Blacklivesmatter NLG Stands in Solidarity with Movement Against Racist Police Violence (P
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Guild Notes a publication of the national lawyers guild foundation volume XL, no. 1, spring 2015 #BlackLivesMatter NLG stands in solidarity with movement against racist police violence (p. 8-12) St. Louis NLG files lawsuit to oust Ferguson prosecutor (p. 9) NLG-Mass. galvanizes legal community for state-wide #BlackLivesMatter day of action (p. 11) The Guild supports Walmart employees’ fight for a living wage (p. 5) National Office launches first-of-its-kind Radical Law Student Manual (p. 14) Meet the 2015 NLG Haywood Burns Fellows (p. 15) ...and more! NATIONAL COMMITTEES, PROJECTS AND TASK FORCES Amicus Committee Drug Policy Committee Mass Incarceration Committee The United People Of Color Caucus Zachary Wolfe Jesse Stout Nora Carroll (TUPOCC) [email protected] David Frank [email protected] Oren Nimni [email protected] Natali Segovia Animal Rights Activism Military Law Task Force [email protected] Committee Environmental Justice Committee Kathy Gilberd [email protected] Joel Kupferman [email protected] National Immigration Project [email protected] Dan Kesselbrenner Anti-Racism Committee Next Generation Committee 14 Beacon St., Ste. 602 Hannah Adams International Committee Samantha Godwin Boston, MA 02108 Alana Roth Jeanne Mirer Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin (617) 227-9727 [email protected] Natasha Bannan [email protected] [email protected] Suzanne Adely Anti-Sexism Committee [email protected] Prison Law Project National Police Accountability Kerry McLean Ian Head Project [email protected] Labor & Employment Committee [email protected] Brigitt Keller Anthony Prince 499 7th Ave., Ste. 12 N Committee for Democratic [email protected] Queer Caucus New York, NY 10018 Communications kt crossman (212) 630-9939 phone Michael Lee Legal Workers Committee Dana Christensen (212) 659-0695 fax [email protected] Kris Hermes [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Disability Rights Committee Timothy Lunceford Mass Defense Committee [email protected] Joshua Norkin [email protected] NATIONAL OffICERS AND STAff President Regional VPs South Guild Notes is published triannually by: [email protected] Azadeh Shahshahani Far West Alistair McKenzie The National Lawyers Guild Foundation President-Elect Kelly Lou Densmore 132 Nassau Street, Rm. 922 Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan Colleen Flynn Tex-Oma New York, NY 10038 [email protected] [email protected] Executive Vice Presidents Daphne Silverman Edited and Designed by: Tasha Moro Marcus Kryshka Mideast Gabriela Lopez Cover: Protesters march in Downtown Rachel Rosnick National Office Staff Boston last December at a (Photo: Tim Treasurer Sean Riddell Plenk). Roxana Orrell [email protected] Membership Administrator Copy deadline for next issue: Treasurer-Elect Mid-Atlantic Rosemarie Stupel Monday, June 29, 2015. Ryann Moran Edmundo Saballos [email protected] National Vice Presidents Curtis Cooper Student Organizer/Researcher To subscribe to Guild Notes: Contact Bina Ahmad [email protected] Traci Yoder Tasha Moro at communications@ Camilo Romero [email protected] nlg.org.or call 212-679-5100, ext. 15. Sharlyn Grace Midwest Digital subscriptions only. Print copies Molly Armour Mass Defense Coordinator available for incarcerated persons. One Legal Worker VP Len Cavise Abi Hassen year subscription for non-member Kris Hermes [email protected] [email protected] individuals: $50. One year subscription for institutions: $75. Jailhouse Lawyer VP Communications Coordinator Mumia Abu-Jamal Northeast Tasha Moro Previous and current issues of Guild Theresa Squillacote Benjamin Evans [email protected] Notes are available for download online at Jose Lopez nlg.org/resource/guild-notes. National Student Co-VP [email protected] Claire White Note: The views expressed in Guild Notes Nicholas Klaus Northwest are those of the authors. They do not [email protected] necessarily reflect the opinions of the NLG Francie Nevill as a whole. Neil Fox President’s Report Terrorism in Chapel Hill Exposes Double Standard By Azadeh Shahshahani, NLG President On February 10, three Muslim students, Razan Abu-Salha (19), Yusor Abu-Salha (21), and Deah Barakat (23), were tragically murdered, shot at point-blank range in their home by their neighbor, Craig Stephen Hicks, a 46-year-old white man. Describing himself as an “anti-theist” on social media, Hicks had previously harassed Yusor and Deah while wearing a gun on his waist. The police initially branded the murders as the unfortunate outcome of a dispute over parking—as Hicks had described—rather than a hate crime. Many in the Muslim community have pointed out the hypocrisy and double standards inherent in this. Would the characterization of this crime have been the same if the victims had been Caucasian and the assailants Muslim or African-American? The mainstream media initially ignored the murders until the story exploded on Twitter. Once they did, the story was overwhelmingly [Left to right] Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha, and Razan Abu-Salha. (Photo: Abbas Sarsour) framed in the way