March with Us

 On February 23, 2022 Society-First, along with many other organizations, ministries, and advocates  marched on the capital in Tallahassee in a peaceful protest against the Confederate laws that have been in place since the 1800s.  

These laws were designed to covertly re-establish slavery back into the social fabric of society by using the penal system to bring back what the abolishment of slavery attempted to eradicate from our world. They have turned from being about crop holders,  to being about the shareholders,  and this has molded Florida into a penal state that feeds off of the impoverished, uneducated, disenfranchised, and simply put... the poor. 

The carceral culture that Florida has developed to amass one of the largest examples of mass incarceration in the world (per capita) is a culture that is responsible for sentencing more citizens to Death By Incarceration than 30 other states COMBINED! That's two-thirds of our entire nation in one state!

This is a design that was formulated shortly after America abolished slavery when Florida began giving Life sentences to mostly ex-slaves, which was then leased out to work not as slaves but as criminals for a corporation established in 1868 called the Department of Corrections. 

In 1885 the People of Florida acknowledged this manipulative maneuver, and tried to curtail this evil by having the righteous writers of our state's Constitution add under the forbearance of certain types of Excessive Punishments in Article 1, Section 17 "... indefinite imprisonment is forbidden." 

This law has been in place for over 135 years now, but because Florida has built its mass incarceration machine off the backs of these Life sentences the courts and lawmakers have ignored or refused its existence. We have over 13 thousand men, women, and even children sentenced to Walking Death Sentences, and though most did a crime (some even took a life) this does not make them irredeemable citizens. 

If this was the case Moses would have never been used to part the Red Sea... King David would have never slayed the giant... and Paul would have never wrote most of the New Testament. We have taken on an unforgiving nature that robs us of our strongest ally, redemption. 

We ask you to join us on this Road to Restoration where we believe we as a society can find a better way to stop future victimization. Join us as we walk the streets of our Capital to bring a restorative justice system that exemplifies the character that heals and transforms. 

They have removed the Confederate flag... torn down the Confederate statues... Now, help us eliminate the Confederate statutes, the laws that have systematically promulgated a culture that has literally buried the poor while feeding the rich. 

We understand that some of our communities are destroying themselves,  but we believe if we provide an opportunity for the so-called irredeemable to find redemption we as a society will find the answer in what... in who was once the problem. 

Who has not been in a dark place... who has not done something terribly wrong... who would not accept the opportunity to amend for that wrong?

Walk with us,  talk with us,  and let's make our mark in history.

Thank you & God bless, 

Denise M. Caffo                          

President/CEO/Cofounder    

Alfred Rhiner

Visionary/Cofounder

and the entire Team of Society-First

Society-First 501(c)3