It is quite disheartening, however, to see that this great and unique city still has not recovered from the effects of Hurricane Katrina. It's three years later and to me, it looks like Katrina happened less than a year ago. This is just unacceptable! I have already learned so much about about the city and am sure I will come away from this trip with more experience and reinvigorated for the second semester. Work like this reminds me of why I am in law school!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
IPNO Arrival
I am thrilled that we finally arrived in New Orleans to work with the Innocence Project of New Orleans (IPNO)! I am looking forward to learning more about the cases we will be working on over next few weeks. Monday, we are headed to Jackson, Mississippi to begin research on 4 cases. Hopefully we will find information that is valuable to IPNO.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Hello From Jackson MS
I have arrived in Jackson MS with my partner Dylan. There is a great community here bubbling with activism. We are staying with a couple who moved here a few years ago from California: Sage and Brad (and their dog Ziggy). Sage works at the Jackson Free Press (http://www.jacksonfreepress.com) - an awesome independent free weekly newspaper. Brad is the manager of the High Noon Cafe in Jackson's Rainbow Food Coop (http://www.rainbowcoop.org/cafe.htm). They live in a little house in Fondren with chickens and bees in the yard. It is nice to be so welcome.
Here's how I know we're in the South: catfish, no sidewalks, Sage was telling me about a friend of hers who grew up in the northern Delta and had segregated prom.
Looking at the Winter MS ACLU newsletter I was struck by an article about student speech after the Presidential election: the ACLU is respoding to multiple reports of students being disciplined for saying Barak Obama's name in school or discussing the election. Read the newsletter here: http://www.msaclu.org/ .
Here's how I know we're in the South: catfish, no sidewalks, Sage was telling me about a friend of hers who grew up in the northern Delta and had segregated prom.
Looking at the Winter MS ACLU newsletter I was struck by an article about student speech after the Presidential election: the ACLU is respoding to multiple reports of students being disciplined for saying Barak Obama's name in school or discussing the election. Read the newsletter here: http://www.msaclu.org/ .
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
2009 Delegation Is Headed to the Delta
The 2009 Delegation is getting ready to head down to the Delta. We will be reporting from our project sites in January.
Who we are and where we are headed:
Eric Kushman, J.D. Candidate 2011, is headed to The Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights, founded by Jaribu Hill, CUNY Law 1995, is a worker advocacy organization that sees as its mission, providing organizing support, legal representation and training for low-wage, non-union workers in the state of Mississippi. Through direct action campaigns, organizing sessions and trainings, we seek to raise awareness among workers as to the many ways their human rights are violated in the workplace and in their communities. Through strong partnerships with our worker members, we seek to develop strategies to combat racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Through local, national and international networking and coalition building, we seek to build bridges between workers in the southern region, other parts of the country and the world. http://www.msworkerscenter.org
Shirley Lin, 2008 Mississippi Worker’s Center for Human Rights Delegate, said, “Interning with CUNY Law alumna Jaribu Hill '95 at MWCHR was an awe-inspiring experience. For two weeks, we assisted the Workers' Center's staff by conducting legal research on systemic labor and employment issues that clients and community members continue to face on the job. For the Housing is a Human Right Campaign, the four of us drove from town to town to investigate and document residents' experience with housing discrimination and egregious living conditions that most often go unaddressed due to absentee landlordism and ineffective housing laws. The Mississippi Project strengthened my commitment to challenge the law to conform to its own standards, and rise to a human rights mandate to provide justice for all.”
_________________
Amanda Jack (AJ), 2011, Ebette Fortune, 2010, Joshi Valentine, 2009, and Paul Catafago, 2011, are headed to Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) represents innocent prisoners serving life sentences in Louisiana and Mississippi, and assists them with their transition into the free world upon their release. IPNO works in the states with the country's highest incarceration rates, and the highest rate of wrongful conviction in the country. By identifying and remedying cases and causes of wrongful conviction, IPNO engages in high impact, frontline advocacy in the courts of law and public opinion, and leads a community-based response to the mistakes made by our criminal justice system. Since its inception in 2000, IPNO has achieved the release of twelve wrongfully convicted prisoners. www.ip-no.org
Beena Ahmad, 2008 IPNO Delegate said, "We came back with a sense of confidence that we had the capacity to uncover a wrong and the importance of joining forces to accomplish our individual and collective goals."
____________________
Paula Z. Segal, 2011, is headed to the ACLU of Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Project. The Project is working to make accurate sex-education programs that include information that teenagers need to make healthy life decisions available in Mississippi and will be introducing a comprehensive sex education bill in the 2009 state legislative session, to limit restrictions on abortion and to keep Mississippi's only abortion clinic open, and on cases involving pregnant woman in Mississippi who are charged with murder of their unborn children through substance abuse. www.msaclu.org/Issues/ReproFreedom.html
Davida Silverman, 2008 ACLU Delegate said, “The Mississippi Project was not just about the work. It was about being part of something bigger and knowing that I could build and sustain social justice movements as a legal advocate. I am extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to be a part of the Mississippi Project and hope that the Project continues for years to come."
