CONTACT:
Queen
Mother Falaka Fattah
House of
Umoja, Inc.
(215)
473-5893
E-Mail: falakafattah@aol.com
PHILADELPHIA,
PA (USA) – 26 March 2020 -- Approximately
2.3 million souls are incarcerated annually.in the United States. In the midst of the Coronavirus 2019
pandemic that is sweeping virtually every nation in our global village,
approximately 2.3. million souls are housed in close proximity to one another
in county, state, and federal correctional facilities. Many of these souls are nonviolent offenders
– some of whom are incarcerated simply because they and their families do not
have sufficient income to pay for their bail.
As a result they are being detained in correctional facilities which are
crowded and cannot comply with, among other things, the Social Distancing
mandates issued by local, state, and federal authorities in response to
preventing the spread of Coronavirus 2019
(“COVID-19”). The House of
Umoja, Inc. (www.houseofumoja.net) along with other humanitarian organizations
and key community stakeholders is issuing a “Call For Compassion” which
supports the release of nonviolent offenders who are currently housed in
county, state, and federal correctional institutions as a means of protecting
souls most susceptible to becoming victims of the COVID-19 Pandemic –
incarcerated souls – Men, Women, and juveniles who are nonviolent offenders,
would not create public safety issues for the communities they will be returned
to, and who are being detained in county, state, and federal correctional
institutions simply because they do not have the financial means to pay their
bail.
Authorities in California and Utah are
looking at the release of nonviolent offender as a means of managing and
preventing the COVID-19 pandemic. The
Salt Lake Tribune, published in Salt Lake City, Utah (https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/03/21/hundreds-utah-inmates/) reported
that as many as 200 people could be
released from the Salt Lake County jail.
It also reported that Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill
disclosed plans by authorities to release at least 90 inmates, most of them
women and explained that the incarcerated individuals being released are
nonviolent offenders.
According to the Los Angeles Times (https://www.latimes.com/california/story/
2020-03-20/california-releases-more-jail-inmates-amid-coronavirus-crisis), authorities
in Alameda County, California announced their intent to release 247
incarcerated souls from the Santa Rita Jail.
Authorities in San Diego County, San Francisco, San Mateo and other
counties in California are making similar moves as a response to COVID-19.
Established in 1968 by Queen Mother Falaka the House of Umoja,
Inc., the House of Umoja, Inc. has a successful track record of positively
transforming the lives of over 3,000 adolescent males. . In 1974, the House of Umoja Inc. helped to
end years of bloody and deadly gang warfare that played out in school yards and
in the streets of Philadelphia by moving gang leaders to sign a peace
treaty. The peace treaty took the form
of the Imani Peace Pact™ which was penned by the late Mr. David Fattah.. The Imani Peace Pledge™ was utilized in 2006
to help end rising incidences of violence and reduce the number of persistently
dangerous schools in Philadelphia and is based on the Imani Peace Pact™ Universities and
institutions that include, but are not limited to, the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Prevention and the Center for Disease Control, have sought the
expertise of Queen Mother Falaka Fattah and her late husband Mr. David Fattah
in the areas of gang reduction, youth programming, and community
organizing. Former United States
Presidents The Honorable Jimmy Carter and the late Honorable Ronald Reagan have
recognized the House Of Umoja, Inc. for its pioneering work which has been
documented in published articles such as A
Summons To Life, by Robert Woodson of the American Enterprise Institute in
1981 and The Violent Juvenile Offender
by Paul DeMuro and Richard Allison of the National Council On Crime And
Delinquency in 1984.
The House of Umoja, Inc. serves as
the City of Philadelphia’s organizer and leader for the National Million Father
March (www.fathersincorporated.com) which encourages Fathers to take a
proactive role in the lives of their child by escorting their child to school
on the first day of each academic year, meeting their child’s principal and
teachers, obtaining of their child’s academic roster and the school’s academic
calendar, checking homework and encouraging their child to excel academically. Under the House of Umoja, Inc.’s leadership
which began in 2007, Fathers in the City of Philadelphia join Fathers in over
600 American cities in collaborating with school administrators and educators
to help their child succeed
In February 2020, on
the first day of African American History Month
-- February 2020, the House Of Umoja, Inc. launched its Fathers Literacy
Campaign under the theme “Lead To Read” which is designed to create and
strengthen bonds between NonCustodial Fathers, Military Fathers, and Incarcerated
Fathers and their children by reading a book together while simultaneously
helping children improving their literacy skills. To that end, the House of Umoja, Inc
selected New York Times Bestseller “The
Book Of Joy: Lasting Happiness In A Changing World”, penned by Nobel Peace
Laureates Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness The 14rh Dalai Lama and Archbishop
Desmond Mpilo Tutu along with Douglas Carlton Abrams, a former Editor at
University of California Press and Harper San Francisco as the literary work
that Fathers and children participating in the “Fathers Literacy Campaign” are
being encouraged to read.
For further information
about the House Of Umoja, Inc’s “Call For Compassion” and the global models it has created for nonviolence,
community development, and social justice it has created for five decades, call
(215) 473-5893 or send an e-mail to: falakafattah@aol.com.
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