Racism and the Criminal System: Communities Fight for Justice

On the screens we scan and in our own lives, we constantly see examples of racial inequality in our policing, our courts and our prison system. We ask ourselves what can be done to rectify wrongs older than the country itself. Why is a black or brown person more likely to face violent treatment if arrested? What forms of institutionalized racism exist in courts that too often hand out unequal sentences? How can we reform a system of mass incarceration that has crippled the futures of countless people of color, their families and their communities? What changes in consciousness must we all undertake, beginning with a deeper understanding of the systems of control put in place from the time of slavery onward.

Join us on Thursday, March 25, 7-8:30pm EDT for Racism and the Criminal System: Communities Fight for Justice, a #ClassACTForum.

Our moderator Sylvester Monroe ’73, award winning journalist and former Washington Post Assistant Foreign Editor, will lead a panel of experts dedicated to redressing racial injustice by transforming the criminal system and empowering the communities most adversely affected by it. The panelists include Gina Clayton-Johnson, Executive Director and Founder of the Essie Justice Group; Rick Jones, Executive Director and a founding member of Neighborhood Defender Services; Christy E. Lopez, Georgetown Law School Professor and Co-Director of its Innovative Policing Program; and Jason Williams, District Attorney of New Orleans.Together these panelists will explore the impact of racism on policing and the court system, explain what actions have worked best for the organizations and communities they serve, and offer possibilities for lasting reforms in legal systems and civic awareness.

Neighborhood Defender Service’s (NDS) PACE Program is the 2021 grantee partner of JusticeAid, founded by HR ’73 classmate Steven Milliken.