User:Jillincolunga/sandbox

This is a user sandbox of Jillincolunga. A user sandbox is a subpage of the user's page. It serves as a testing spot and page development space for the user and is not an encyclopedia article.

Article Evaluation
I read the article on Lucretia Mott and everything that was included was relevant to the article. It gave history on her early life, her work as an abolitionist, the fight for women's rights and her personal life. The way the article was broken down made it easier to follow along because it followed in chronological order based on the events that occurred during her life. For the most part the article was neutral, but there is one clam that states, "women's participation in the anti-slavery movement threatened societal norms" (Wiki), this claim does not include a citation which makes it seem like the writer was just giving their opinion. I also noticed the article is tagged with "page issue" at the top of the article so this is an indication the article may not be as reliable as others. The cause of this tag might be because of the missing citation. Overall, the article provided great information, it was just that one citation that causes a problem.

= Mothers Reclaiming Our Children (Mothers ROC) = Mothers Reclaiming Our Children is an organization of mothers from a variety of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds that come together in defense of their incarcerated children. Police target minorities such as African Americans and Latinos the most, incarcerating them at a large disproportion. These mothers challenge the oppressive systems of government by coming together and protesting for the justice of their children that have either been killed by the police or imprisoned. These women reach out to the community by hosting lectures and workshops at local churches and schools in order to be able to reach out to the larger collective of families living through the same issues. These gatherings serve as a way to inform the community about the way mothers should instruct their children to behave,dress,and speak around oppressive power structures to avoid violent and deadly confrontations. Mothers ROCs' activism is inclusive of children of all backgrounds regardless of race, gender, sex and the crime they are being accused of. There are countless cases where children have been shot and killed for no reasons, or have been sent to jail for allegedly committing a crime.For this reason, Mothers ROC welcome any mother and child that has been affected by the criminal justice system.This organization allows for these victims to come together to fight, get educated, and act out against the oppressors that take their children away.

Background
Mothers ROC became official after the death of former gang member George Noyes. He was shot by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) outside of his mothers home in November of 1991, for unknown reasons. Noyes aunt, Barbara Meredith, along with his two cousins, Gilbert and Jocelyn, formed the George Noyes Justice Committee. The goal of this committee was to find justice in the unjust murders of men like Noyes. During the late 1900's there was a large increase in the number of gangs in South LA. The crack epidemic only made matters worse by having different gangs around every block of a neighborhood. Thus, there was also a large increase in homicides. This increasing gang violence was another aspect of the commencement of the organization because it helped bring women together. George Noyes and Gilbert were both active gang members, thus, Barbara and her committee set out to make peace with the local gangs in order to have a peaceful funeral and eventually came to an agreement for a truce. After these events, there was a realization that many mothers in the area experienced the same loss and terror of gangs and police. So, they all came together to educate themselves on how to prevent violent encounters with the law and to learn about the way courts operate and how their child would be evaluated under the current policies. Right before one of there meetings Gilbert was arrested and charged with having stolen ten dollars during an armed robbery, due to strict policing Gilbert was convicted to serve seven years in prison. This is after numerous witnesses testified on behalf Gilbert's innocence. Now Meredith, having lost both her nephew and son to the criminal justice system, realized this activism had to go beyond local areas and had to move to state, if any change was going to occur. Meredith became so empowered along with several of the women they began to protest in the large downtown area of Los Angeles. Protest in front of the courthouse and the LAPD headquarters became a regular activity for these women.

Incarceration
In California, the Three Strikes Law of 1994, implements mandatory sentences with the goal of reducing repeat offenders. Three hundred and forty four people are imprisoned for life for shoplifting or being caught with small amounts of drugs. . Even if the crimes previously committed are not violent or serious like shoplifting, the crime still count as a strike. Thus, Mothers ROC were losing many of their children to this policy. For example, Harry Daye a 31 yr old man was allegedly accused of stealing a pack of razor blades and was faced with a minimum sentence of 25 years to life without parole.

Stop and Frisk Policies also affect Mothers ROC because out of four million stops, 87 percent of the victims are Black or Hispanic men. Black and Hispanic males only make up 4.7 percent of the population but they are incarcerated at a rate of 41.6 percent. Essentially, any individual could be stopped and searched under probable cause, in 2013 a judge ruled part of this practice unconstitutional because he realized the police departments were stopping people without reasonable cause.

MROC was initially intended to serve a community of African American women, but since these policies incarcerate Latinos at a high rate, the organization began to welcome any mother that was affected by the system.

In California alone two thirds of prisoners are African American or Latino. Most of these incarcerated individuals come from different parts of Los Angeles. Casualties of Black lives lost in LA county are calculated to be at a rate of 1.37 per 100,000 people compared to only .3 for white Americans. Latinos were also killed at larger percentage of .58. There is a disproportionate amount of deaths and incarcerations of African Americans because they only make up 8 percent of the entire population in Los Angeles.

Mothers such as Barbara Meredith, experience loss and pain due to their child's incarceration and death so, they resist these policies by becoming educated and spreading the knowledge they acquire to other women in the community.

Other Organizations
The organization Madres del Plaza de Mayo, formed during the political violence that was occurring in Argentina from 1970 to the early 1980s. During this time, 30,000 individuals were kidnapped and murdered by the military government. Madres del Plaza de Mayo formed during this time, mothers of the disappeared walk around the Plaza de Mayo, which is the central square, it near the governments palace.

Justice for Janitors formed when janitors in Los Angeles began to lose their benefits and their wages began to fall. In June of 1990 Justice for Janitors came together to march in a peaceful protest. Police officers attacked men and women by beating them with their batons, leading to a large public support and eventually leading janitors to having health insurance and guaranteed benefits.