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Celebrating and honoring Lorraine “Mrs. Dee Dee” Haw for her constant pursuit of justice, her ability to speak truth to power across Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, and for her infinite love for the people and communities around her, on the occasion of Black History Month.
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WHEREAS, Lorraine “Mrs. Dee Dee” Haw was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and has lived here all her life. She has an only child, Philip, who has been incarcerated 31 years now, since the age of 18; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Dee Dee found out about the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration (CADBI) through volunteering at the 8th and Diamond Street Rec Center, where a CADBI member, Sarah Morris, would talk to Mrs. Dee Dee and her sister, Jackie, about CADBI, and Mrs. Dee Dee came to a meeting and kept coming. She learned to talk about the pain of her brother Peter’s murder; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Dee Dee also learned to talk about her addiction, which has helped her stay sober for 26 years. She has since taken classes at the Community College of Philadelphia, where she will be graduating in May with her associate’s degree in criminal justice; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Dee Dee once attended a CADBI rally in Harrisburg where CADBI delivered a big bag of letters to Governor Wolf during Christmas. As Governor Wolf stood up to give his speech, she told him he was being the Grinch. She fondly remembers that despite the event, Governor Wolf later saw fit to pardon her criminal record in full; and
WHEREAS, When Mrs. Dee Dee gave rallies or went to speak, CADBI was never there to make trouble. They just used their voices to speak, and carried pictures of loved ones to show people in power that the policies were impacting people who are loved; and
WHEREAS, She wants others similarly impacted to not be ashamed, to use their voices to let legislatures and people in power know what needs to change to stop building so many prisons, to instead spend money on building schools and housing and the things that matter more than prisons. She wants people to know it is wrong to throw people away like garbage, especially young people who are still developing, and incarcerating them until they die is wrong. Mrs. Dee Dee has used her voice to highlight that we are losing so many young people because there are not enough people to let them know prison is not the only option - the mentors are all locked in cages; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Dee Dee would like to thank her supportive family, who was there for her even during her addictions, especially her mother who passed three months ago. She tries to do the things that she promised her mom she would do, including graduating college. Mrs. Dee Dee constantly strives to live up to the promise that no matter what in life, we can always better ourselves if given the chance to do so, and that the things that happen in life cannot make us feel worthless, because we are not; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby celebrates and honors Lorraine “Mrs. Dee Dee” Haw for her constant pursuit of justice, her ability to speak truth to power across Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, and for her infinite love for the people and communities around her, on the occasion of Black History Month.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That two Engrossed copies of this resolution be presented to Lorraine “Mrs. Dee Dee” Haw, 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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