ADD YOUR VOICE

Join the growing group who are using their voices and platforms to amplify sworn declarations. Read one yourself, record it, and post to your own platforms. Let this ripple out and make bigger and bigger waves. 
01. FIRST, CHOOSE A DECLARATION TO READ HERE.
When opening the folder of Declarations, allow yourself time to read several and find one that speaks to you before recording. 

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02. NEXT, RECORD A VIDEO OF YOURSELF READING THE DECLARATION:
  1. Try to record yourself reading the declaration you have chosen in front of a white or neutral wall.
  2. There will be two sections of the declaration - an introduction, and the declaration itself. Please pause after your introduction, and allow for a beat shift before beginning the declaration. 
  3. When you read the declaration, you are reading this text as yourself, not embodying the experience of the person giving testimony or performing it as a monologue. Your goal is to communicate the text clearly and impactfully, as a reader.

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03. FINALLY, UPLOAD YOUR VIDEO TO YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA.
Upload particularly to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. When you upload please copy and paste the following language as your caption:
INSTAGRAM:
Fueled by dangerous conditions and a systemic failure to protect people who are detained pre-trial, a COVID outbreak is sweeping through the Prince George's county jail. Take action and hear from the people inside at http://GaspingForJustice.org #GaspingForJustice.
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@sabraveboy - Join the fight and show us what #bravejustice really looks like.
TWITTER:
"I could barely breathe." "I begged to go to medical, but I was ignored." "Are we about to die?" These are the sworn statements of people locked in P.G. County’s jail and facing COVID. They are fighting for their lives. Hear them. And take action. http://GaspingForJustice.org
FACEBOOK:
P.G. County’s top prosecutor Aisha Braveboy claims she supports bail reform. But she isn’t advocating for release. People are now jailed in horrific conditions and facing COVID infection and death. @PGSAONEWS, show us what #bravejustice really looks like. http://GaspingForJustice.org

TAKE ACTION

An urgent movement across the country is underway. We are reckoning with police violence and abuse perpetrated against BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) lives. Yet we cannot disconnect this visible violence from the violence inflicted on Black and Brown lives trapped inside inhumane jails, presumed innocent while awaiting trial, and without adequate medical treatment as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads.

Gasping For Justice is a project of Hear Us, an impact advocacy initiative that shares first-hand accounts of the human impact and cruelty of criminalization and incarceration.

​The model for this project evolved from The Flores Exhibits, developed by The Broadway Advocacy Coalition and Waterwell Theater Company.