Dear Regina,
As I reflect on Juneteenth, celebrating the emancipation of our ancestors enslaved in the United States, I am incredibly proud of the work the Detroit Justice Center has accomplished over the last year with your support — work committed to furthering the unfinished fight for Black freedom and for a society where everyone can flourish.
We are all indebted to Black people who fought to be free generations ago — their work is still reverberating across time. Today, we can be those people for future generations. As we honor and celebrate the work of our ancestors, we ask ourselves, 150 years from now, what will our descendants thank us for?
I hope that they can thank us for shoring up all of the incredible freedom dreams that Detroiters have been coming up with for decades: helping people create community land trusts, worker-owned cooperatives, and really envision the neighborhoods that they want to live in, neighborhoods where they will feel safe.
At the Detroit Justice Center, we are very clear that it’s not enough to talk about what we’re tearing down. For us, it’s important to talk about what we’re building up and the world that we’re fighting for. This is intergenerational work. We need to find ways to do this work that allow us to sustain ourselves, our spirits, and our communities to be able to be in this for the long haul. It is your support that assures our work is sustainable. I thank you for your generosity and I ask for your continued financial support as we continue to build a movement for true community safety together.
In community,
Amanda Alexander
Founder, Executive Director