Factual Commentary Courtesy of Iwafapp – Internat’l Workers Action to Free Anti-Racist Political Prisoners
Born in Rochester, New York, Rev. Joy Powell was a staunch community activist and Pentecostal Pastor, who dedicated her time and energy to fight gang violence and police misconduct. In 1995, Rev. Joy reported being sexually assaulted by a correctional officer, however after being met with sheer apathy and disregard by the authorities for her complaint to be investigated, she decided to do something and coordinated local protests and organized to call for police accountability for the next decade. During her career, among hosting many local charitable events, she operated a youth homeless shelter out of a hair salon she owned where she taught the youth under her care anti-violence skills, worked with them to improve their self-esteem and feed them during the summer and after school. Rev. Joy went even further, organizing neighborhood cleanups, candle-light vigils and took young people on field trips to colleges and neighborhood centers. As if Rev. Joy was not already doing enough for her community, she also worked day and night to keep the Rochester Police Department (RPD) accountable for their actions. Her efforts would prove to be crucial as even after the RPD created an “Emergency Response Team” in response to Rev. Joy’s activism (which would go on to be wholly inadequate and further expose the lackadaisical efforts by the city to properly address policing problems), in 2005 a mother called 911 for help with her daughter who was suicidal at the time and a clearly incompetent RPD spectacularly botched the situation, when an officer responded to the call and shot the girl several times, almost killing her. Evidently, Rev. Joy’s work was far from over but her life came to an abrupt stop in 2006 when she was arrested. In spite of several testimonies of Rev. Joy’s absence from the reported crime and lack of conclusive evidence, an all-white jury found her guilty. Astonishingly, years later a cold murder case was also pinned on Rev. Joy, this time with no physical evidence among prosecutorial misconduct. Rev. Joy Powell will be eligible for parole in 2045, when she will be 84 years old.