Patrisse Cullors is an artist, organizer and freedom fighter living and working in Los Angeles. As founder of Dignity and Power Now and co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter, she has worked tirelessly promoting law enforcement accountability across the nation. Dignity and Power Now is dedicated to protecting incarcerated people and their families in Los Angeles. As executive director, Ms. Cullors has undertaken several projects ranging from the Coalition to End Sheriff Violence, Freedom Harvest artist collective, a bi-annual publication, the Dandelion Rising Leadership Institute and Building Resilience. In August of this year, the organization issued a report in collaboration with the UCLA Human Rights Clinic on the high percentage of black, mentally ill inmates. The report received coverage from multiple media outlets. Founded in 2013, #BlackLivesMatter and Ms. Cullors has been on the ground in cities across the country providing support to those who have taken action and responded to the ongoing virulent anti-Black racism permeating our society. Ms. Cullors and her team brought together more than 600 people from across the country to take part in the organization’s Freedom Ride from St. Louis to Ferguson in Fall of 2014. She recently completed a fellowship at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership where she prepared and led a think tank on state and vigilante violence for the 2014 Without Borders Conference and produced and directed a theatrical piece titled POWER: From the Mouths of the Occupied. Ms. Cullors is a Fulbright Scholarship recipient, was named 2007 Mario Savio Activist of the Year and received the Sidney Goldfarb award. She earned a degree in religion and philosophy from UCLA.

Thenjiwe McHarris has spent her entire political and professional career challenging the injustices that imprison people and their communities in a life of poverty or behind bars. That commitment has led her to campaign on human rights issues in the United States and around the world. She honed her human rights campaign development and organizing skills at the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund and Amnesty International USA. From working to prevent the execution of Troy Anthony Davis, to launching an economic and social rights campaign in South Africa, to helping lead high profile mobilizations around the country, she has become a highly skilled campaigner for social justice and human rights.

Thenjiwe began her political career calling for an end to policies and practices that contributed to acts of torture committed by law enforcement. She went on to help organize efforts that addressed the human rights violations that occurred during and after Hurricanes Katrina & Rita. In 2009, she joined Amnesty International where she worked on a number of campaigns including those that addressed the illicit and illegal trafficking of small arms, solitary confinement, capital punishment, excessive use of force by law enforcement, and poverty.

Thenjiwe has worked with a number of social justice organizations and movements in the US and is helping to establish a global activist collective for organizers engaged in movement building work around the world.

M. Adams is a community organizer and co-executive director of Freedom Inc., where she has been for seven years. Freedom Inc. works with low to no income Black and Hmong wimmin, queer folks and youth in Dane County. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Adams has been in Madison since 2003. Adams’s dad has been incarcerated most of her life and she comes from a community that has been the extreme targets of police violence. Adams, herself,  is also a proud dad to a 2 year old who is a primary motivator for her work.  As a queer Black person, Adams has developed and advocated for a strong intersectional approach in numerous important venues: Adams is a leading figure in the Take Back the Land Movement, she presented before the United Nations for the Convention on Eliminating Racial Discrimination, the co-Author of Forward from Ferguson and a work in progress on Black community control over the police, and author to intersectionality theory in Why Killing Unarmed Black folks is a Queer issue. Most recently, Adams can be seen in person, on TV or in the newspapers giving near weekly presentations, testifying and city council meetings, and energizing crowds at protests as a member of the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition

Elle Hearns is a black, trans, freedom fighter who hails from Columbus, Ohio. In 2014, after the murders of Cemia Dove, Brittney Nicole Kidd-Stergis,Tiffany Edwards, and Betty Skinner, Elle turned pain into action by organizing black trans women from Ohio to have safe spaces to build and collaborate on ways to better their lives. Elle is the Central Region Coordinator for GetEQUAL for which she was appointed in early 2015. Through her work with GetEQUAL, Elle has been committed to making sure that marginalized voices, especially those of black trans women, are centered and reflected in the organization’s efforts towards full federal and social equality. Elle is a strategic partner of #BlackLivesMatter and works collaboratively with the #BlackLivesMatter team. Elle’s commitment to black lives goes deeper than conversation — it goes to sustainable action that will assist in the dismantling of systems that support systemic, structural, and physical violence.

Lennox S. Hinds is a Professor of Law and former Chair of the Administration of Justice Program, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. A graduate of The City College of New York and Rutgers Law School, he was awarded the law school’s J. Skelly Wright Award for contribution to civil rights. He was a Charles H. Revson Fellow, Center for Legal Education and Urban Policy, City College of New York 1979-1980. In addition to his practice as a criminal defense andinternational human rights lawyer, he was Nelson Mandela’s US attorney and is counsel in the US to the Government of South Africa, the African National Congress  (ANC) of South Africa and (SWAPO) of Namibia. He is the permanent Representative to the United Nations for the International Association of Democratic Lawyers.

Before joining Stevens, Hinds and White, PC, as its senior partner, with law offices in New York, New Jersey, Great Britain, and Johannesburg, Hinds served for many years as National Director of the National Conference of Black Lawyers of the US and Canada. He has represented a number of politically unpopular clients, including Assata Shakur (Joanne Chesimard), the New York 8 and victims of police brutality and other governmental lawlessness including COINTELPRO.

Hinds has traveled, written, and lectures extensively in Africa, Europe, Asia and North America on international human rights issues and on the impact of racism on the operation of the law particularly the criminal justice systems of the US. He has published and taught about crimes against humanity under international law for more than two decades and has presented expert  testimony on the Crimes Against Humanity of the Apartheid Regime before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Johannesburg, South Africa presided over by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He is now Vice President of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers with jurist members throughout the world. He is admitted to practice before the Unites States Supreme Court, the International Criminal Court for Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Court for Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Permanent International Criminal Court in TheHague and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.Most recently, Hinds has been appointed by the UN as lead counsel to represent the interest of defendants accused by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) of genocide, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law.

He is one of the few US attorneys appointed to the panel of defense lawyers by the United Nations. He has served on International Commissions of Inquiries and worked for the release of political prisoners in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. He assisted in drafting the Luanda Convention on Mercenaries in Luanda, Angola in 1976.

Michael Warren is an attorney in Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Warren works on criminal and civil cases, specializing in police misconduct. Previously, Mr. Warren was the Associate Director of the Juvenile Defense Project sponsored by the National Conference of Black Lawyers. He was the Assistant General Counsel of the NAACP's Special Contributor's Fund, and a staff attorney at the National Commission Against Discrimination in Housing. He earned a J.D. at Duquesne University School of Law.

Soffiyah Elijah is the Executive Director of the Correctional Association of New York. She is the first woman and the first person of color to lead this extraordinary organization in its mission to create a fairer and more humane criminal justice system. Under her leadership, the CA now celebrates its 170th anniversary.  Ms. Elijah has dedicated her life to human rights and social activism, and is a frequent presenter at national and international forums on criminal justice policy and human rights issues.

An accomplished advocate, attorney, scholar, and educator, Ms. Elijah has practiced criminal and family law for more than 30 years.   Prior to leading the Correctional Association, Ms. Elijah served as Deputy Director and Clinical Instructor at the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School. Before moving to Harvard, she was a member of the faculty and Director and Supervising Attorney of the Defender Clinic at the City University of New York School of Law.  Ms. Elijah has also worked as a Supervising Attorney at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, a Staff Attorney at the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid Society, and in private practice.

Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou is an author, documentary film maker, public intellectual, organizer, pastor and theologian. A graduate of St. Louis Soldan High School, Rev. Sekou has deep ties to the region. He began his ministry at the Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church, where Michael Brown's funeral was held. He has been on the ground in Ferguson for the past three months on behalf of the Fellowship of Reconciliation —the country’s oldest interfaith peace organization. Rev. Sekou participated in the daily protest and has co-led trainings for over 800 people in nonviolent civil disobedience. Rev. Sekou was arrested twice for acts of civil disobedience — once for praying in front of riot police and while co-leading group of religious leaders on Moral Monday. In addition to numerous media appearances, he co-authored with Cornel West, And the Young Ones Shall Lead Them: The Ferguson Rebellion and the Crisis in Black Leadership. His writing and reflections on Ferguson include: A Letter from Ferguson and The Gospel is not a Neutral Term. Rev. Sekou is Scholar in Residence at Stanford University's Martin Luther King Education and Research Institute. Considered one of the foremost religious leaders of his generation, he published a collection of writings, Gods, Gays, and Guns: Essays on Religion and the Future of Democracy (Campbell & Cannon Press, 2012). Based on his in depth reporting on the London Riots 2012, Rev. Sekou has a forthcoming book entitled Riot Music: British Hip Hop, Race, and the Politics of Meaning (Hamilton Books, 2015). Having studied continental philosophy at the New School, systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary and currently studying religion at Harvard University, Rev. Sekou is a Statesman for peace and justice throughout world. Based on a lecture he delivered in Beirut, Lebanon, his short documentary film, Exiles in the Promised Land: The Quest for Home, focuses on the plights of Palestinians, Iraqi and post-Katrina New Orleans. The film was accepted at the Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival. Rev. Sekou was a delegate to the People's World Climate Change Conference in Bolivia, has played a key role in civil and interfaith diplomacy negotiations with the Iranian government, is a contributing editor of The Fellowship Magazine and was also a Freeman Fellow with the historicFellowship of Reconciliation. Rev. Sekou delves into Hip-Hop, religion, homophobia, sexism ,race and politics with organic insight. He has given over 1,000 lectures throughout the country and abroad, including Harvard Divinity School, Princeton University, University of Virginia, the University of Paris IV- La Sorbonne and Vanderbilt University for the African American Lectionary Conference.

Jaribu Hill is the Founder of the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights and the Southern Human Rights Organizers' Conference (SHROC) and is a human rights attorney and a veteran community organizer.  Hill is a former Director of CCR South and during her tenure, won a permanent judgment against the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Columbia, South Carolina.  She is a LDF cooperating attorney and serves as local counsel in a school desegregation lawsuit against Western Line School District in Greenville, MS.  Hill is an international human rights spokesperson and cultural artist. Hill is the author of Knowledge is Power, a "Know Your Rights" manual and co-author of the Black College Guide.

Elandria Williams is on the Education Team at the Highlander Research and Education Center. She coordinates youth and intergenerational organizing for the Seeds of Fire program and does much of the work around economics and alternative economies. She has been involved in activism and organizing since she was a youth, and worked in popular education and community organizing around anti-oppression, anti-racism, nonviolence, education reform, and intergenerational education with various organizations. She is also on the coordinating committee of the Solidarity Economy Network, Southern Grassroots Economies Project and the Black Immigration Network and is on the board of the Pedagogy of the Theater of the Oppressed.

Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele is the Senior Community Organizer in LDF’s Criminal Justice Practice.  He is a community organizer and educator from Central Brooklyn.  From 1994 – 1998 Lumumba served as programming coordinator at the Franklin H. Williams Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCC).  During his tenure at CCC, he also co-found Azabache, an organizers training conference and workshop series for young activists.  All the while as a Black Studies Major at City College of NY/CUNY, he went on to receive his Masters in Human Service from Lincoln University in 1998.  As a member and organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Mr. Akinwole-Bandele helped establish its campaign to counter police abuse and misconduct.  He also co-founded the world renowned Black August Hip Hop Project.  Black August raises awareness and support for political prisoners in the United States.  From 2002 to 2007 Lumumba served as a counselor and lecturer at Medgar Evers College/CUNY.  Lumumba currently serves as an adjunct lecturer teaching Community Organizing at Lehman College/CUNY.  

Norris Henderson, current Executive Director of VOTE, a nonprofit organization designed to educate, organize and mobilize formerly incarcerated persons about their right to vote in Louisiana. Norris is a former OSF Soros Justice Fellow who promoted community organizing and advocacy campaigns to transform the criminal justice system in New Orleans to one that is fair, safe and accountable to all citizens regardless of race and economic status. Norris has had tremendous success in his work impacting public policy and public discourse about police accountability, public defense for poor and indigent people, and reforming the notorious Orleans Parish Prison (OPP). As someone who was wrongfully incarcerated for 27 years, Norris shares firsthand experience of racism and brutality of the criminal justice system with communities of color across the city. Self-taught in criminal law during his 27 years in prison as a paralegal, advocate and organizer.

Umi Selah, formerly known as Phillip Agnew, a native of Chicago, Ill., found his voice as a community activist while a student at FAMU, where he served as student body president from 2006-2007. In 2008, he was honored with the University’s prestigious Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Student Leadership Award.

In 2005, he helped to organize students from FAMU, Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College in the creation of the Student Coalition for Justice, which was formed in response to the Martin Lee Anderson case.

In 2012, he co-founded the Dream Defenders, an organization committed to shifting the culture through transformational organizing.  Celebrated for helping to bring such tragedies as the Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown cases to the public’s attention, the organization is dedicated to building a community of love and reconciliation and training and organizing young people in nonviolent civil disobedience, transformative organizing, and direct action.

At only 29, Agnew has been dubbed “one of this generation’s leading voices” and recognized by both EBONY magazine and The Root as one of the 100 most influential African Americans in the nation. His work in community activism has been highlighted internationally, including on MSNBC and in the Huffington Post, USA Today, the Guardian and Democracy Now.

Agnew is a 2008 graduate of FAMU’s School of Business and Industry and is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Colette Pichon Battle, Esq., Executive Director/Attorney, Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy

Colette Pichon Battle, Esq. is a native of Louisiana who, over the past nine years, has worked with local communities, national funders and elected officials around equity in the post-Katrina/post-BP disaster Gulf Coast.  In 2007 Colette received recognition from the American Bar Association and in 2008 she was awarded the U.S. Civilian Medal of Honor for the state of Louisiana- both awards were for her work around multi-racial, cross regional alliance building in the Katrina recovery.  In 2012, Colette was named an “Expert of Color” by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development on issues that surround the US racial wealth divide. In 2014 Colette was selected for the Young Climate Justice National Fellowship based on her work with coastal communities of color. In 2015 Colette was selected as an Echoing Green Climate Fellow.

Currently, Colette serves as Director of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy (GCCLP) managing programs focused on Global Migration, Community Economic Development, Climate Justice and Equitable Disaster Recovery.  She works to develop regional and state advocacy initiatives, manages and provides legal services and oversees training and analysis development for local community leaders on issues that intersect with race, systems of power and ecology.   Colette’s legal specialization is in immigration and disaster law.  Ms. Pichon Battle is a lead coordinator for Gulf South Rising 2015 a regional initiative around climate justice in the South.

Ms. Pichon Battle earned her Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies from Kenyon College, is a former Thomas J. Watson Fellow and a graduate of the Southern University Law Center.  She serves on the board for the US Climate Action Network (USCAN) and has served on the national steering committee for the Black Immigration Network (BIN).  Colette is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), National Lawyers Guild, Experts of Color Network and her local NAACP and League of Women Voters chapters.

Elle Hearns is a black, trans, freedom fighter who hails from Columbus, Ohio. In 2014, after the murders of Cemia Dove, Brittney Nicole Kidd-Stergis,Tiffany Edwards, and Betty Skinner, Elle turned pain into action by organizing black trans women from Ohio to have safe spaces to build and collaborate on ways to better their lives. Elle is the Central Region Coordinator for GetEQUAL for which she was appointed in early 2015. Through her work with GetEQUAL, Elle has been committed to making sure that marginalized voices, especially those of black trans women, are centered and reflected in the organization’s efforts towards full federal and social equality. Elle is a strategic partner of #BlackLivesMatter and works collaboratively with the #BlackLivesMatter team. Elle’s commitment to black lives goes deeper than conversation — it goes to sustainable action that will assist in the dismantling of systems that support systemic, structural, and physical violence.

Vincent Warren is the Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. He oversees CCR's groundbreaking litigation and advocacy work, which includes using international and domestic law to hold corporations and government officials accountable for human rights abuses; challenging racial, gender and LGBT injustice; and combating the illegal expansion of U.S. presidential power and policies such as illegal detention at Guantanamo, rendition, and torture. Prior to his tenure at CCR, Vince was a national senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, where he litigated civil rights cases, focusing on affirmative action, racial profiling, and criminal justice reform. Vince was also involved in monitoring South Africa's historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, and worked as a criminal defense attorney for the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn. Vince is a graduate of Haverford College and Rutgers School of Law.

Vince is a frequent guest on MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry Show, The Reid Report, and Up with Chris Hayes, and has appeared on Moyers & Company with Bill Moyers. His writing has been featured in the New York Times Room for Debate, on the Huffington Post, and on CNN.com, among many publications.

Carl Williams joined the ACLU of Massachusetts as staff attorney in September 2013. He was previously a criminal defense attorney with the Roxbury Defenders Unit of the Committee for Public Counsel Services. A long-time resident of Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, he has been an activist and organizer on issues of war, immigrants’ rights, LGBT rights, racial justice and Palestinian self-determination. Carl is a member of the National Lawyers Guild and has served on its Massachusetts board of directors. During the Occupy Boston movement he was part of its legal defense and support team, which provided nearly 24-hour support to the participants.

Alicia Garza is the Special Projects Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance. She is an organizer, writer and freedom dreamer based in Oakland, CA. In 2013, Alicia co-founded #BlackLivesMatter, an international organizing network developed after the murder of Trayvon Martin, focused on combating anti-Black racism in all of its forms. She has been the recipient of numerous awards for her organizing work, and her writing has been featured in publications such as The Guardian, The Nation, The Feminist Wire, Truthout.org and more. Before the NDWA, Alicia served as Executive Director of People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) in San Francisco since 2009. Under her leadership, POWER won free local public transportation for youth; fought for a seat at the table in some of the most important land use decisions affecting working-class families; beat back regressive local policies targeting undocumented people; organized against the chronic police violence in Black neighborhoods; and shed light on the ongoing wave of profit-driven development that contribute to a changing San Francisco. Alicia currently serves on the Board of Directors for Forward Together in Oakland, California. She serves as trusted counsel for organizations across the country looking to build their capacity to lead and win organizing campaigns. Alicia's work challenges us to celebrate the contributions of Black queer women within popular narratives of Black movements, and reminds us that the Black radical tradition is long, complex and international. When she's not scheming on freedom, Alicia enjoys dancing, reading and writing—and scheming some more.