Not long ago, the City Hope staff went to the annual Christian Community Development Association conference in New Orleans. They spent time in New Orlean's 9th Ward, an area hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and still struggling with recovery to varying degrees. Back at the conference, Michelle Alexander, a civil rights activist and law professor, talked to the group about her book, The New Jim Crow.
That stuck with the City Hope staff. The New Jim Crow--subtitled Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness--deals with the overwhelmingly disproportionate number of African-Americans behind bars even all these years after civil rights were signed into law back in 1964.
After returning from New Orleans, we wanted to bring that conversation back to San Francisco. So, on Sunday, November 24th, we'll be hosting a screening of a film called The House I Live In, a Sundance Grand Jury Award-winning documentary about America's war on drugs (watch the trailer here). It is a war that has resulted in 45 million arrests in the last 40 years, made America the world's largest jailer, and had a pervasive impact on poor communities across the country--including San Francisco.
City Hope's work with the County Jail Fellowship is a huge part of the reason why it makes sense for us to engage with this documentary now. We have an ongoing relationship with inmates at San Francisco county jails, visiting them weekly to extend our church community into the jails through a worship service, personal support, and prayer. Another recent development in our relationship with the county jail is a program that connects inmates with mentors. This is the work of the Holy Spirit within and between individuals; the documentary will help us begin a conversation about how we can participate in God's work in the overall criminal justice system.
We will gather together to watch The House I Live In and hear afterwards from Rev. Paul Trudeau, the director of City Hope, about how we as a church are responding to what is happening around us in the criminal justice system. This film is meant to begin a conversation rather than to be the last word, and the collective experience of watching a documentary together strengthens our community. We believe that God is renewing all things--including the jails of this country--and we want to be a part of that redemptive work.
When: Sunday, November 24th, 7-9:30 pm
Where: Russian Center | 2460 Sutter St | Auditorium
Cost: Free
There will be popcorn!