Race Matters, Friends

Nonprofit in Columbia MO

Race Matters, Friends is a nonprofit group united in the struggle for racial equity in Columbia, Missouri. We nurture conversations and actions about racial equity, racism, and structural inequality in Columbia, Missouri; the United States; and the world.

Current Reading

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Announcements

March 21, 2021
The RMF Community Bail Fund is tracking Senate Bill 487 in the General Assembly. Its provisions would prevent judges from releasing defendants on their own recognizance while they wait for trial. It would increase the number of pretrial detainees in the Boone County Jail despite years of efforts to decrease the jail population. It may contradict a 2019 Missouri Supreme Court order designed to limit pretrial detention and bail. Full text of the bill: https://www.senate.mo.gov/21info/pdf-bill/intro/SB487.pdf
January 18, 2021
We urge Sheriff Carey, Judge Crane, and the 13th Circuit Court Judges to work immediately at releasing our Boone County detainees and limit further actions that would increase the jail population.
June 11, 2020
On Monday, June 8, 2020, former Rock Bridge High School students presented a list of student demands to the Columbia Public Schools Board of Education.
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Get Involved

Join us at City Council Meetings! 

1st and 3rd Mondays of every month. City Hall, 701 E Broadway, Columbia MO 65201
Follow us on Facebook!

Race Matters, Friends has both a page @racemattersfriends and a discussion group @racemattersfriendscomo
Catch Up!

Get up to speed with your readings and dig into our suggested literature. 

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What We're Doing

Community Bail Fund Open Meeting and Discussion

January 3, 2023
  Public encouraged to share ideas on creating a system that emphasizes support rather than imprisonment Columbia, MO, Jan. 2, 2023 -- Race Matters, Friends (RMF) will evaluate one of its core strategies for combatting the police-industrial complex by hosting a Community Bail Fund meeting. The public is invited to attend the open discussion at […]
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We Need Bodies at Tonight’s Citizens Police Review Board (CPRB)

July 13, 2022
The recent hot flashes around the (CPRB) are in response to December L. Harmon’s 11-page proposal called New Model Concepts For The Citizen’s Police Review Board (2/22/22). The proposal is in response to SB26, which egregiously limited the board’s ability to do the oversight mission. Overall, the proposal reconceptualizes the oversight infrastructure and structure of […]
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Murals in the Courthouse (Boone County, MO)

September 29, 2021
The Courthouse of Boone County, Missouri has prominent murals adorning its walls that give an unflattering depiction of BIPOC and women. While conversations may be held as to the historical or artistic relevancy of such work, the primary concern is that these images set and reinforce an insidious tone within the halls of our Courthouse.
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In the News

  • Columbia Missourian

    Art imitates life when it comes to racial equity in the Missouri courts

    Many years before the state killed Ernest Lee Johnson by injecting him with a fatal dose of pentobarbital, he walked by a mural that foreshadowed his death. The mural is in the Boone County Courthouse, on a prominent wall visible as you walk from the first floor to the courtrooms above.

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2101 W Broadway, 
Ste 103, PMB 300, 
Columbia MO 65203
(636) 542-8838
racemattersfriendscomo@gmail.com
Race Matters Friends © 2024
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