by Minister of Info JR Valrey, Oakland Bureau Chief
Longtime photojournalist and graphic designer TaSin Sabir, who grew up throughout the San Francisco Bay View newspaper household, is the most recent editor in chief of the All of Us or None newspaper. The All of Us or None newspaper is a program of the non-profit Authorized Companies for Prisoners with Youngsters, and is devoted to organizing and protecting incarcerated individuals, previously incarcerated individuals and their households linked to foster political and social change.
I caught up with TaSin to speak about her new job and the group that she serves. We additionally talk about alternatives that she has for writers and artists which might be incarcerated, have been incarcerated or are related to individuals which might be incarcerated. Take a look at TaSin Sabir, the editor in chief of the All of Us or None newspaper, in her personal phrases.
JR Valrey: How lengthy have you ever been working for Authorized Companies for Prisoners With Youngsters? Why are you obsessed with your job?
TaSin Sabir: Authorized Companies for Prisoners with Youngsters (LSPC) organizes communities impacted by the felony justice system, advocates to launch incarcerated individuals, to revive human and civil rights and to reunify households and communities. All of Us or None (AOUON), which the paper is called after, is a grassroots organizing undertaking of LSPC that’s combating to revive the civil and human rights of previously and at the moment incarcerated individuals and their households. AOUON has chapters everywhere in the nation advocating successfully to “ban the field,” restore voting rights, improve entry to housing and schooling, eradicate involuntary servitude and finish mass incarceration.
I began working as a contract graphic designer for LSPC in 2016 once they contacted me to design their annual report. Since then, I continued knowledgeable relationship with LSPC as their go to designer for initiatives, like constructing and sustaining the LSPC web site and designing advertising and marketing supplies for campaigns.
In 2022 when the chance introduced itself to hitch the group as a communication affiliate/AOUON newspaper editor, it felt prefer it was meant to be. I might not work for some other group on this stage of my profession. I solely wish to encompass myself with righteous and like minded people, and I sit up for studying and rising by way of working straight with a corporation that I respect very a lot.
There are wonderful writers, authors, poets and artists inside and the AOUON newspaper desires to publish their work.
JR Valrey: Are you able to discuss your background in graphic design and journalism earlier than you got here to this job?
TaSin Sabir: I’m a very long time contributor to the SF Bay View newspaper. I began photographing occasions with my mom, Wanda Sabir, who has an arts and leisure column within the Bay View known as Wanda’s Picks. Our first occasion was a Lauryn Hill live performance and I used to be 17 years previous. Photojournalists are allowed to {photograph} the primary three songs at a live performance.
I bear in mind squatting down under the stage surrounded by “actual” photojournalists, with their telephoto lens and a number of cameras strapped round their our bodies. Me, with my 35 mm, average zoom and being the one teenage woman amongst these grown males who weren’t afraid to push their approach to get the perfect location for that successful shot, made me really feel somewhat intimidated. Nevertheless, I claimed my spot, held the digicam as much as my eye, took a breath in and exhaled slowly in order that my digicam would produce a pleasant crisp photograph.
My tools was previous, very previous, however I reminded myself that I knew it like I knew myself. I had taken images courses for 3 years now and I used to be on employees at my highschool paper. Sure, costly cameras are good, nevertheless it’s not the digicam – it’s the particular person controlling it. Lauryn Hill sang these first three songs in a blink of a watch, and it was over. Us photojournalists had been ushered away from the stage and I made my method again to sit down with my mom and revel in the remainder of the live performance, coronary heart nonetheless beating in pleasure.
Later that week seeing my images of Lauryn Hill printed within the SF Bay View was one thing out of a dream. Sure, I had printed issues in my college paper, however the SF Bay View was the massive leagues! I made a decision at that second, I might proceed to pursue photojournalism and be taught every thing I may about what it takes to contribute and produce a publication.
My mom and I continued to cowl occasions collectively for the SF Bay View all through my senior yr and whereas I attended California Faculty of the Arts. Throughout that point I additionally labored for Youth Outlook (Y.O.) as an assistant format designer and contributor. I additionally obtained a photojournalism scholarship from the Nationwide Affiliation of Black Journalists, which helped pay for school.
Our All of Us or None newspaper serves to hyperlink those that have been locked up, those that are locked up, in addition to our households and allies on this battle.
After graduating, it was very exhausting to discover a fulltime job as a photojournalist, so I needed to pivot and make the most of the opposite abilities I had realized in school, which was graphic design. I landed some jobs in that discipline, however in the end determined to work for myself and that’s how I linked up with LSPC once they wanted a contract designer to design their annual report.
JR Valrey: What have you ever realized within the brief time since you will have been working there?
TaSin Sabir: Going from freelancer to a employees position is a good feeling. I already respect the folks that I’ve communicated with up to now – often over e-mail – and now in particular person is even higher. LSPC was one in all my favourite purchasers, so it doesn’t really feel like I’ve been right here a short while in any respect, however I do have quite a lot of studying to do.
Restoring the civil rights of present and previously incarcerated individuals is an enormous struggle with quite a lot of shifting elements, however my aim and objective of the AOUON newspaper is to function an outlet for individuals’s tales, emotions and experiences. To let individuals inside know that we’re out right here combating for you. Hopefully that can present a tiny little bit of consolation and hope.
JR Valrey: What’s the objective and target market of your newspaper?
TaSin Sabir: Our All of Us or None newspaper serves to hyperlink those that have been locked up, those that are locked up, in addition to our households and allies on this battle. We wish to make sure that the voices of our individuals inside are heard and the artists inside are acknowledged for his or her contributions to this motion.
JR Valrey: The place do you get the fabric that you just publish? Principally, who’re your writers?
TaSin Sabir: The AOUON newspaper is a free publication and has near 1,000 subscribers from everywhere in the nation’s prisons and jails. Submissions come from throughout, and are mailed to the Freedom and Motion Heart, our primary workplace in Oakland, Calif. We wish to hear what’s occurring inside: subjects like involuntary servitude, visitation points, inspirational tales, and so on.
There are wonderful writers, authors, poets and artists inside. The AOUON newspaper desires to publish their work. We welcome submissions from everywhere in the nation from present, or previously incarcerated individuals or their members of the family. Submissions might be mailed to AOUON newspaper, 4400 Market Road, Oakland, CA 94608, or emailed to tasin@prisonerswithchildren.org.
JR Valrey: What would you like individuals to get out of studying the LSPC newspaper?
TaSin Sabir: As a substitute of answering this, I would love for individuals to write down in, and let me know what kind of tales or content material you wish to see within the newspaper. This paper is for you.
JR Valrey: Who’re you inviting to submit articles to you? What are you on the lookout for? What’s the course of?
TaSin Sabir: We invite anybody studying this, that’s straight or not directly affected by the jail system, to submit articles. Articles can vary from: opinion items on life inside, reflective items on time served, editorial items on packages inside, investigative tales on jail labor, canteen costs, visitation restrictions, inspirational tales, paintings, comics, poetry and e book evaluations. The sky’s the restrict.
JR Valrey: How do individuals sustain with the AOUON newspaper on-line?
TaSin Sabir: You may see all points on-line right here:
www.prisonerswithchildren.org/aouon-newspaper.
SF Bay View Oakland Bureau Chief JR Valrey, journalist, writer, filmmaker and founding father of the Black New World Journalists Society, might be reached at blockreportradio@gmail.com or on Fb. Go to www.youtube.com/blockreporttv.
