Welcome letter to the Montana Journey of Hope

To Our Honored Journey of Hope Guests-

On behalf of the Montana Abolition Coalition, I want to extend a warm welcome to each of you for coming together here under the Big Sky during this very exciting time in our history. Between the hard work we’ve done as a coalition over the past decade, and a strange confluence of politics and circumstances, we are on the cusp of real change in the state.

Montana’s relatively brief Anglo history is steeped in vigilante justice. In fact, Helena still embraces an annual springtime tradition that venerates that past with the “Vigilante Day” parade. This has and will continue to make our task all the more challenging.

In contrast, Montana’s first people had various other ways of responding to murder. One example comes from William Walks Along, a Northern Cheyenne leader from Lame Deer, who recently explained to me that his people’s tradition was to banish perpetrators rather than to seek revenge by the taking of another life.

Montana’s culture is one of diversity, which is very much like the Montana Abolition Coalition. Coalition members come to the table with a variety of different perspectives. While there are other issues of the day that members disagree on, we remain committed to one of the things that we all share – the need to end the death penalty in our state.

We are indebted to you all for committing your time and talents to our efforts here in Montana. Regardless of which venues you personally will be working on, you will be making a tremendous difference on behalf of our collective cause. No doubt you all realize that the Montana Journey of Hope has enormous potential for helping to move the abolition movement forward, not just here in Montana but as a stepping stone towards nationwide reforms.

I encourage you to enjoy the grandeur of the place and get to know the character of our people. The geography, geology, history, and politics of this state are all worthy of your attention. I hope that you will go home energized from this experience. We will be doing our best to see that when you next return, Montana will be among the abolitionist states.

May justice prevail.

Scott Crichton
Montana Abolition Coalition
Executive Board