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Zach named “Activist in Residence” at UC Berkeley

November 5, 2021 by Zachary Norris

The Black Studies Collaboratory at UC Berkeley is pleased to announce that Zachary Norris will take part in the Abolition Democracy Fellows Program as the first Activist-in-Residence.

In Fall 2021, Norris will join a group of scholars, students, artists and activists in a collective workshop dedicated to the world building power of Black studies. As activism, in its many permutations, is at the core of the struggle for Black liberation and thus equally foundational to the Collaboratory, we are honored to learn from and support Norris’s stalwart community work.

With an unwavering, energetic spirit, Norris champions and imagines emancipated futures made possible through community care. As the outgoing Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Norris enacts his theories in ways that reduce harm and shift away from (and ultimately replace) police and criminalization. At the Center, Norris, alongside his dedicated colleagues, directly impacted the everyday lives of Alameda County residents through initiatives such as stopping the construction of a juvenile superjail, advocating for the rights, proper treatment, and futures of incarcerated youth; mobilizing readership, retraining, and voting campaigns; and offering a myriad of ways for folks to take part in necessary community service. As the cofounder of Restore Oakland, Norris conceives of a path towards a more just future through a collaboration between the Ella Baker Center and the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, where a new center and restaurant becomes a sight for service industry training, collectivity, justice, and economic hope.

“We are all so inspired by Zach’s  work as Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center, an organization that for more than 25 years has served as a national and international model of people-led movement to build stronger communities. Zach’s  commitment to reimagining safety as outlined in his  book Defund Fear and to creating space for transformation as evidenced in the Restore Oakland project speaks to the spirit of the Black Studies Collaboratory  project. And as a son of the East Bay rooted in the Black Bay Area and its legacies of Black radicalism and freedom dreaming, we know he will contribute so much.” said Leigh Raiford, Co-Director of the Abolition Democracy Initiative.

Much of Norris’s labor stems from a deep commitment to the promise of restorative justice as framed by a need for truth and reinvestment. He expounds on these ideas in his recent book,  Defund Fear: Safety Without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment. In part made legible by his background in law, Norris historicizes the cyclic harms produced through a fear based society and the subsequent policies and actions that perpetuate inequality and fear. He then outlines the promise of collectivity as a means to actively grow together and unlearn and relearn how we relate and support one another. It is through communal care that we can constitute what it means to live, thrive, and be safe. Such powerful imaginings will be incredibly influential for the Collaboratory.

Norris shares in our enthusiasm for his residency, writing: “I am honored to be selected as part of the Abolition Democracy Fellows Program. The multidisciplinary and community-centered approach of the program is exactly what’s needed now. I am excited to be in conversation and collaboration with such a stellar group of people as we not only tear down the prison and other walls that divide us but also build the democratic structures that will actually deliver racial and economic justice.” 

Norris received his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University followed by a JD from New York University Law School. He also studied at the Labor Community Strategy Center’s National School for Strategic Organizing in Los Angeles, California. In 2011 Norris was a Soros Justice Fellow and in 2015 he received the American Constitution Society’s David Carliner Public Interest Award. In Fall 2020, he lectured for the UC Berkeley Big Ideas focusing on his work with the Ella Baker Center and the 2020 election.

Born and raised in Oakland, Norris once again lives in the city with his wife and two daughters. His nurturing spirit extends throughout the Bay area and we are thrilled that the Collaboratory will become another site where his passions for a more just world can be workshopped and made reality.

Filed Under: Blog, press releases

Activist and author Zach Norris is one of nine awardees granted an 18-month fellowship to advance racial justice in 2022

November 4, 2021 by Zachary Norris

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Ashley Chambers, Ella Baker Center
ashley@ellabakercenter.org
510-285-8227

OAKLAND—The Open Society Foundations announced today that Ella Baker Center Executive Director Zach Norris is one of the recipients of the Soros Equality Fellowship. Through the fellowship, the Open Society “aims to provide a network of leaders, representing the diversity of experiences, with the resources to address racial inequality and the space they need to imagine a more equitable future.”

“I am so excited to be selected as a 2021 Soros Equality Fellow,” said Norris. “The fellowship will allow me to bring attention to the issues of family separation and the ways that we can support the resilience of families across US history. I believe the resilience of Black, Indigenous people, and communities of color in the face of a hostile country provides lessons for how we might survive an increasingly inhospitable planet and how we might heal all of our relationships.”

Norris will be stepping away from his position as the Ella Baker Center’s Executive Director in February, 2022.

“Zach’s leadership, purpose and commitment to this work precede him,” said Marlene Sanchez, Deputy Director of the Ella Baker Center. “For the past 20 years, Zach has led the Ella Baker Center to be at the forefront of shutting down youth prisons across the state, changing the narrative around public safety and criminal justice reform, and building leadership among people that are directly impacted by the criminal justice system. We are excited for this new opportunity that he has to continue his work advancing racial justice as a 2021 Soros Equality Fellow.”

“Zach’s leadership, values and commitment to this work precede him,” said Diana Frappier, co-founder of the Ella Baker Center and current board member. “For the past 20 years, Zach has led the Ella Baker Center to be at the forefront of shutting down youth prisons across the state, changing the narrative around public safety and criminal justice reform, and building leadership among people that are directly impacted by the criminal legal system. We’re grateful to have been a part of his leader-full vision at the Ella Baker Center and excited for Zach’s next chapter.”

