| Thousand Kites | |
|---|---|
| [[Image:|200px|alt=]] | |
| Motto | "Narrative Campaigns for Justice" |
| Formation | 1999 |
| Type | Non-profit organization |
| Purpose/focus | To engage citizens and build grassroots power, and to use media to open a public space for incarcerated people, corrections officials, the formerly incarcerated, grassroots activists, and ordinary citizens to dialogue and organize around United States' criminal justice system. |
| Headquarters | Norton, VA, U.S. |
| Leader | Nick Szuberla |
| Website | http://www.kitescampaigns.org |
Thousand Kites is a national project that works directly with stakeholders using communication strategies and campaigns to work toward prison reform through grassroots power. It uses performance, video, and radio to make its website a space for incarcerated people, corrections officials, the formerly incarcerated, grassroots activists, and ordinary citizens to dialogue and organize around United States' criminal justice system.
Contents |
Starting in 1998, as host of the rural Appalachian region's hip-hop radio program, "Lights Out" (broadcast on local radio station WMMT (FM)), Nick Szuberla began to receive hundreds of letters from inmates recently transferred from distant cities into two new, local SuperMax prisons. The prisoners’ letters described racism and human rights violations, and Szuberla responded first by playing a game of chess with the prisoners over the air and through the mail, and then with artistic projects, including bringing hip-hop artists together with mountain musicians and organizing radio broadcasts for prisoners’ families. Thousand Kites works in collaboration with Appalshop, the hosts of WMMT (FM).[1]
According to their website, Thousand Kites operates on the following beliefs:
Thousand Kites aims to put low-cost media tools into activists' hands to support their organizing. Using cell phones, the web, and video tools, through its website, the company can share the activists' stories and connect them to a local, state or national campaign.[3]
Stories: Thousand Kites operates around a belief in the power of the individual's story. Most of these are written or recorded by users and submitted to the Kites Campaigns website, where people can view and comment on them.[4] Thousand Kites also uses Roadside Theater's Story Circle methodology with the goal of promoting sharing of similar experiences among groups and opening up dialogue surrounding criminal justice issues.
Campaigns: Thousand Kites supports local grassroots organizations in organizing and informing their communities about criminal justice issues. They host web pages for multiple campaigns, including MTA (Baltimore) Stories,[5] NYS Parole Reform Campaign,[6] Prison Phone Justice Campaign,[7] Resisting the Incarceration Nation,[8] and the Community Restoration Campaign,[9] and provides means for supporters to electronically contact their local legislature.
Programs: Thousand Kites hosts a number of programs aimed at achieving prison reform. "The People's Poet" chronicles poems written from US prisons and read aloud by volunteers.[10] "Calls From Home" is a weekly radio show on WMMT 88.7 FM (Mountain Community Radio) that compiles calls from the family members of the incarcerated and plays them over the radio as well as streams them online, and they are always accessible on the Thousand Kites website.[11] WMMT hosts a 24/7 call line for the messages.[12] "Guest Blogger" exhibits blog posts by Kites contributors and Community members.[13] "Incarceration Nation" is a prison mapping and image bank that shows the presence of prisons in America's communities using Google Earth videos and user generated content.[14] "Kites on the Road" contains updates by Kites members as they travel around the country and speak on these issues.[15] "StoryLine" collects calls across the country of people telling their stories then posts them online.[16]
The name "Thousand Kites" comes from prison slang. According to Thousand Kites, to "shoot a kite" is to send a message.
Up the Ridge (2006) is a documentary produced by Thousand Kites founder Nick Szuberla and Amelia Kirby regarding investigation of human rights issues within Wallens Ridge State Prison. The film investigates the social impact moving inner-city minority offenders to distant rural outposts.[17]