EJI is pleased to release this complete video of Mass Incarceration: How Racial Inequality Shapes Criminal Justice, which was recorded during our Peace and Justice Summit in Montgomery, Alabama, on April 26.
Sherrilyn Ifill is the Director Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the premier civil rights law office in the country. She is also the author of the groundbreaking On the Courthouse Lawn, which a decade ago called for memorializing the legacy of lynching. Michelle Alexander is the author of the enormously influential The New Jim Crow and one of the country’s leading thinkers on racial justice and criminal justice reform. Her bestselling book has ignited a movement and profoundly influenced policy debates. They are joined by Jelani Cobb, award-winning writer for the New Yorker and professor of journalism at Columbia University, to discuss the impact of our nation’s history of racial inequality on criminal justice and civil rights.
The two-day summit accompanied the grand opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, and featured talks, music, and panel discussions with national leaders. A sampling of the summit reveals the broad range of presenters and performers who participated in two days of programming.
In response to growing demand, EJI is bringing these programs to a global audience by making the video recordings available online. The first release features a stirring speech delivered by Rev. William Barber on the first day of the summit, and was followed by Education in America: Race, Implicit Bias, and Protecting our Children; Art/Entertainment and Racial Identity; and Changing How We Think About Activism.
Please check back at eji.org for additional videos from the Peace and Justice Summit that will be released in the coming weeks.