Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality

The Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality is an organization of Virginia residents working for the survival of our communities through education and social justice projects. The Defenders recently celebrated 15 years of community organizing and activism! We began in June 2002. Many of us had relatives in the Richmond City Jail or state prisons and were concerned about the physical conditions of these institutions. As we worked around these issues, we learned more and more about the connections between jails, jobs, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, class, political representation, and war. We began organize and hold public forums on these issues, so we could develop more to show the connections between local and international events.

We have The Virginia Defender, a statewide, quarterly newspaper; two websites (www.DefendersFJE.blogspot.com and www.SacredGroundProject.net); and three Facebook pages, for the Defenders organization, newspaper and radio program. Our …