Free Billie Allen! WE THE PEOPLE March on D.C.

It’s time to bring Billie home!

Billie Allen has served over 25 years on federal death row for a crime he did not commit. He’s not alone. His case highlights a criminal justice system in need of urgent reform, before even more innocent lives are lost.

The Free Billie Allen Campaign is not just about bringing Billie home. Alongside securing his presidential pardon, it’s about shining a light on a dark shadow in our Nation’s judicial landscape. As a growing community of abolitionists, our aim is to expose the inhumanity of the death penalty and persuade Americans everywhere that we can do better.

Direct action in Washington D.C.

Following two decades of protest and a series of successful campaigns, including Stomping Out Injustice, The Art of Innocence and My Brother’s Keeper, our next and biggest ever event is scheduled to take place in Washington DC on November 13, 2022.

Our vision is that DEAR BIDEN: WE THE PEOPLE will be the last event we ever have to stage to bring Billie home. With the support of representatives in Congress, media celebrities and hundreds of thousands of online supporters, we believe the planned march on the Mall to present thousands of signatures to Congress will be the tipping point to change. In collaboration with the Justice Arts Coalition, Sunrise Movement, Harriett's Wildest Dream, the National Council of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and other partners from across the country, our aim is to invite people from around the globe to join us in standing up for justice.

WE THE PEOPLE will showcase the very best of Billie’s, Halim Flowers’ and other artists’ work, set against a backdrop of poetry, performance and music. It will culminate in the presentation of a petition asking for President Biden to pardon Billie with immediate effect. Ultimately, the event will challenge the President to deliver on his campaign promises to take action towards abolishing the federal death penalty, examine innocence cases, and pardon Billie Allen.

But, to make this day a success, we urgently need your help.

Stand with us!

To make sure this event leads to a presidential pardon and brings hope to other people held on federal death row and their families, we need to raise as much as $25,000 over the next 1 month. It’s the largest fundraising target we have ever set ourselves and we only have a very short period in which to raise the money. That’s why we need your help.

Without the generous support of our friends and partners, the event’s impact will be severely limited. We will be unable to involve family members of people who are currently on or who were on death row, provide technical equipment for musicians and performers, or make sure that participants are properly catered for. It will also be difficult for us to cover shipping costs and make sure that sizeable pieces of art are professionally installed and exhibited. Instead of creating an unforgettable day in the service of freedom and justice, the event will risk turning into just another plea that becomes lost in the wheels of government.

We cannot let this happen – not least because Billie is battling a number of chronic health issues and is running out of time. What’s more, If we fail to persuade the current Administration to act now, the next one may be even harder to convince. Only with your backing can we demonstrate that justice matters and that as a people, we are not prepared to let the innocent suffer.

Give fifty dollars for freedom!

So, as well as inviting key supporters to pledge major gifts to the campaign, we are also asking anyone committed to bringing Billie home to give Fifty Dollars For Freedom. If fifty dollars is a stretch, then people can give five. The most important thing is that everyone feels they can be part of a shared ambition to stand together in the pursuit of justice. To pledge their support and make a donation, people can donate via our GoFundMe page, or contact the campaign team for more information at the Free Billie Allen Campaign website.

Let’s paint a future that we can all be proud of!

Much of Billie’s artwork is painted in protest at a broken criminal justice system; a system that is failing its citizens and damaging the very soul of our country. WE THE PEOPLE is our chance to paint a brighter picture that puts truth and justice at the centre of things. Unless we do all that we can to turn this vision into a reality, we risk the looming prospect of more executions and a future that’s stripped of humanity.

This event and the entire Free Billie Allen Campaign is about choosing something wiser, something fairer for our children and grandchildren. We’d love you to join us in this endeavor by becoming the architects and artists of a destiny that we can all be proud of.

In solidarity,

Yvette Allen, Free Billie Allen Campaign Founder & Director, sister of Billie Allen

Whitney Meilan Yang, Free Billie Allen Campaign Manager

and the Free Billie Allen Campaign team