Ecumenical Advocacy Days 2015 – “Breaking the Chains: Mass Incarceration and Systems of Exploitation” – kicked off Friday, April 17 with a series of pre-events, orientations and other welcome activities, and then an opening celebration spotlighted by a rousing keynote from Rev. Traci deVon Blackmon. The moving evening gathering also featured a number of speakers witnessing about their own encounters with a world that incarcerates so many and allows some to profit from the exploitation of slave, trafficked and forced labor and that remains far from the “beloved community” that we are all called to seek. The program also included global songs for peace and justice from the ELCA Glocal Musicians.
