#129 Striving for Youth Justice - George Galvis, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice

felony inc podcast

09-12-2020 • 48 mins

Interconnected and interdependent is how George Galvis, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, sees the world his organization is building. He takes a view of history where he broadens the context of events and particularly the versions of history. It inspires him to move forward working with young people with experiences similar to his. As early as three years old, George remembers fearing domestic violence and his mother's life; his father at maximum rage and his mother turning blue from lack of oxygen. And, as happens so often, George then repeated what he had experienced. He took his rage and violence to the street as a young man. At 17, he was arrested and charged with a felony. He was lucky that he was not a legal adult, so his sentence was not as severe as it could have been. He then entered community college and started moving on, always worrying about his record becoming public knowledge and hurting his chances for advancement. Then he met some influential people who taught him cultural awareness which meant healing was a big part of his daily life. Community involvement was another leg of the stool and George interpreted that to mean activism as well as connecting. He then organized resistance to some California ballot issues he deemed to marginalize specific groups. The last component was higher education, learning the vocabulary and framework to express himself and his views. He took that to the hilt, transferring to UC Berkeley and graduating with honors. Thus the foundation for CURYJ. Felony Inc Podcast with your hosts Dick Hennessy and Meg Thibodeaux We record the Felony Inc Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland. Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main Website was designed by Cameron Grimes Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster Felony Inc Podcast supports City Central Concern at centralcityconcern.org 10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes Listen to the Felony Inc Podcast every Friday at 10:00am pacific time on Startup Radio Network at startupradionetwork.com