Madison Organizing in Strength, Equity, and Solidarity
for Criminal Legal System Reform

News and Commentary

This page displays timely announcements, news reports, and articles written by MOSES members previously published in our newsletters, yearbook, or venues. The main display shows all items with the most recent first. You can select particular topics, working groups, or types of information to see the articles of one type, with the most recent first. Also see the Publications & Resources page for links to whole newsletters and yearbooks as well as other resources for research.

Oh, No! Not CRT! Undoing Distortions and Misinformation

by | Nov 21, 2023 | , ,

Dr. Gloria  Ladson-Billings spoke to Taking a Faithful Stand for Equity about Critical Race Theory. Taking a Faithful Stance for Equity is a coalition formed in 2021 to address attacks on diversity and inclusion in our schools. Leading members of the coalition are WISDOM, MICAH (the Milwaukee affiliate of WISDOM), Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, the Wisconsin Council of Churches,  the Wisconsin Council of Rabbis, and the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee. 

Communications Team Seeks Members

by | Nov 18, 2023 |

Want to help spread the news about all the great things happening in MOSES?  Join the MOSES Communications Team!   We work behind the scenes to help MOSES members carry out their work of ending mass incarceration and mass supervision and eradicating the racial disparities in our community that contribute to them. We do this through a bi-monthly newsletter and an annual yearbook.  People who serve on the newsletter/yearbook team enjoy writing, keeping people informed, and working with a small...

Organizer’s Corner

by | Nov 8, 2023 | ,

Organizer’s Corner  By James Morgan Greetings, MOSES members! I’d like to first and once again thank each of you for your time, efforts, and dedication to our organization. We are at a unique time in our state and nation. It seems that at every turn events are occuring that tug at our hearts and minds in ways that perhaps, for some of us, are overwhelming.  World, national, and local politics and politicians appear to be embroiled in a politically entrenched world of theater, ignoring the...

End the Lockdowns! Action Draws 200 to State Capitol

by | Oct 15, 2023 | , ,

“End the Lockdowns!” Action Draws 200 to State Capitol By Pam Gates   Over 200 people participated in the WISDOM-sponsored “End the Lockdowns!” action at the state Capitol on Oct. 10. Religious leaders, including the current WISDOM president, loved ones of people being held in the state prisons in question, and formerly incarcerated people spoke passionately in protest of the inhumane conditions in which many Wisconsin prisoners are held. One mother  began her testimony by saying: “Had...

“FROM ASHES TO BEAUTY” TELLS STORIES WE NEED TO KNOW

by | Oct 9, 2023 | ,

"FROM ASHES TO BEAUTY" TELLS STORIES WE NEED TO KNOW   By Sherry Reames     On Oct. 12, Madison's First Congregational UCC hosted the showing of a short documentary that deserves a much wider audience than the few dozen people who showed up on that rainy evening. This locally made film, "From Ashes to Beauty: Stories after Incarceration," is narrated in part by Deb Mejchar, whose prison experience inspired her subsequent career as a chaplain ministering to prisoners and former prisoners....

Racially Coded Political Ads

by | Mar 18, 2023 |

The racial equity topic for March  takes us back several months ago, during the political campaign between Senator Ron Johnson and then Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes. If you saw any of the TV ads or heard any of the radio ads from Ron Johnson, you already know they became increasingly focused around Barnes wanting to “defund the police and release violent felons without bail”.  These statements, of course, were not true and instead were pulled out of context and reassembled for Johnson’s...