Spring 2007 - Center for Law and Social Justice

SPRING 2007
20th ANNIVERSAY ISSUE
CLSJ Celebrates 20th Anniversary
From left to right: Assoc. Commissioner of Education, Sheila Evans-Trannum;
Council Member, Robert Jackson; Exec. Director of CLSJ, Esmeralda Simmons;
and Regent, Adelaide Sanford
CLSJ Advocates for NYC Public Schools on Task Force 2009
The Center for Law and Social Justice is continuing its long
history of advocating for educational equity in the NYC
public schools. CLSJ Executive Director, Esmeralda Simmons has been an active member of TASK FORCE 2009
since its launching in spring 2006. TASK FORCE 2009 is
the “blue ribbon” think tank of the Independent Commission
on Public Education — a citywide grassroots advocacy
campaign for learning-based education and meaningful parent/community involvement in the public schools.
The Task Force is so named because, in 2009, the current state law that gives the NYC mayor total control of its
public schools and school board, is set to expire. The state
legislature can either amend the Education Law to adopt an
alternative governance system, or maintain, weaken, or
strengthen mayoral control. The Task Force has been working on a governance system proposal that requires mayoral
control in favor of local control. This year, the legislature
must resolve several major NYC education policy issues in
the 2007 legislative session, e.g. implementation of the CFE
decision, and a new school funding formula. NYC Mayor
Bloomberg has recently initiated an aggressive campaign to
prolong and strengthen mayoral control by encouraging enactment of school governance legislation in the 2007 legislative
session, thereby attempting to pre-empt the 2009 sunset.
Task Force 2009 anticipates unveiling its proposal in
April 2007. In addition to Esmeralda Simmons, Esq., the
members of the Task Force include: Luis Acosta; Cathy Albisa, Esq.; Sam Anderson, PhD.; Jean Anyon; Luis Barrios,
PhD.; John Beam, PhD.; Norman Fruchter, PhD.; Diane Lowman, PhD.; Prakash Nair; Pedro Noguera, PhD.; Luis Reyes,
PhD.; and Thomas Sobol, PhD.. The Task Force is supported
by the Independent Commission on Public Education and is
staffed by the National Center for Schools and Communities
at Fordham University.
Esmeralda Simmons, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the
Center for Law and Social Justice
CLSJ Wins Major Court Battle
United States District Court Judge Kevin T. Dufy
has approved the settlement in People United for
Children vs. City of New York. The PUC case
challenged the city’s child welfare policies and
practices on the grounds that they discriminated
against African American parents, resulting in the
disproportionate placement of African American
children in foster care.
Look for the next issue for more information.
The Center For Law and Social Justice
Medgar Evers College
1150 Carroll Street (P-2/19-C207)
Brooklyn, NY 11225
Tel: (718) 270-6293-6297
Fax: (718) 270-6190
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Lateefah Carter
Calling All Immigrants!
Atencion! Immigrantes
Appel a Tous les Imigres!
Layout & Design
Natalie Pryor
Medgar Evers College
Immigration Center
Proof Reader
Lesley Jean-Jacques
CLSJ Staff
Esmeralda Simmons, Esq.
Gwendolyn Riddick, MSILR
Joan Gibbs, Esq.
Gerald White-Davis, Esq.
Allison Rosenberg, Esq.
Bara Diokhane, Esq.
L. Patricia Janvier, Esq.
Alexus Sham, Esq.
