“Black Reconstruction as a Portal” is a year-long seminar series at UCI designed to explore contemporary social and structural issues by contextualizing the role Black Americans played in the reconstruction of American society. Guest speakers Jerome Morgan and Robert Jones held a presentation on mass incarceration, and their mission to transform their communities through mentorship, youth advocacy and development projects on Oct. 19.
In 1993, a 17-year-old Jerome Morgan was wrongly arrested for the murder of Clarence Landry III during a birthday party. Morgan was prosecuted based on the testimony of two eyewitnesses at the time of the crime. In January 2014, his murder conviction was overturned, and two years later, he was finally exonerated after spending over 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Also, wrongly accused of robbing and murdering British tourist, Julie Stott, in New Orleans was 19-year-old Robert Jones, who was arrested in 1992. After serving 25 years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Jones celebrated his 44th birthday by being released and exonerated from these crimes in January 2017.
During their prison sentences, both Jones and Morgan educated themselves on the laws of the justice system by enrolling in various academic programs. Although freedom seemed to be in the distant future, they promised to work together in creating healthier environments for the youth in their communities if they were to be released.
“We are here to show people that it can actually be done, because some of these things we thought about and it just seemed like a long shot,” Jones said.
Together, they created Free-Dem Foundations, a non-profit organization that provides safe spaces for young people in impoverished communities to end the cycle of neighborhood crime, poverty and mass incarceration.
“We are a mission-driven organization that uses transformative and preventative strategies. These terms are important because we are not addressing the problem until after the fact … Our aim is to foster [a healthy community] from the bottom up,” Morgan said.
Free-Dem Foundations has created support programs for young boys who grew up without fathers or positive male figures in their lives. Through mentorship relationships, rehabilitation pathways and counseling, resources are readily accessible to those who would otherwise not have access to them.
Jones and Morgan continued their presentation by demonstrating how to dismantle systems of oppression. This first starts with identifying the problems in Black and brown communities. Jones notes that such problems are often covert issues such as free labor, a lack of social equity and poverty.
“We live in a society of rules and regulation, policies and things like that. There’s a serious gap between Black and white people… dismantling the system is about making things fair,” Jones said.
To dismantle systems of oppression, Jones and Morgan introduced the acronym OMET, which stands for Organize, Mobilize, Educate and Take Action. This was Free-Dem Foundations’ plan of action to turn the far-fetched idea of driving change in the system into reality. By forming organizations with like-minded people, solutions to community issues can be developed and, therefore, put into motion.
Free-Dem Foundations works closely with other grassroots organizations and community figures in New Orleans, such as Judge Nandi Campbell and District Attorney Jason Williams, who also commited to creating changes in the justice system.
Having grown up in environments of drug abuse, domestic violence and prostitution themselves, Jones and Morgan emphasized the importance in practicing transformative solutions to end the cycle of mass incarceration. Safe housing, peaceful neighborhoods and community power are some of the preventative methods Morgan attributes to preventing crime and imprisonment amongst youth.
“It’s addressing the underlying problem by assessing the person with resources. I like to think of it like getting ahead of the situation,” Morgan said.
The impact and influence of Free-Dem Foundations is seen in their hometown, New Orleans. In May 2018, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards signed into law Senate Bill 38, a legislation that requires police agencies to mandate long-established identification procedures to prevent wrongful convictions. This law protects the innocent, such as Jerome Morgan and Robert Jones themselves, who were prosecuted upon eyewitness misidentification.
Free-Dem Foundations continues to build their community and spread awareness with their slogan: “all respect, no fear.”
For more information and ways to donate to the organization, visit their website.
Elaine Cha is a Campus News Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. She can be reached at emcha@uci.edu.