Who we are and where we are headed:
Eric Kushman, J.D. Candidate 2011, is headed to The Mississippi Workers' Center for Human Rights, founded by Jaribu Hill, CUNY Law 1995, is a worker advocacy organization that sees as its mission, providing organizing support, legal representation and training for low-wage, non-union workers in the state of Mississippi. Through direct action campaigns, organizing sessions and trainings, we seek to raise awareness among workers as to the many ways their human rights are violated in the workplace and in their communities. Through strong partnerships with our worker members, we seek to develop strategies to combat racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Through local, national and international networking and coalition building, we seek to build bridges between workers in the southern region, other parts of the country and the world. http://www.msworkerscenter.org
Shirley Lin, 2008 Mississippi Worker’s Center for Human Rights Delegate, said, “Interning with CUNY Law alumna Jaribu Hill '95 at MWCHR was an awe-inspiring experience. For two weeks, we assisted the Workers' Center's staff by conducting legal research on systemic labor and employment issues that clients and community members continue to face on the job. For the Housing is a Human Right Campaign, the four of us drove from town to town to investigate and document residents' experience with housing discrimination and egregious living conditions that most often go unaddressed due to absentee landlordism and ineffective housing laws. The Mississippi Project strengthened my commitment to challenge the law to conform to its own standards, and rise to a human rights mandate to provide justice for all.”
_________________
Amanda Jack (AJ), 2011, Ebette Fortune, 2010, Joshi Valentine, 2009, and Paul Catafago, 2011, are headed to Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) represents innocent prisoners serving life sentences in Louisiana and Mississippi, and assists them with their transition into the free world upon their release. IPNO works in the states with the country's highest incarceration rates, and the highest rate of wrongful conviction in the country. By identifying and remedying cases and causes of wrongful conviction, IPNO engages in high impact, frontline advocacy in the courts of law and public opinion, and leads a community-based response to the mistakes made by our criminal justice system. Since its inception in 2000, IPNO has achieved the release of twelve wrongfully convicted prisoners. www.ip-no.org
Beena Ahmad, 2008 IPNO Delegate said, "We came back with a sense of confidence that we had the capacity to uncover a wrong and the importance of joining forces to accomplish our individual and collective goals."
____________________
Paula Z. Segal, 2011, is headed to the ACLU of Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Project. The Project is working to make accurate sex-education programs that include information that teenagers need to make healthy life decisions available in Mississippi and will be introducing a comprehensive sex education bill in the 2009 state legislative session, to limit restrictions on abortion and to keep Mississippi's only abortion clinic open, and on cases involving pregnant woman in Mississippi who are charged with murder of their unborn children through substance abuse. www.msaclu.org/Issues/ReproFreedom.html
Davida Silverman, 2008 ACLU Delegate said, “The Mississippi Project was not just about the work. It was about being part of something bigger and knowing that I could build and sustain social justice movements as a legal advocate. I am extremely thankful to have had the opportunity to be a part of the Mississippi Project and hope that the Project continues for years to come."
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
2 Million Evacuate New Orleans, Brace for Hurricane Gustav and Aftermath
Tens of thousands of homes in New Orleans remain without power today, as Mayor Ray Nagin announced that the two million residents who evacuated the City to escape Hurricane Gustav's pounding of the Gulf Coast would be allowed to return to their homes. At least 10 deaths in connection to the hurricane have been reported. More than 1.2 million homes and businesses across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arksansas remain without electricity. Another storm, Hurricane Hanna, is predicted to hit Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas within the next few days.
The Mississippi Project's thoughts are with the staff at Innocence Project New Orleans, the Mississippi Workers' Center, and the ACLU-Mississippi.
For more information:
The Mississippi Project's thoughts are with the staff at Innocence Project New Orleans, the Mississippi Workers' Center, and the ACLU-Mississippi.
For more information:
- Hurricane Gustav Emergency Resources: links to relief efforts and emergency info
- Interviews with New Orleans residents and workers from WBAI Democracy Now! (9/3/08)
- Hurricane Gustav News and Storm Tracking on Nola.com/Times-Picayune
Monday, April 14, 2008
MP Co-founder Bob Rose '89...PILA Honoree '08
PILA honoree Bob Rose with 14 Mississippi Project alums...including his wife Sylvia!A hearty round of applause to Mississippi Project co-founder Bob Rose '89, who was honored by the CUNY Law Public Interest Law Association last Friday at Hunter College. Rose, a lawyer and activist, recounted how he joined fellow CUNY Law students Jaribu Hill, Camille Massey, and Desiree Hopkins in renting three identical vans bearing New York plates for a journey that would take them to Project Voice in coastal Biloxi, MS, where they were hosted by former prison guard and whistleblower Andrea Gibbs); to people's lawyer Chokwe Lumumba's Jackson, MS practice to investigate the suspicious jailhouse hanging of Andre Jones and other prisoners, and finally to the Center for Constitutional Rights in Greenville, MS, where Rose and others investigated outright denial of voting rights to African American residents continuing into the early 90s.
The inaugural delegation had a frigid welcome. Letters to the newspaper editors criticizing their presence immediately began appearing after their arrival, making it quite clear they weren't welcome. CUNY Law professor Frank Deale joined the law students for a couple of days' respite in Memphis, and his presence kept the delegates going.
Rose, now a supervisory trial attorney for the EEOC, remembers hoping that "in the end, we had some impact on the community there. But it was clear to me on the ride home that the impact that the trip had on us was much greater. I'm very heartened that CUNY's continuing this project for both those reasons: to make those contributions to Mississippi and the cause for civil rights, and, I think it's going to help develop more strong, progressive, new lawyers."
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Congrats to 2008 MP'er Erin Tomlinson!
1L Erin Tomlinson, a 2008 MP delegate, heads back to NOLA this summer to intern full-time with the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center! Erin has been awarded the James M. Ragen Memorial Mississippi Project Fellowship, which will allow her to continue her work in legal defense from her trip this January at the Innocence Project New Orleans, this time with a focus on providing legal aid to people facing the death penalty in Louisiana.
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