History tells us that when our country uplifts a “Law and Order” candidate to the presidency, the results have been devastating to the US Constitution and disproportionally harmful to communities of color.

The president-elect leaned hard on Chicago when asserting his tough-on-crime stance, saying that Chicago needs to formalize the controversial “stop-and-frisk” police practice to stem violence. His remarks suggest that Chicago would benefit from a formal implementation of ‘Stop and Frisk’ – a practice notorious for violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

On election day, Free Write students discussed access to voting and participated in creative writing workshops. They told us that the “tough on crime” policies unfairly target their neighborhoods. Research tells us that these disproportionate policing strategies hamper democracy for us all.

The young people caught in this cycle of violence are our students, children, and neighbors. Free Write’s work is to empower and amplify the narratives of the young people, a direct challenge to the “tough-on-crime” pundits who wish to render entire communities invisible. Our most recent exhibition, Mitigating Evidence, features the narratives of incarcerated young people who themselves expand and extend the way they are defined, by offering more complete visions of safe and thriving communities.

As Free Write staff and students settle in to experience how this administration applies its world view to the governance of our nation, we are sharpening our focus, honing our skills, and organizing our community of artists and educators. What and how we teach is designed to prepare our students to be community members, students, parents, the narrators of their own stories and authors of their own futures.

We ask that you join our community and support this work.