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Celebrating and recognizing Sandra “Nan” Hill for her relentless work to improve the lives of people around her and to recognize the dignity of every person, particularly people who are incarcerated, on the occasion of Black History Month.
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WHEREAS, Sandra “Nan” Hill was born and raised in Philadelphia, growing up in South Philadelphia. She is a mother of five, grandmother of ten, and great grandmother of sixteen. Nan spent most of her time with her childhood friends, Brenda, Barbara and Eleanor; and
WHEREAS, She first became interested in doing work supporting survivors and loved ones of incarcerated people when her husband experienced infractions with the law. Nan fostered her passion after volunteering at Voyage House on Lombard Street in South Philly and also visiting Cornwell Heights - a juvenile facility - during the 1980s; and
WHEREAS, In 1986, she met a young man named Robert Asafo Williams hoping to provide emotional support to him. She did not know then this unlikely friendship would be life changing. While behind the walls, Asafo would give her the tools she needed to guide her six grandsons past the age that cost him his freedom. Today all of her grandsons are productive, law-abiding young men. Nan didn’t realize the people that she met along the way would be as much help to her as she wanted to be for them.
WHEREAS, Seeing how the penal system played out, she began to connect with her children’s friends by talking to them through difficult situations. They, in turn, would begin to confess everything to her knowing that she would not judge
WHEREAS, Her experiences with incarceration have helped her understand that legislators and lawmakers who take the time to meet with people incarcerated for decades will realize those people are not the same as when they started their sentence. That people can grow and give back, and that laws must change to reduce sentence length and to bring some people home. Being so far removed from the pain makes people in power forget the humanity of the suffering; and
WHEREAS, She started working with the Human Rights Coalition after writing a letter to try and stop an unjust solitary confinement for her son, working with Mama Patt Vickers and publishing Nan’s letter in the HRC newsletter. She then helped launch the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration (CADBI), speaking at rallies and trying to reach someone in the audience each time, bringing them into community because community makes the hardship easier; and
WHEREAS, Business as usual has failed. Nan often cannot sleep at night knowing the conditions loved ones have to suffer. As she considers mercy, she knows that so many people who are incarcerated wish they could change what they had done, to not be defined by it, and work every day to become better people. When the justice of today becomes injustice, and mercy becomes obsolete, she will know her work is complete; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby celebrates and recognizes Sandra “Nan” Hill for her relentless work to improve the lives of people around her and to recognize the dignity of every person, particularly people who are incarcerated, on the occasion of Black History Month.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That two Engrossed copies of this resolution be presented to Sandra “Nan” Hill, and to the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration, as an expression of the gratitude and admiration of the Council of the City of Philadelphia.
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