it had been by the police— as a dispute between neighbors rather than a terrorist act targeting three Muslim-Americans because of I got the go-ahead. In the course of doing this work, I visited their religion—leading Muslim communities to believe that many mosques and community centers and interacted their lives are valued less than others in this country. with Muslim-Americans from across the state. I learned about systematic civil liberties violations and witnessed a This, of course, is symptomatic of the larger patterns of community living under a state of siege. I interacted with Islamophobia and governmental targeting of Arab and many NLG attorneys who were zealously defending their Muslim communities which provide the necessary backdrop Muslim-American clients against the powerful machinery of for, and legitimize, hate crimes. From religious discrimination the US government. to systematic surveillance to FBI harassment, Muslim- Americans have been under attack, and more intensively so After all these years, it is extremely upsetting to see that it is since 9/11. still open season on Muslims in North Carolina—and across the country. The case of the Chapel Hill murders hit particularly close to home for me as I lived in North Carolina, working with The NLG will continue our work in exposing and battling Muslim-American and Arab-American communities from Islamophobia in all its forms. Our “Know Your Rights” 2004 to 2007. When I first got to the state after law school, booklets are available in five languages including Arabic, I noticed a large Muslim-American population and assumed Bengali and Urdu, and have been disseminated widely. Our that there were projects or legal organizations addressing members around the country continue to defend Muslim- the needs of the community, especially in light of the post- American and Arab-American communities under attack. 9/11 crackdown. But no one could point me to anything. We’ve also signed on to a letter initiated by Muslim Advocates So I decided to start one. I approached the ACLU of North to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding the government Carolina with an idea for a project to help increase awareness initiate a federal investigation into the Chapel Hill murders. among Muslim-American and Arab-American communities We shall not retreat until Muslim-Americans in this country about their rights. I also aimed to create a network of attorneys are afforded their human dignity and human rights. ■ to help represent individuals approached by the FBI for “voluntary” interviews and other governmental intrusions. 3 Guild Notes ▪ Spring 2015 Meet the New NLG Executive Director, Pooja Gehi! Dear Guild Members, I am honored and humbled to join you as Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild. In fact, watching NLG mem- bers offer legal support at protests is what inspired me to go to law school. As a student, I was the President of my NLG chapter at American University’s Washington College of Law. There, I developed relationships with mentors who helped me through those years and deepened my commitment to social justice. I am excited to lead an organization so fundamental to my legal career, and the career of so many other movement lawyers and legal workers. I am looking forward to working in a thriving social justice movement with all of you! For the past eight years, I worked as a staff attorney and the Director of Immigrant Justice at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. I provided direct legal services for hundreds of low- income transgender and gender nonconforming clients in administrative hearings, immigration proceedings, and civil rights litigation. Most recently, I was a part of the team that litigated and successfully settled I.H. v Zucker, securing ac- cess to transition-related healthcare for New York Medicaid recipients. I collaborated closely with progressive organiza- tions to build an analysis of gender and racial justice among poverty and queer advocates across the nation. I also had or- ganizational development responsibilities, including training, budgeting, fundraising, and strategic planning. I am excited to bring these skills to the NLG, while also learning from all tions among movements linked in a larger struggle for sus- of you. tainable social change and true justice. Even as I write, people across the country and the world are fighting against state violence, subordination, and injustice. My vision is that, as the National Lawyers Guild, we can of- The lack of indictment of the police officers who killed Mike fer a safe, accessible space that movement leaders trust as a Brown and Eric Garner—among countless other injustices— coordinated center to connect with resistance on the ground, has sparked extraordinary resistance that I believe is the be- find or become a radical legal worker, share skills, and build a ginning of a much larger struggle. The Black Lives Matter political home as they engage in organized resistance. movement and uprisings against police violence have great significance for us, as lawyers, law students, and legal workers I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with all of you to fighting for justice.