An Editorial Statement from Agency:
The Agency team is heartened by the dedication and efficacy of restorative justice organizing efforts in Jen’s community. We are also uplifted by the second round of Jen Angel Anarchist Media grants recently awarded to four fantastic projects. We coordinate this grant program because if we want media that represents us, we need to make it – Jen taught us that. We are committed to keeping Jen’s memory alive through this grant program. Jen’s life and legacy provide us with a constant reminder that it’s what we build together outside the state that matters.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 9, 2024
CONTACT:
For further information and all media inquiries, please fill out this form and someone will get back to you if your request can be accommodated: http://bit.ly/jenangelpress. We encourage all media to utilize and quote the statement below.
Loved Ones of Jen Angel Respond to Sentencing of Ishmael Burch in Relation to Death of Oakland Baker and Activist
Statement Reaffirms Commitment to Opposing Harm in Jen Angel’s Name and Promoting Restorative Justice
OAKLAND, CA – Loved Ones of Jen Angel, a group of friends of the late activist working to support and honor her life and legacy issued the following statement in response to the announcement that Ishmael Burch, the person arrested and charged related to her death, has accepted a plea deal today in Alameda County Court.
“A group of friends, community members, and fellow activists came together in the hours after Jen’s injury in Feb. 2023. Since her death we have worked together to honor her life and legacy, including doing what we can to ensure that further harm is not done in Jen’s name. Over the last 17 months we have sought to uphold the values Jen lived for in relation to legal proceedings related to her death, while also working to ensure her business, Angel Cakes, continues under the stewardship of its employees.
Jen lived her full and vibrant life with the understanding that the potential for a healthy and just society depends on replacing racist and violent institutions like policing, jails, and prisons with models of public safety that actually keep everyone safe.
Since Ishmael Burch was charged with Jen’s death we have stated that this case is an opportunity for Alameda County to not only honor the wishes of Jen and her loved ones, but also to model a framework that seeks to address the root causes of harmful behavior and find meaningful ways to ensure true justice in our communities. After charges were announced in June of 2023, we proposed a restorative justice framework to the D.A.’s office that advocated for non-carceral alternatives and outlined charging and sentencing options that would mitigate harm done through the prison system.
To believe in restorative justice and transformative justice is to believe in a deeper and more effective form of accountability than is possible under our current criminal legal system. Accountability is essential. As Jen once wrote, ‘Accountability processes attempt to put many of my values into practice—mutual aid, respect, direct action, a DIY ethic, an acknowledgement that “crime,” safety, harm, and support are complex.
Ishmael Burch was sentenced today in Alameda County Court. We recognize that the State’s process is not the one Jen would have chosen to ensure accountability and justice. We also believe that the sentencing recommended by the DA in this plea deal was the best possible outcome under the current legal system, in this political climate. We know that Jen would not want someone involved in her death, whether complicit or not, to waste away in prison for decades, and we take some comfort in knowing Ishmael has a chance to repair some of the harm he has caused.
There is much more work to be done to achieve Jen’s dreams of a different and more just system and we believe Ishmael can be a part of this work. We hope that now that the legal proceedings have concluded, there will be opportunities to begin an ongoing process of healing and dialogue with Jen’s community and Ishmael and his family.
We are heartened that Angel Cakes bakery and the Jen Angel Anarchist Media Grant program live on in Jen’s memory and we urge everyone who loved and cared about Jen and who have been moved by her story to find ways to support both projects.”
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About Jen Angel
Beloved Oakland baker, small business owner, social justice activist, and community member Jen Angel passed away on February 9, 2023. Jen was born in 1975 in Dearborn, Michigan, and was living in Oakland, California at the time of her death. A group of dear and trusted friends of Jen have been working under the name the Loved Ones of Jen Angel to honor Jen’s life and her wishes.
Angel Cakes, the popular community-based bakery that Jen founded in 2008, remains open, initially supported by Jen’s estate, as of July 2024 is now owned by members of the talented team that Jen built, working under the name Angel Cakes Collective.
On August 5, 2024, the anarchist PR project, Agency, that Jen Angel co-founded announced recipients of their second annual ‘Jen Angel Anarchist Media Grant’ program. Learn more here: https://anarchistagency.com/2024-jaamg-recipients/.
For previous press releases, other background information, and contact information, please see: https://linktr.ee/LovedOnesOfJenAngel.