Lateefah Carter
Oseye Mchawi
Arturo Perez Saad
Olevia Senior
Interns
Denver Jean Baptiste
Lynden Phil Bert
Opened New Office
at the
EAST NEW YORK CAMPUS
George Gershwin Junior High School
800 Van Siclen Ave.
Brooklyn, NY
FOR APPOINTMENT OR
WORKSHOP
Call—(718) 270-6397
FREE CONSULTATION
Legalization Process (Green Card)
Student Visa
Sponsorship
Naturalization
EDUCATIONAL TRAINING WORKSHOPS
Public Education System
Criminal Justice System
Child Welfare System (Foster Care)
Worker’s Rights
STAFF
Bara Diokhan—Attorney
L. Patricia Janvier—Attorney
Olevia Senior—Outreach Specialist
FILING FEES NOT INCLUDED
6*** CLSJ JOURNAL OF JUSTICE
CLSJ in Action
Medgar Evers College Immigration Center
2005 to 2006 was a very positive, productive and exciting year for the Medgar Evers College Immigration
Center. The Center continued to meet and surpass its
targeted goals, and develop its reputation as a welcoming organization where immigrants can get knowledgeable advice and expert assistance, and know that their
confidentiality and privacy are maintained. During the
course of the year, the Immigration Center registered
three thousand five hundred and eight telephone calls;
conducted thirty-five workshops and immigration forums that were attended by over five thousands immigrants, and provided one-one-one legal services to one
thousand five hundred and thirty four individuals.
This past year the Immigration Center expanded its
outreach services and collaboration with community
organizations to increase access to its services for the
more than 931,769 immigrants throughout the Borough
of Brooklyn. Services at the Center include free legal
consultation; citizenship training and a series of informative workshops that ranging from: know your rights
and obligations, to, how to effectively navigate the
education, criminal justice and child welfare systems.
Creating Justice Project
Established in 2004, the Creating Justice Project works to
educate formerly incarcerated persons about their right to
vote. Every year, over 130,000 people who were formerly
incarnated return to the streets, the majority to Central
Brooklyn. CLSJ, along with other advocacy groups, has
been educating this sector of our community about the importance of voting. Since its founding , the Project has saturated Brooklyn and the other four boroughs with palm
cards, flyers and posters. The literature advices former incarcerated persons that, once they have completed parole,
they have the right to register to vote simply by filling out
and submitting a voter registration card. Literature has been
distributed at forums, workshops, on street corners, and this
year for the first time, at the Martin Luther King Summer
Concert Series at Wingate Park where Project Associate
Lateefah and our summer interns distributed fans, our voting brochure and the palm cards.
The killing of Sean Bell and the wounding of his
friends in November 2006 has redirected the focus of the
Creating Justice Project. During the past three months we
The services of the Center are offered both on and off
campus.
Community Outreach Specialist, Arturo Perez-Saad
commented, “My task as an outreach coordinator is to
promote the services that the center offers. This requires
making new contacts, fostering new relationships, maintaining existing relationships and building bridges of mutual cooperation. This is executed via the telephone,
written communication and literature distribution.
Whether I’m talking to clergy, representatives of
community groups or workers, there is a unanimous acceptance of no-cost services. We are thanked profusely
and most of the time we are asked to come back and do a
workshop, whether it be on immigration, worker’s rights,
police brutality, etc.
While there are many organizations that offer legal
consultations to immigrants we offer them at no-cost to
the immigrants in five languages, including Creole,
Wolof, Spanish, French and English. The consultations
are with immigration lawyers not paralegals, which our
clients prefer.
The only criterion is that you are eager to make a
change for yourself or somebody else.”
have distributed over 1500 “Know Your Rights” brochures and conducted a workshop. Requests to lead
more workshops continued to come in. Recently, our
director, Esmeralda Simmons, was interviewed by
Andrea Banks of ARC (Applied Research Center)
concerning her views around this case:
"The significance of the Sean Bell case is that
it’s just the latest incident in a long series of
NYPD abuses. We can go back 4 years to Alberta Spruill, 8 years to Amadou Diallo, 10
years to Abner Luima, 15 years to Anthony
Baez, 20 years to Michael Griffith, 25 years to
Eleanor Bumpers and keep going. But every
day, "on duty" police officers in New York City
routinely violate and disrespect people of
color,” offered Ms. Simmons. “The continuum of
police brutality indicates that there is actually
an issue in our larger society that supports police violence against people of color. The issue
is racism and its product is often racial violence.”
