Opening and Welcome – Tues April 6, 7-8:30 PM
Zoom: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/98205090504
Join Prof. Ken Mack for a discussion of the history of CRT in his career and at HLS, and his welcome to incoming Prof. Guy-Uriel Charles. Prof. Charles will discuss the future of CRT in his work and at HLS, giving context to this year’s conference theme “Freedom Dreaming for a Radical Reconstruction.”
Kenneth W. Mack is the inaugural Lawrence D. Biele Professor of Law and Affiliate Professor of History at Harvard University. He is also the co-faculty leader of the Harvard Law School Program on Law and History. His books on race and civil rights have won numerous awards.
Guy-Uriel Charles is a Professor of Law at Duke and the founding director of the Duke Law Center on Law, Race and Politics. He teaches and writes on issues related to constitutional law, election law, campaign finance, redistricting, politics, and race. He joins the Harvard Law faculty in the fall of 2021 as the Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute, following years of calls from students for HLS to hire a CRT scholar.
The Exceptional Border – Wednesday April 7, 5 – 6:30 PM (interactive workshop)
Zoom: https://harvard.zoom.us/my/hlscrt
Mohammad Tajsar will be leading a workshop exploring the idea of “the border” as an exceptional space. Workshop participants will learn about the current state of the law and envision alternative frameworks. Mohammad Tajsar is a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California and specializes in national security and policing practices.
Intro to Critical Race Theory – Mon April 12, 12-1pm
Zoom: https://harvard.zoom.us/my/hlscrt
Prof. Portia Pedro from BU Law discusses her use of CRT frameworks to understand changes in civil and criminal procedure, and examine how facially neutral rules shape outcomes to maintain structural racism.
Portia Pedro started her career as a public interest litigation fellow, fighting against anti-Mulsim police surveillance and for marriage equality at the state level. She joined the full-time faculty of Boston University School of Law as an associate professor in July 2018. She teaches civil procedure, remedies, and evidence. Professor Pedro’s research explores the procedure of procedure—how procedure develops and what hinders or furthers procedural decision making. She teaches and writes about the processes that judges use to make procedural decisions and the ways in which judges use civil procedure to navigate the tensions between law and equity, standards and rules, finality and fairness, and governments and marginalized groups.
Intro to Ujima – Mon. April 12 4-5pm (interactive workshop)
Zoom: https://harvard.zoom.us/my/hlscrt
Join us for an interactive workshop with members of the Boston Ujima Project on their work strengthening local economic control and recentering economic power in communities of color in Greater Boston. Learn more about alternative and solidarity economies, and how the Boston Ujima Project is leveraging the power of investing (time, treasure and talent) to effect positive social and economic change within their community.
Racial Capitalism – April 13th 11am-12:30pm (interactive workshop) not submitted to HLS calendar yet
https://harvard.zoom.us/my/hlscrt
Led with the expertise of Professor Renee Hatcher, this workshop will build participants’ understanding of the intersection of race and capitalism, and build knowledge of the tools required to address racism and capitalism as a joint venture, and reimagine community power building through solidarity economy.
Renee Hatcher is a human rights and community development lawyer. She is an Assistant Professor of Law and the Director of the Community Enterprise & Solidarity Economy Clinic at UIC John Marshall Law School-Chicago. Hatcher currently serves as a board member for the New Economy Coalition, co-chair of the AALS Clinicians of Color Subcommittee, and a member of the Law for Black Lives Clinic Cohort Development Team. She received her law degree from New York University School of Law and her B.A. in Political Science from Indiana University-Bloomington. Her work and research focus on solidarity economy theory/practice and the law.
Racial Capitalism and Solidarity Economy Reflection Space – Tuesday April 13 12:30-1:15pm
Zoom: https://harvard.zoom.us/my/hlscrt
Following previous workshops on racial capitalism and solidarity economy, Lisa Owens of the Hyams Foundation will lead a debrief and discussion with Boston Ujima Project and Prof. Renee Hatcher about key themes & our role in advancing a solidarity economy.
Lisa Owens is an educator and community builder. A long time Boston resident, she has supported a number of local grassroots social justice organizations in a variety of capacities, including: executive director, board member, donor, and volunteer. She is the Executive Director of The Hyams Foundation and is the former Executive Director of City Life Vida Urbana, a national leader in the anti displacement movement.
Previously an adjunct faculty member at area colleges, she has taught courses on structural racism and US social welfare policy, participatory action research, designing community projects, and nonprofit management and leadership. Lisa has a Master of Science degree with a concentration in Organizational Management and Leadership.
Challenging Mass Incarceration from the Inside Out – Wed, April 14, 12-1:30 PM
Zoom: https://harvard.zoom.us/my/hlscrt
Join us in a conversation with Darren Mack, Michael Saavedra, and Angel E. Sanchez about their activism and organizing against the carceral state while inside and outside of prison.
Meet the Bell Collective – Thursday April 15th 6-7pm
Zoom: https://harvard.zoom.us/my/hlscrt[b]
Calling all admitted and current HLS students! The Bell Collective is a brand new organization dedicated to making space for Critical Race Theory at the law school. We would love to introduce ourselves, meet you, and tell you a bit more about our goals for the coming year. We hope to see you there!
Art and Abolition – Fri April 16, 12-1 PM – not submitted to HLS calendar yet
Sign up for a lunchtime conversation hosted by the HLS FiLM Society and The Bell Collective for Critical Race Theory on Friday, April 16th from 12:00-1:00 PM with organizers Adamu Chan, Nadege Green, and Lauren Williams at https://tinyurl.com/artandabolition.
The conversation will focus on the intersection of art and legal advocacy and how art is an integral tool to visualizing and advancing abolition. The discussion will draw upon the experiences of the three guest speakers who each utilize art and storytelling to organize for abolition within their respective communities.
Adamu Chan is a filmmaker, writer, and community organizer from the Bay Area who was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison during one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in the country. He produced numerous short films while incarcerated, using his vantage point and experience as an incarcerated person as a lens to focus the viewer’s gaze on issues related to social justice. Nadege Green is the Director of Community Research and Storytelling at the Community Justice Project, a community lawyering organization in Miami, Florida. She uses narratives from the directly impacted to address housing inequities, climate justice, and other pressing issues in Miami-Dade County that disproportionately impact Black and Brown communities. Lauren Williams is an artist, organizer, researcher, and educator who works with visual and interactive media to understand, critique, and reimagine the ways social and economic systems distribute and exercise power.
Conference Happy Hour – Friday April 16, 5-7pm
Congregate: https://congregate.live/hlscrt2021
Looking to connect with other attendees, share your favorite sessions, and discuss your takeaways? Come to our conference happy hour to do all of the above. Congregate can be accessed by creating a free account with any email address.
Closing – Sun April 18, 2pm
Zoom: https://harvard.zoom.us/j/97996008934
Join Professor Guy-Uriel Charles and Professor Aziza Ahmed, a visiting professor from Northeastern University School of Law. As we close this year’s conference, their conversation will relate themes prevalent from the last two weeks to their own work, and orient us toward how to contextualize what we’ve learned in our work moving forward.
Professor Ahmed is an internationally renowned expert in health law, criminal law and human rights. Her scholarship examines the legal, regulatory and political environments regarding health in US domestic law, US foreign policy and international law. She is currently developing her work on law, feminism and science into a book with particular emphasis on how women’s health advocates shaped the AIDS response. She has also written extensively about abortion and reproductive health.