Over the past 20 years since joining the Ella Baker Center, Norris has led the Books Not Bars campaign to successfully shut down five youth prisons across the state, and helped build California’s first statewide network for families of incarcerated youth. After becoming Executive Director in 2013, Zach has led the organization for the past decade on work spanning from holding Alameda County officials and the sheriff accountable, to passing criminal justice policies at the state level like the RISE Act and California Racial Justice Act. Connecting his activism and passion for social and criminal justice, Norris released his debut book last year, Defund Fear: Safety Without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment which shifts the conversation around public safety to be rooted in care and community, not fear and punishment.

As a thought leader in criminal justice and community empowerment, Norris co-founded Restore Oakland, a community advocacy and training center that empowers Bay Area community members to transform local economic and justice systems. He is also a co-founder of Justice for Families, a national alliance of family-driven organizations working to end our nation’s youth incarceration epidemic.

“I am so grateful for the community and the work that I have had the opportunity to be a part of at the Ella Baker Center, and I am excited to build on that with the Soros Equality Fellowship to dream new ways we can create a safe and just future for ourselves and our families,” said Norris.

The board has engaged in a transition process to determine next steps for the Ella Baker Center’s executive leadership and is excited about the possibilities of building upon all that Zach has accomplished. 

A full list of 2021 Soros Equality Fellows can be found here.

More information on the Soros fellowship can be found here.

Filed Under: Blog, press releases

VIDEO | Defund Fear: Renaming the Book

February 11, 2021 by Zachary Norris

Zach explains why he renamed the book and talks about why we must defund policing, punishment and prisons. At the launch of Defund Fear on February 2nd 2021.

Filed Under: Blog

Defund Fear

February 1, 2021 by Zachary Norris

… a blueprint for a new vision of safety

To achieve true safety, especially for the most vulnerable, the Biden Administration must Defund Fear. 

  • #1 Defund Punishment; Fund Accountability
  • #2 Defund Suspicion; Fund Relationships
  • #3 Defund Deprivation; Fund Resources
  • #4 Defund Isolation; Fund Participation

Real safety happens when we bridge the divides and build relationships with each other, overcoming suspicion and distrust. 

Real safety comes from strategic, smart investments—meaning resources directed towards our stability and well-being.

Real safety addresses the harms that the current system is failing to tackle, and holds people accountable for those harms while still holding them in community. 

Real safety results from reinstating full humanity and agency for everyone who has been dehumanized and traumatized, so they can participate fully in society.

We’re already more than a week into the first 100 Days of the Biden administration.

We the people need to roll up our sleeves and hold our President and our institutions accountable to all of us.

How can you help Defund Fear? (You can start by buying the book, a blueprint for a new vision of safety beyond policing, punishment and prisons)

Thanks to the folks whose work I drew upon for policy recommendations: 

  • @OsopePatrisse
  • @Blklivesmatter
  • @aijenpoo
  • @SaruJayaraman
  • @RevDrBarber
  • @AnnieMLeonard

Defund Fear is available for pre-order now, and will be out in bookstores starting February 2, 2021. Twelve days after the Inauguration. Pre-orders really help the book succeed and are greatly appreciated.


This is the final in a series of six posts, building up to the launch of my book Defund Fear tomorrow. Each post draws out, from the book and from the wider community, the specific steps the new administration must take in order to prioritize the safety and security of people in America.

Filed Under: Blog

VIDEO | In conversation with Edgar Villanueva

January 26, 2021 by Zachary Norris

Talking to author and activist Edgar Villaneuva about “budgets as moral documents” – where we spend money reflects our real commitment to our values – as well as the role of representation in ensuring safety.

Filed Under: Blog

Fund Participation… Not Isolation

January 26, 2021 by Zachary Norris

This is the fifth in a series of 6 posts, building up to the launch of my book Defund Fear. Each post draws out, from the book and from the wider community, the specific steps the new administration must take in order to prioritize the safety and security of people in America. 


To achieve true safety, especially for the most vulnerable, the Biden Administration must defund isolation and instead fund participation. 

Right now we’ve got a country that’s discouraging or outright preventing people from voting and other forms of civic engagement. Real democracy expands access to power, choice, and decision-making for everyone. Strengthening the muscle of collective action is imperative so we can hold large institutions and powerful individuals accountable.  When we take part in things, when we engage, when we have a sense of choice in the matter, we feel a greater sense of worth, dignity, purpose. All this goes a long way to creating social cohesion, trust, relationships, and accountability and therefore, a greater sense of safety.

#4 Defund Isolation; Fund Participation

  • Establish political and democratic accountability through accessible, universal, and automatic voter registration
  • Ensure formerly and currently incarcerated people the right to vote; reward states that end their disenfranchisement
  • Ensure formerly incarcerated people reentry support: access to housing, jobs, healthcare, education and mental health supports. Use Medicaid dollars to support people coming out of prison with rental subsidies and other communities-based services, in lieu of hospital care
  • Restore the Voting Rights Act
  • Prohibit prison gerrymandering
  • Offer federal incentives for municipalities and states that use participatory budgeting to give people a real say
  • Confront disinformation platforms
  • Commit to ending the Electoral College

Filed Under: Blog

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