Title
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.
Body
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 tha...
Click here for full text