by Sean Damon, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Straight Ahead

One of the most uplifting things about being in social justice movements like ours is the people who are part of them, who bring not only their passion for the issue but their knowledge, talents, and skills. If you’ve spent any time with Ms. Sandra Hill, a longtime member and leader in the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration (CADBI) and the Human Rights Coaltion, you are probably well aware of hers.

One of Sandra’s gifts is her keen ability to grab your ear and offer a little wisdom that might cause you to stop for a moment and think about what is unfolding around you. In all the stress and struggle of our ongoing push to end death by incarceration sentences (aka life without parole) in Pennsylvania, her words help return you to your center. Deceptively simple, they offer clarity and the hard-won perspective and insights of someone whose resilience has carried her through decades of pursuing justice.

The world is so volatile and precarious at this moment that we have got to appreciate our people and give them their flowers now. It’s really the only way we’ll get through it all – celebrating and finding joy in each other and building community.

In that spirit, some of us printed a booklet of Sandra Hill’s writing recently titled “The Sayings of Nan Hill”. It’s been a real pleasure to work on this book of poetry and homespun wisdom from Sandra Hill as well as an honor to struggle side by side with Sandra for so many years as we’ve worked together to bring people home from state prison and fight for a more liberatory world.

I was touched that Sandra trusted me with her writing and the idea for this project and that the Abolitonist Law Center and Amistad Law Project believed in it enough to provide the resources to publish it.

As well, movement artist Erik Ruin put his whole heart into this project and created wonderful original art for it – desiging and printing the booklet from top to bottom. We were so lucky to have him on board and he really created a beautiful object in the booklet itself.

If you would like a copy, please contact me at sean@straight-ahead.org. Donations to support this project can be made here.