Harlem CORE member Wendell Rachell on prison reform

Harlem CORE member Wendell Rachell on prison reform

Harlem CORE members

This is a description of a panel on crime in the Black community from CORE's 1971 national convention that was held in Harlem. A highlight of the panel was the plan on prison reform delivered by Harlem CORE member Wendell Rachell.

Rachell first came into Harlem CORE as an ex-offender himself. At the time, according to Harlem CORE member Donald Elfe who received his initial inquiry into Harlem Core, the chapter had a program at the time to help those recently released from prison find a job and a place to live. Who better to talk about how the change the prison system than someone who had spent time in the belly of the beast?

Interestingly, Harlem CORE member Bob Harris who at the time was a New York City police officer is also listed as part of this panel. Harris was a known police officer to CORE and became a cop as a member of Harlem CORE shortly after the 1964 Harlem riots. Along with Jim Stewart of Brooklyn CORE, he was one of the rare above board police officers that was also a member of a militant Black Power group.

It should be noted that Rachell is the father of this website's creator.

Click on the link below, 'wendell on prison-.pdf' to bring the document up.

CORE Magazine

Congress of Racial Equality

1971

Harlem, 1971