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.
Organizer’s Corner: Finish the Story!
This issue, Organizer James Morgan is holding a contest! The challenge: Finish this story in one or two paragraphs. James's granddaughter will judge the submissions. The prize for the winner will be an original piece of James's artwork! Submit your concluding paragraphs to: As I sit in this room I silently watch, listen, and wait. It’s now four in the morning or at least that’s what the Babylonians who consciously created time would say. I watch the innocent flies dance together in...
Welcome to MOSES, Second Baptist!
Welcome to MOSES, Second Baptist! By Pam Gates MOSES President Saundra Brown has made it a goal of her presidency to bring more African American congregations into MOSES, and we welcome Second Baptist Church as her first success! Saundra made a presentation to the congregation about a year ago, and another one this summer, on Aug. 18, both times accompanied by our organizer, James Morgan. At the Aug. 18 presentation, several of us other MOSES members also present heard Pastor Anthony Wade and...
The Sentencing Project Provides Data and Other Resources for Reform Advocates
The Sentencing Project Provides Data and Other Resources for Reform Advocates, by Sherry Reames I have become a big fan of the Sentencing Project, a national nonprofit that describes its mission as “advocat[ing] for effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice.” Although it is best known for recommending an end to extremely long sentences, the Sentencing Project...
Returning Citizen: Kory Finfrock
By Ken Warren At our MOSES monthly meeting in October, we had the pleasure of meeting Kory Finfrock and his spouse, Tonia. Kory was born in Stoughton in 1979 and was a student in Edgerton from the early grades until he dropped out of high school. He later earned his HSED. Kory’s father died several years ago, but his mother is well and living in the area. Kory also has a 26-year-old son, but that relationship is strained because, Kory recognizes, he has let his family down. ...
Why I Am a Sustaining Member
Why I Am a Sustaining Member By Barbie Jackson I am so grateful that I was able to find my way to MOSES in 2017. So grateful that I learned how to roll up my sleeves and help this marvelous organization advocate for social justice. I have learned from MOSES that successful advocacy requires us to build power, which in turn requires organized people and organized money. We organize people through our relationships with one another and with those we hope to influence. We organize...
Update on the Right to Read Bill (ACT 20)
Update on the Right to Read Bill (ACT 20) By Shel Gross and Tracy Frank The Racial Justice for All Children committee (RJAC), and specifically the Education Advocacy Group (EAG), has been learning that advocacy work requires time, long-term commitment, nuanced inspection, and connections. Over the past few years, a lot has happened in the state and in our local community in the area of reading. In Wisconsin, fewer than 40% of students are proficient in reading by the end of third grade, and...
Some Highlights from the EXPO Gala, Held October 5
Some Highlights from the EXPO Gala, Held October 5 By Sherry Reames I bought tickets for this year’s EXPO (EX-incarcerated People Organizing) celebration and fundraiser primarily because I wanted to hear the guest speaker, Susan Burton. Ms. Burton’s organization, A New Way of Life, is providing a transformative model of housing for formerly incarcerated women, as many of us learned from Delilah McKinney when she spoke at the MOSES Lunch and Learn in May. Each Gala...
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Review of Ben Austen, Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change
Ben Austen, Correction: Parole, Prison, and the Possibility of Change, New York: Flatiron Books, 2023 review by Sherry Reames I bought this book because of its focus on long-term prisoners seeking parole, but it sheds so much light on the larger stories surrounding today's prison crisis that I think every member and friend of MOSES should read it. If we are serious about dismantling the systems of mass incarceration and the racial disparities that contribute to them, we need to...