaith conference scheduled for June 17-19 at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, the historic church of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
SEE: Register for Ending Mass Incarceration – Let My People Go
In a statement, CAIR-Georgia Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“We thank Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock and Auburn Seminary for bringing together a diverse collection of faith groups to strategize the next steps in the struggle against mass incarceration.
“Unduly harsh and unfairly applied criminal punishments, among many other problems with our criminal justice system, have contributed to a self-sustaining cycle of poverty, broken families, and crime that impacts our entire society, especially people of color and people without means.
“Faith communities have played a major role in every struggle for justice in our nation, from advocating for civil rights to standing up against unjust wars. Christians, Muslims, Jews, and people of other faiths must once again come together to turn the tide against mass incarceration.”
Mitchell, a former prosecutor, and CAIR-Michigan Executive Director, Imam Dawud Walid, plan to speak at the conference. Mitchell’s workshop is titled, “The Unique Impact of Mass Incarceration on the American Muslim Community.”
The three-day event’s schedule also features plenaries, workshops, panels and films designed to arm faith communities with the resources needed to effectively engage in the fight against the rise of the prison industrial complex. Specifically, the conference plans to highlight how congregations can use bail-outs and record expungement events as effective tools of faith-based criminal justice system activism.
People of all faiths and backgrounds are welcome to register for the event. Faith leaders, including priests, rabbis, and imams, are particularly encouraged to attend.
CONTACT: Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]