Help support Dawud’s family and legacy

On February 22nd, we lost a giant in our movements and our lives. David “Dawud” Lee was an incredible organizer, activist, writer, mentor, brother, and friend. He has been instrumental in building a powerful movement against incarceration and for transformative forms of justice rooted in healing and accountability. Despite spending the last 36 years behind bars, Dawud’s brilliance, leadership, and love touched so many people in Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, and across the country.

Can you make a donation in Dawud’s honor to help support his family and preserve his legacy?

This past winter has been a rough winter for Dawud and his family. In November, Wanda and Dawud lost their sister Zenobia. Wanda herself just started chemotherapy for cancer. Like Dawud, Wanda is a pillar of her community and has supported so many other people, in all the ways imaginable, across many years. She helped raised Dawud as a youth while their mother worked. One of the things Dawud was looking forward to if he was released through the commutation process was helping his sister Wanda bring up her home and make certain long-term repairs. While Dawud can no longer come home to support his family in person, we can honor his wishes and help provide his loved ones with some of the support he was so ready and eager to offer.

In addition to support for his family, we also want to both memorialize Dawud and preserve his legacy. Part of the funds raised will be used to support bringing some of Dawud's ashes to Ghana. And a portion of the funds will go towards seed money in order to publish a collection of Dawud's writings (online and in print) in the coming years.

The LifeLines Project is organizing this fundraiser in collaboration with the Abolitionist Law Center, the Amistad Law Project, and Dawud’s family. We are also collecting photos, writing, video, and audio of Dawud at http://lifelines-project.org/dawud-love/.

If you have photos or written tributes you'd like to add, please contact us!

Robert Saleem Holbrook, a lifelong friend of Dawud’s and the executive director of Abolitionist Law Center, has written a beautiful tribute to Dawud titled “If we stand tall it is because we stand on the shoulders of giants.” You can read that here: https://lifelines-project.org/if-we-stand-tall-it-is-because-we-stand-on-the-shoulders-of-giants/

In the first LifeLines publication, Dawud wrote, “I believe that we can collectively create light at the end of the tunnel, so that is one reason to keep fighting. Also I do not want the younger brothers whom I love to have to endure this madness for the rest of their lives, and I want my comrades to one day see the light of day! We cannot accomplish such goals without believing in what we’re doing. My purpose travels well beyond my own self interest because I want to be a part of creating a truly just world for us all to share.”

Please donate what you can, and share this fundraiser with others who knew and loved Dawud or were touched by his tireless decades of work for freedom and justice. And most importantly, please keep Dawud’s memory alive by continuing to work for a better world.

In love and struggle,

Layne and Emily

LifeLines Project