Statement from REFORM CEO Robert Rooks:

Today, we celebrate the courage of a hero, whose conviction in racial equality and economic justice are unsurpassed and whose campaign for civil rights changed America for the better.

In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” The injustice of mass incarceration still plagues the United States today and specifically the lives of Black, Brown, and poor Americans. One person’s incarceration hurts not only individual people but entire families and communities. In America’s carceral state, we continue to bear witness to the consequences of bigotry and segregation.

At REFORM, we honor Dr. King’s legacy by working to realize the unfinished dream of economic, social, and political equality — stopping systemic unfairness in our probation and parole system and the vicious cycle of prison and poverty it perpetuates.