Black and Pink
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Sapp Troy Sapp 511613 5-A-117 ERDC C2727 Highway K Bonne Terre, MO 63628
2,297,400 people in the US are locked up in prisons and jails[1]. Considering that queer and trans people are disproportionately incarcerated, that means that hundreds of thousands of our family members are behind bars. Black & Pink is an open family of LGBTQ prisoners and “free world”[2]allies who support each other. Our work toward the abolition of the prison industrial complex is rooted in the experience of currently and formerly incarcerated people. We are outraged by the specific violence of the prison industrial complex against LGBTQ people, and respond through advocacy, education, direct service, and organizing. Our organizing efforts are guided by a larger goal of collective liberation. We hold strong to a feminist, anti-racist, queer liberationist, anti-capitalist, radical analysis of social, ecological, and economic struggles. We understand the prison industrial complex to be part of a larger system that utilizes systems of oppression to divide people and exploit our individual and collective power. Through movement building and sustained direct action against these systems of violence we will create the world we dream of. Currently, Black & Pink has several projects run by “free world” volunteers: matching pen-pals, monthly newsletters, advocacy, and Black & Pink Art. In coming issues, we’ll be publishing some letters written by prisoners seeking pen-pals and telling their stories. The art project kicked off in spring 2010 as a way to showcase the artists’ talent and self-expression, as well as provide some much needed funds. Many Black & Pink prisoner members are very low on funds that they need to purchase commissary items (such as postage, toiletries, art supplies and snacks). Many of them have been cut off by “free world” family and friends, either due to being in prison or due to their gender and sexuality. Check out more art for sale at blackandpinkart.org; we get dozens of letters every month so the site is updated frequently.
[1] http://www. [2] “Free World” – We understand “free world” people to be those who are not currently in prison/jail/detention/etc. We use quotation marks because we understand the terminology of freedom to be deeply complex. There are those who would suggest that none of us are free as there is such heavy surveillance in our communities—the tentacles of the prison industrial complex are expansive. Others would suggest that freedom exists within ourselves and that it can never be taken from us. Regardless of how one understands freedom, in our terminology “free world” refers to those not currently confined in prison/jail/detention/etc.
Twitch Joseph Alan Scott 1129490 2101 F.M. 369 North Iowa Park TX 76367-6569
Cleopatra Jennifer Gann E-23852 KVSP – C7 – 127u PO Box 5103 Delano CA 93216-5103
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