Freedom Charter
In 2017, hundreds of formerly incarcerated and systems-impacted women, girls, and trans people from across the nation gathered to envision true freedom for ourselves, our families, and our communities. Inspired by the South African Freedom Charter, we drafted the Sister Warriors Freedom Charter.
The charter was adopted at the Sister Warrior Freedom Coalition’s founding convening in Oakland, California, in February 2018.
Freedom Charter #2
We have the right to be free from sexual, gender-based, and physical violence, abuse, and exploitation perpetrated by our families, partners, community, the State, and institutions. We have a right to defend ourselves from intimate, community, State, and institutional violence.
Freedom Charter #14
We have the right to be consulted when institutions want to create, revise, and eliminate policies, legislation, rules, or laws that will impact the way we experience systems. We are best positioned to identify alternatives to incarceration, criminalization, and family separation. We should have insight into the systems and institutions that most impact us.