Skip to content Skip to footer

Making Waves

Sections

Convergence

Democracy Environmental Justice Racial Justice

Build Through Belonging | Essie Justice Group

Hosted by
and

Our friends at Essie Justice Group hosted a panel on February 27th in Oakland, California. Convergence Magazine is republishing it with their permission.

In this intimate conversation, led by Michelle Alexander, Maurice Mitchell and Gina Clayton-Johnson talk criminalization, climate change, and organizing Black and brown working class communities in this political moment. Against the backdrop of the LA wildfires which have impacted Essie Justice Group’s members and Gina personally, and the mounting threats to democracy, this important discussion among strategic leaders delivers deep insights into today’s most urgent fights.

Panelists

  • Michelle Alexander is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate, legal scholar, and author of The New Jim Crow:  Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness — the bestselling book that helped to transform the national debate on racial and criminal justice in the United States. Michelle’s work has inspired a generation of racial justice activists motivated by her unforgettable argument that “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.”
  • Maurice Mitchell is a nationally-recognized social movement strategist and visionary organizer for racial, social, and economic justice. Maurice helped build the Movement for Black Lives and was a key organizer of its 2015 convention in Cleveland. In 2018, Maurice took the helm of the Working Families Party as National Director where he is applying his passion and experience to make WFP the political home for a multi-racial working-class movement.
  • Gina Clayton-Johnson is the Founder and Executive Director of Essie Justice Group, the nation’s leading advocacy organization of women with incarcerated loved ones. She is also a central architect of the BREATHE Act, the largest piece of proposed federal legislation delivered to Congress by a social movement. Gina has spent over 15 years advocating for Black communities as an organizer, attorney, activist, and woman with an incarcerated loved one. As a public defense attorney, she specialized in representing low-income women facing eviction as the result of a family member’s criminal matter. Currently, Gina is navigating the loss of her Altadena home from the recent LA wildfires.

Tagged

Referenced Organizations

About the Host

Gina Clayton-Johnson 2
Gina Clayton-Johnson

Gina Clayton-Johnson is a Black feminist organizer, writer, and the founder and Executive Director of Essie Justice Group, the nation’s leading advocacy organization of women with incarcerated loved ones. She is also a central architect of the BREATHE Act, the largest piece of federal legislation delivered to Congress by a social movement. Gina has spent over 15 years advocating for Black communities and is the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards. Gina is a leader of the Movement for Black Lives Policy Table, a founding Advisory Council member of the National Bail Out Collective, and a leading advocate for bail reform in California. She holds a BA from the University of Southern California and a JD from Harvard Law School. An avid runner, composter, and vegetable fermenter, Gina lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two young children.

head shot of Maurice Mitchell, Working Families Party
Maurice Mitchell

Maurice Mitchell is a nationally-recognized social movement strategist and organizer for racial, social, and economic justice. Raised by Caribbean working-class parents in NY, Maurice began organizing as a teenager. After graduating from Howard University, he went on to work as an organizer for the Long Island Progressive Coalition, downstate organizing director for Citizen Action of NY, and Director of the NY State Civic Engagement Table. After Mike Brown was killed by police in Missouri, Maurice relocated to Ferguson to support work on the ground. Seeing the need for an anchor organization to provide strategic support and guidance to Movement for Black Lives activists, Maurice co-founded and managed Blackbird. In 2015, he helped organize the Movement for Black Lives convention in Cleveland. In 2018, Maurice took the helm of Working Families Party as National Director where he is applying his passion and experience to make the WFP the political home for a multi-racial working class movement.