CBH Talk | Centering Voices of Rikers
This program will be livestreamed here.
The Rikers Public Memory Project has collected oral histories from those impacted by Rikers since 2018. These first-hand accounts paint a picture of how Rikers has changed lives and communities, in ways that only eye-witnesses can. As New York City moves towards closing Rikers Island, join us for an evening of listening, discussing, and envisioning. Marlon Peterson (Executive Director of College and Community Fellowship as well as author of Bird Uncaged: An Abolitionist's Freedom Song ) moderates a panel with oral history narrators, organizers, and NYC policy-makers including Piper Anderson (Co-founder/Director of the Rikers Public Memory Project), Darren Mack (#CLOSErikers campaign, Freedom Agenda) Kelly Briem (Women’s Community Justice Association) and others. Together they share oral history clips, dig into the urgent need for mental health care support and justice-supportive housing for New York’s formerly incarcerated, and envision future alternatives to incarceration in New York City that yield a safer city for all.
The Rikers Public Memory Project collects and makes visible the stories of Rikers Island to mobilize action toward repairing generational harms and interrupting the dehumanizing narratives about people harmed by Rikers. RPMP’s work is organized around three pillars: to remember Rikers through an oral history archive; to repair harms done by facilitating community workshops and education initiatives; and to redress by documenting public health impacts of Rikers. Visit RPMP at rikersmemoryproject.org and on Instagram @rikers.public.memory.project.
Freedom Agenda is a member-led project dedicated to organizing people and communities directly impacted by incarceration to achieve decarceration and system transformation. To build power and affect change, Freedom Agenda engages formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones as members and leaders who drive campaigns that utilize a range of tactics including direct action, public education, narrative change, and issue-based lobbying. Visit Freedom Agenda at fa.urbanjustice.org and on social media @freedomagendany.
Participants
Marlon Peterson is an author, lecturer, and doer. He is Executive Director of College and Community Fellowship, as well as author of the memoir Bird Uncaged: An Abolitionist’s Freedom Song, and host of the DEcarcerated Podcast. His TED talk, “Am I not human? A call for criminal justice reform”, has amassed over 1.2 million views. Ebony Magazine recognizes him as one of 100 most inspiring people in the Black community. Marlon’s byline has appeared in USA Today, The Nation, Ebony, Essence, and many others. His essays have also been published in the books: How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others by Kiese Laymon, How We Fight White Supremacy by Kenrya Rankin & Akiba Solomon, and Colin Kaepernick's Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future without Policing & Prisons. He is featured on Apple TV’s series, Dear, and he is working on his first screenplay, an adaptation of his memoir.
Piper Anderson is a writer, coach, master facilitator, and founder of Create Forward, a social impact firm advancing equity and justice through curiosity, community, and culture. Anderson and Create Forward are driving forces behind the Rikers Public Memory Project. She is also the author of How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office and Growing Up Girl, has toured two solo performance works, and was the recipient of a TED Residency award to develop Mass Story Lab which centers experiences of people affected by incarceration. Anderson is a professor at NYU’s Gallatin School and a founding member of the advisory board and faculty of NYU’s Prison Education Program.
Darren Mack is a formerly incarcerated activist, advocate, and organizer. Darren has been involved as a leader in the #CLOSErikers campaign since its launch in 2016, and was awarded the very first Lawrence “Larry” Gelber Award for Justice in 2017 by JustLeadershipUSA. He is an alumnus of the Bard Prison Initiative where he earned his B.A. and graduated from Hunter College with an MSW in 2019. Darren previously worked as the Outreach and Alumni Engagement Coordinator with JustLeadershipUSA.
Kelly Briem is an advocate, social worker, and entrepreneur. As a survivor of human trafficking, she spent time at Rikers over twenty years ago, and has returned as a member of the Justice4Women Taskforce to serve people currently incarcerated. Kelly has volunteered her time and talent at many New York organizations like the Fortune Society, Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP), and the Women's Community Justice Association (WCJA). Kelly received her MSW from Fordham University and has served as a Directly-Impacted Design Advisor for the Rikers Public Memory Project.