CLSJ JOURNAL OF JUSTICE *** 3
Justice Dabiri, left, with “Ruthie” Award recipient Esmeralda Simmons, executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College, Ms. Simmons’ husband Lesly Jean-Jaques, Lateefah Carter, Joan Gibbs, and Gerald White-Davis.
“I
t is a story of courage, struggle and determination, with mixed-successes and lingering questions.
In recognition of Women’s History Month, the fifth annual Ruth E. Moskowitz Awards celebrate
generations of men and women moving herstory forward,” stated Elizabeth Stull in the Wednesday, April 4, 2007 issue of the Daily Bulletin. Our director, Esmeralda Simmons, was one of five recipients
of the “Ruthie” Award, which was presented by the Gender Fairness Committee of Brooklyn Supreme
Court. Justice Ruth E. Moskowitz, the first woman elected to the Supreme Court from Brooklyn in 1976 and
for whom the award is named, dedicated her life to civil rights, judicial independence, and family. “The vision I had was to be an advocate against racial discrimination, Ms. Simmons stated when accepting the
award, “I am very, very humbled to be honored for doing what I was put on this planet to do.”
CULTURAL RIGHTS PROJECT
The CULTURAL RIGHTS PROJECT advocates for the protection of the cultural rights of Africans in America (people of African ancestry),
and raises the banner of human rights protection in
the US. We primarily work with cultural organizations that are focused on the retention and preservation of African culture.
The Cultural Rights Project activities during 2005
and 2006 include:
Council of Elders of Dance Africa New York
The Council conducts a variety of activities that
support Dance Africa dance concert
Dance Africa’s founder Dr. Chuck Davis, a scholarship fund, local youth activities, and charitable work
in Africa and Haiti. In 1972, Davis, a famed dancer/
choreographer, established Dance Africa at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music. It is the oldest African and African Diaspora dance festival in the US.
It is also credited with revitalizing the teaching and
performance of authentic African dance in the US.
CLSJ’s Esmeralda Simmons is an elected member
of the Council. At the Council’s request, she,
through CLSJ, is leading the formal reorganization
of the group into a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation.
4*** CLSJ JOURNAL OF JUSTICE
The Lawyers: (first row, lft to rt) Florence Morgan,
Justice Gloria Dabiri, Allison Rosenberg, Esmeralda
Simmons, Joan Gibbs, and Justice Sheila AdduSalaam; (back row, lft to rt) Reginald Boddie, with
friends of the Center, Londell McMillian, Conrad
Johnson, Prof. Victor Goode, and Paul Wooten
Frank Lewis and Councilman Al Vann
Dorothy Burham and Miriam Frances
Reginald Boddie, Conrad Johnson, Justice Shiela Addu-Salaam,
and Prof. Victor Goode
Peter Williams and Esmeralda Simmons
Gwen Riddick and Claudine K. Brown
CLSJ JOURNAL OF JUSTICE *** 5
Assemblywoman Yvette Montgomery with friend
of the Center, and Esmeralda Simmons
Esmeralda Simmons, Dr. Divine Pryor and Eddie Ellis
Assemblywoman Annette Robinson, Celeste
Morris, and Justice Yvonne Lewis
Regent Adelaide Sanford and
Attorney Londell McMillian
Vincent McGee and Fran Barrett
Staff and Alumni: (first row, lft to rt) Clara Perez-Joseph, Esmeralda Simmons,
Reginald Boddie, (second row) Charlene Samuel, Lateefah Carter, Oseye Mchawi, Joan
Gibbs, Allison Rosenberg, Gerald White-Davis, and Dottie Conway (third row) Harvey
Lawrence, Sam Anderson, Marian Gayle, Peter Williams, Divine Pryor, Eddie Ellis and
Londell McMillian
Attorneys Reginald Boddie and
Juan Cartagena