Liberation Summer Youth Advocacy Training Camp, a program of AFSC New York and New Jersey and Echoes of Incarceration, brings together high schoolers from across the New York Tri-State area who have been directly impacted by America’s criminal justice system and immigration policies. Together they learn about and analyze these issues and are exposed to advocacy strategies while being trained in the art of filmmaking for change. 

Here are three films from this year's camp:

Recently a member of the “Quakers engage to end racism” Facebook page posted this statement: “There is too much un-Quakerly bashing of white people on this page.”  

On the 4th anniversary of Eric Garner's death, Liberation Summer Camp participants took to the streets to conduct spontaneous interviews, using the prompt: if you were attacked or assaulted walking home, who would you call?

This video was produced by AFSC's Echoes of Incarceration program, as part of the 2018 Liberation Summer Camp.

After attending a session at Criminal Court, Liberation Summer Camp participants came together to create personal artistic responses to what they experienced, channeling their emotions and reactions into positive creations.

This video was produced by AFSC's Echoes of Incarceration program, as part of the 2018 Liberation Summer Camp.

Yesterday at dusk, I shared a picnic blanket with dear friends, on a country hill, near a beautiful orchard, sipping tea in porcelain cups, mixed with tears and tear gas.

Jamil’s family was forced to move to Honduras after his mother and father were placed in deportation proceedings. In this video, he recounts the struggles he and his family faced, and how those struggles inform his work and life today.

This video was produced by AFSC's Echoes of Incarceration program, as part of the 2018 Liberation Summer Camp.

Joyce Sandy is a retired educator and attorney who lives in Durham, NC. She is a Quaker and a member of Chapel Hill Friends Meeting.

Sophia Perlmutter works for AFSC as the Quaker Voluntary Service Friends Relations Fellow. She helps manage and write blog content for the Acting in Faith blog. She is a recent graduate of Guilford College where she majored in Sustainable Food Systems and Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies.