Interdisciplinary Collaborative Workshop - Participant Bios: Policing public policy

Policing, Public Policy, and Racial Justice:

Participant Bios and Videos

Image credits: "George Floyd Protest" by Geoff Livingston; Washington D.C.

Engaged Scholars

Bahiyyah Muhammad

Dr. Bahiyyah Muhammad is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Her educational background includes a B.S. in Administration of Justice from Rutgers University, a M.S. in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University.
Dr. Muhammad’s research focuses on the criminal justice system and on the experiences of children of incarcerated parents. She is a renowned ethnographer and has worked with incarcerated populations across the globe. Her publications include: Corrections Today and Criminology: Understanding Crime and Criminals, as well as resources for children to understand their parents’ incarceration. In addition to her research, Dr. Muhammad teaches multiple courses at Howard University, including Inside Out, which is a course that takes university students into the prison system to learn alongside incarcerated people.

Michelle Phelps

Dr. Michelle Phelps is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her educational background includes a B.S. in Psychology from the University of California-Berkeley, a M.S. in Sociology from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy from Princeton University.
Dr. Phelps’s research focuses on the sociology of punishment with a specific focus on the ways in which punishment has taken a punitive turn in the United States. She has been published in numerous journals, such as the Annual Review of Criminology and Law & Society Review. She also co-wrote Breaking the Pendulum: The Long Struggle Over Criminal Justice. Dr. Phelps has done work on multiple topics related to criminal justice, such as research that examines probation supervision in relation to mass incarceration and research that looks at inequalities in mass incarceration.

Winfield Murray

Dr. Winfield Murray is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Deputy Chief of Staff of Atlanta's Mayor Keisha L. Bottoms at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. His educational background includes a B.A. in English from Morehouse College, a J.D. in Law from Howard University School of Law, and an LL.M. in Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution from George Washington University School of Law.
Dr. Murray began his legal career as a Judicial Clerk for the Chief Judge of the United States Virgin Islands. He went on to serve as a prosecutor with the City of Atlanta for nearly eight years. During that time, he became the Chief Prosecutor for Atlanta’s Community Court which sought to reduce the rate of recidivism through alternative sentencing. Later, Murray became the Assistant Solicitor for the United States Department of Labor. In that capacity, he worked on a special task force created by Congress and the White House to reduce a substantial backlog of cases within the Mine Safety and Health Division (MSHA). He also serves as Trial Counsel for the United States Department of Housing & Urban Development in the Office of General Counsel where he focused on discrimination in the purchase, sale, or rental of real estate based upon race, gender, disability and/or familial status.

Cynthia Neal-Spence

Dr. Cynthia Neal-Spence is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Her educational background includes a B.A. from Spelman University and both a M.A. and Ph.D. from Rutgers University.
Dr. Neal-Spence’s research focuses on understanding how socialization impacts gender roles, access to higher education and violence against women. Her recent publications include: WhoShould Be First? Feminists Speak Out on the 2008 Presidential Campaign (2010) and How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? and The Missing Kerner Commission Report (2018). Dr. Neal-Spence teaches multiple courses in the area of sociology and criminology. She is also the director for the UNCF/Mellon program, which is a program that helps students prepare for professorial careers.

Britany Gatewood

Dr. Britany Gatewood identifies as a Black queer woman scholar activist. Her research focuses on social movements within carceral institutions and the political practices and resistance of Black women and their children. She holds a postdoctoral position at Albany State University (fall 2020) and is an adjunct at George Washington University and Prince George’s Community College. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Howard University, M.A. from the University of Detroit Mercy, and B.A. from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Student Activists

Mi'Chael N. Wright

Mi'Chael N. Wright is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She received her BA in Sociology and Black Studies from University of California, Santa Barbara and her MA in Sociology at Howard University. Her primary research focuses on sociology of media, sociology of mental health, collective memory and trauma, and identity. She is specifically interested in how digital communities, which can be simultaneously encouraging and hostile, constitute the identity development of Black and Brown adolescent girls. Mi'Chael is also interested in digital sociology, a sub-discipline of sociology that highlights the role of digital media in everyday life and its contribution to social relationships.

Jael Kerandi

Jael Kerandi was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and moved to the United States when she 18 months old. She is the youngest of five children. Jael is a rising senior at the University of Minnesota - Carlson School of Management. She is majoring in Finance and Marketing with minors in Leadership and Business Law. She is currently interning with Microsoft in the Finance department. Jael is passionate about creating a better world for future generations. Jael served as first Black Undergraduate Student Body President at the University of Minnesota and she currently serves as the Ranking Representative to the Board of Regents. Jael is passionate about racial justice and ensuring that our institutions are held accountable. Jael chose to call for her University to sever ties after the murder of George Floyd, happening less than 20 mins from the Twin Cities Campus. It was important that as a representative of students, Jael spoke up. The University holds values in diversity and inclusion and those values do not align with the murderous actions and history of the Minneapolis Police Department. Students who are paying tuition deserve better. Students needed to know that the University valued Black Lives, today not tomorrow. She has a deep love for football but enjoys watching almost all sports. She also enjoys babysitting, fitness (specifically weight lifting), and baking. Fun fact: Jael doesn’t use an alarm clock to wake up.

Jaeden Johnson

Jaeden Johnson is a junior majoring in Political Science at Morehouse College. He is a Howard Thurman Honors Scholar, a King Legacy Scholar, and a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow. His research interests broadly include black feminism, afropessimism, poststructuralism, and critical theory. In 2019, his essay, “Strengthening Bonds: On the Construction of a World House,” was awarded first place in the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection’s annual “Reading, Writing, and Remembering King” essay competition. His opinion piece, “To End Violence, We Must Invest In Care, Not Cops” was recently published in The Daily News.

Aniyah Vines

Aniyah Vines is a rising junior of Howard University that resides in North Carolina by way of Brooklyn NY. Growing up, her family has always taught her the importance of justice, and made her aware of the inequalities in society. Her passion for justice was ignited upon her completion of the Justice and Injustice course led by Juror Doctor Nichad Davis during her experience as a 2016 Duke Tip scholar. Her passion became action after she and her family experienced the senseless murder of her cousin, Delrawn Smalls, who was killed by an off-duty police officer in Brooklyn. Since then she has engaged in various levels of community and social justice projects which includes creating the V.O.I.C.E. (Vision, Outspoken, Inspire, Create, Evolve) mentoring program, implementing and facilitating the Northwest School of the Arts (NWSA) Gun Violence Awareness walk-out, partnering as the program co-director for the Howard University Alternative Spring Break DC jail - Dr. Muhammad Experience 2019, participant in the DC Jail Day of Service 2018 and served as the documentarian for the DC Jail Celebrity Panel - Dr. Muhammad Experience. She currently serves as the NAACP Education Committee Chairwoman - Howard University Chapter and continues her volunteer and mentorship within various juvenile diversion programs in Charlotte NC. Currently she is embarking upon her personal vision of change through her non-profit organization T.R.A.P. (True Rehabilitation And Prosperity), which focuses on the implementation of strategic programming for youth that have been impacted directly and/or indirectly with the criminal justice system.
Aniyah also appreciates the arts and enjoys the artistic expression of song by using her vocal instrument through classical-opera and gospel music. Throughout her life she has found motivation from the drive and dedication shown by her mother, the support of her family, and the belief that one day her community will see themselves the way she has grown to see them...as royalty. Her aspiration is to become an attorney and continue her life's work of carrying the torch towards social justice work with the inspiration and mindset of those who came before her. “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” ~Angela Y. Davis

Activists

Ilham Askia

Ilham Askia is executive director of Gideon’s Promise, a 501 (c)(3) public defender organization whose mission is to transform the criminal justice system by building a movement of public defenders who provide equal justice for marginalized communities.
In this capacity, Askia has oversight of the organization’s daily operations, annual budget, strategic plan, personnel, fundraising, board development, and regulatory compliance. She is also responsible for maintaining the infrastructure that supports the programs and services that distinguish the organization as the only public defender advocacy organization that supports public defenders at every career stage. The organization’s five major programs are executed in partnership and for the benefit of 40 public defender offices and 25 law schools across 27 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In five years, Askia moved the organization from an annual revenue of $800,000 to $2 million. She has also raised $3.8 million in government and foundation grants and $789,000 in corporate and philanthropic sponsorship to date. Askia has been featured by media outlets that include Essence, Black Enterprise, Atlanta Magazine, Share International Magazine, Atlanta’s NPR, and the legal podcast Service Roads: Conversations on Law and Social Justice. She regularly speaks at law schools, community organizations and national criminal justice conferences to discuss the critical role of public defenders. Notably, Askia has been a speaker at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, SMART on Crime Innovations Conference, National Association of Public Defense Conference, Florida A&M Law School, Social Justice Community Foundations, Federal Defenders Conference, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Legal Defense Fund Capital Training Conference, Public Defender Service for District ofColumbia, Mercer Law Review Conference, and Southern Christian Leadership Conference Summit, to name a few. She also speaks on the impact the criminal justice system has on families. Prior to her leadership of Gideon’s Promise, Askia was an educator in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, GA. During her tenure, her students were routine examples of over-policing in marginalized communities, the school-to-prison pipeline as well as the negative outcomes derived from legal representation provided by poorly trained public defenders with overwhelming caseloads. The latter being a lesson she learned earlier in life when both her father and brother were sentenced to prison.
Under Askia’s leadership Gideon's Promise has won numerous awards including, but not limited to, Stephen B. Bright Public Defender Award, Emory University's Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award, Southern Center for Human Rights' Gideon's Promise Award, The National Association of Sentencing Advocates and Mitigation Specialists Sentencing Project Award and the American College of Trial Lawyers Emil Gumpert Award. The organization also served as the inspiration for the award-winning HBO documentary Gideon’s Army. She is a member of Leadership Atlanta and the Society of International Business Fellows and has been honored with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Inspiring Woman Award, and the Atlanta Hawks Most Notable Atlantan. Askia earned a Master’s of Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Trinity University in Washington D.C. and a Bachelor of Science degree in City & Regional Planning from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She resides in Atlanta, Georgia with husband Jonathan and children Aaliyah and Lucas.

Tony Lewis Jr.

Tony Lewis Jr. is an author, activist , re-entry expert, community leader and champion for children with incarcerated parents. Mr.Lewis has fought relentlessly for the past 20 years to empower men, women, and children impacted by mass incarceration. His work and advocacy has been featured on CNN, BET, Elite Daily, The Breakfast Club , Black Enterprise , The Takeaway , Hot 97 and numerous times in the Washington Post. Mr. Lewis has been honored and recognized for his work in reentry , social justice, and community organizing both locally and nationally. He and his wife Jessica have 2 daughters Isabella and Sophie

Oluchi Omeoga

Oluchi Omeoga is a Minnesota-born Trans Igbo organizer who still lives and organizes in Minneapolis, Minnesota today.
Oluchi is also a co-founder and Core Team Member of Black Visions Collective, a Twin-Cities-based organization that originated "from the tireless fight to break down the systems that have prevented and continue to prevent Black people from thriving and feeling safe." The group has been dedicated to working for the long-term success of Black people and the abolition of the police since 2017.
Oluchi is also a co-founder and a steering committee member of the Black LGBTQ+ Migrant Project, a project housed by the Transgender Law Center dedicated to bringing most marginalized people together to work toward liberation.

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