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The Intersection of Race, Gender and Privilege Within the Fight Against Mass Incarceration
April 21, 2016 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
“The Intersection of Race, Gender and Privilege
Within the Fight Against Mass Incarceration”
Thursday, April 21, 2016; 6:30pm-8:00pm
Free & Open to the Public
46 West 116th St (Malcolm X Blvd) New York, NY 10027
This panel discussion is an opportunity for attendees to learn how young blacks fighting mass incarceration are overcoming the unique intersectional obstacles they face in a legal profession, nonprofit industrial complex and media corps dominated by whites. Recent events have led more and more Blacks to join the fight against mass incarceration. However, institutions of higher education have done a poor job in preparing young blacks to face the structural racism and sexism endemic in this struggle. Also, too little focus has been placed on the need for privileged blacks to avoid the trap of fighting mass incarceration in a paternalistic way. This discussion will shed light on how young black lawyers, organizers and journalist grapple with intersectional oppression while fighting mass criminalization in a socially responsible fashion.
Josie Duffy, Staff Writer Daily Kos
Josie Duffy is a Staff Writer at the Daily Kos, the premier online political community with 2.5 million unique visitors per month. Among luminaries posting diaries on the site are President Jimmy Carter, then-Senator Barack Obama, and dozens of other senators, congressmen, and governors. Ms. Duffy writes about judicial and DA elections, and prosecutorial and judicial misconduct. Before joining Daily Kos, she was a Staff Attorney at the Center for Popular Democracy. She holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Marquis Jenkins, Community Organizer NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Marquis Jenkins is a Community Organizer in the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s (LDF) Criminal Justice Practice. In that capacity, Mr. Jenkins works to support the organizing efforts of communities of color seeking to address criminal justice issues. Prior to joining LDF, Mr. Jenkins worked as a Public Housing Community Organizer for Good Old Lower East Side Inc. (GOLES). Mr. Jenkins was introduced to organizing at the age of seventeen where he ran for Resident Association President of the public housing development where he grew up. Mr. Jenkins holds a BA from Touro College.
Chantà Parker, Supervising Attorney Legal Aid Society of New York
Chantà Parker is a Supervising Attorney at the New York Legal Aid Society Criminal Defense Practice. Prior to joining Legal Aid, Ms. Parker was a staff attorney at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and the Orleans Public Defenders in New Orleans. She is also a faculty member of Gideon’s Promise, which is the subject of the award winning documentary Gideon’s Army. She holds a JD from NYU Law School.
Omavi Shukur is the Director of Seeds of Liberation, an organization that works alongside Arkansas’ marginalized communities to create a more just, equitable and empowering means for addressing crime through policy research, community education and amplifying the voices of the formerly incarcerated. Before founding Seeds, he was a Staff Attorney and Equal Justice Works/Public Defender Corps Fellow at the Orleans Public Defender’s Office in New Orleans. He has won trials by judge and jury and successfully litigated cases at the Louisiana Supreme Court. Mr. Shukur was named one of the 25 Visionaries of Arkansas by the Arkansas Times in 2015. He Holds a JD from Harvard Law School
