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.
The Other Wes Moore (book review)
Wes Moore, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. Random House, 2011 Review by Sherry Reames Wes Moore was not yet governor of Maryland when he wrote this book, but his career was clearly full of promise. In the decade since his college graduation, he had won a Rhodes Scholarship for further study at Oxford, served with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, been chosen as a White House Fellow, and even given one of the speeches at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. As he explains in his...
Gearing Up for a Big Madison Action Day (Thursday, April 10)
Gearing Up for a Big Madison Action Day (Thursday, April 10) by Sherry Reames Although Madison Action Day is still a few weeks away, it’s definitely not too early to start preparing. The essential first step this year may be to shift our focus from discouraging national news to the relatively hopeful outlook for our issues here in Wisconsin. We have a better partisan balance in our State Legislature than we’ve seen in many years, a large number of new legislators to meet, and a budget...
Don’t Forget to Vote on April 1
Don’t Forget to Vote on April 1 From League of Women Voters materials, with thanks to Aileen Nettleto On April 1, we will have the opportunity to help select the next Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice and determine whether the Wisconsin State Constitution is amended again. Make your vote count! Educate yourself on the candidates and the issues Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice The two candidates for the open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court justice are Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel....
MOSES Goes to the Library and the Theater
MOSES Goes to the Library and the Theater The following books and theater events were reviewed in the five 2024 MOSES newsletters. They provide helpful background on mass incarceration in the U.S. and its effects. The books themselves can generally be found in the Madison Public Library system and often in one of our lending libraries. Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women. By Susan Burton and Cari Lynn, with a foreword by Michelle...
New MOSES Member Organizations 2024
New Congregations That Joined MOSES in 2024 2024 brought three new congregations/organizations into the MOSES fold. While all new members are celebrated, these three additions were particularly welcome. A longtime goal for MOSES has been to increase diversity in our membership. Our President, Saundra Brown, has made it her personal goal to bring more African American congregations into MOSES. Second Baptist Church became her first milestone toward that goal. Anyone who has attended our monthly...
Learning Opportunities in 2024
Additional Learning Opportunities for MOSES and the Community in 2024 (1) “End the Lockdowns,” a community forum at First Unitarian Society on Feb. 1, presented dramatic testimony about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Wisconsin’s overcrowded prisons. James Wilbur, outgoing director of prison inreach for WISDOM, described the squalid conditions inside Waupun and Green Bay in particular, and tragic personal stories were added by family members whose incarcerated loved ones had died or been...
Wisconsin Hears About Solitary Confinement
Wisconsin Hears About Solitary Confinement On April 23, 2024, in the state Capitol building, a panel of 10 spoke to a packed hearing room about the practice of solitary confinement in Wisconsin’s prisons and jails. The 70-plus listeners included five legislators and about twice that many aides; the panel included seven who had spent time in solitary, two ministers, and a woman who had recently lost her dad to suicide in solitary. The first speaker was MOSES’s own Talib Akbar, who designed,...
Racial Justice for All Children (RJAC) 2024 Report
Racial Justice for All Children Task Force (RJAC) Had a Busy Year In 2024, RJAC was active on a number of fronts, including developing new avenues for promoting racial justice for our youth. Education Advocacy Group (EAG) This group focused firmly on monitoring the implementation of new early learning literacy requirements as outlined in Wisconsin Act 20, for which RJAC had advocated in 2023. This advocacy took place on a number of fronts. With the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD), ...
MOSES Justice System Reform Initiatives (JSRI) Priorities for 2025
In early 2025 the JSRI reviewed the current issues in Dane Counties Criminal Legal System and identified issues that are both going to be part of the public discussion and where public education will play an important role. The following 7 established issues and 3 new issues were identified for our attention.
MOSES Member Organizations 2024
Congregational/Organizational Members Call to Action Catholics Madison Area First Unitarian Society of Madison First United Methodist Church Grace Episcopal Church Holy Wisdom Monastery James Reeb Unitarian Universalist Congregation Lake Edge Lutheran Church Madison Christian Community (Advent Lutheran and Community of Hope United Church of Christ) Madison Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Messiah Lutheran Church Middleton Community United Church of Christ Orchard Ridge...