The overt dehumanization and separation of children from their families, caging children in detention centers, unprecedented raids on the homes of immigrants, the misrepresentation of our communities as criminals and rapists is a direct attack on the Black and Brown communities we represent. They have a voice, they have power, they have communities, they have journalists, lawyers and artists. Activate these intelligences! Join us!
This presentation of the Art of Justice 10 will feature Maria Hinojosa, journalist, founder, president and CEO of Futuro Media Group; and, Esmeralda Simmons, founder and executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice who together will present an open discussion linking the government’s inhumane policies and practices impacting immigrant children and their families. At the core of this conversation is the question, “How are immigration policies dismantling racial and civil rights, and impacting environmental protection as we plan a call to action for our communities’ critical involvement in protecting our human rights.
Program curated by Dr. Marta Moreno Vega, Founder of Creative Justice Initiative and Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute.
Esmeralda Simmons is the founding Executive Director of the Center for Law and Social Justice, a community-based legal institution, based at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, which conducts racial justice legal and public policy campaigns. Ms. Simmons is a prominent attorney who specializes in racial justice issues such as voting rights, educational inequity, and human rights violations in the US. She has led many major impact legal victories, e.g., for voting rights and fair redistricting, against police violence, for education reform, against employment discrimination, and for due process for parents in the child welfare system. During her career, she has served as the First Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights for New York State, as Vice-Chair of the NYC Districting Commission, as a citywide member of the NYC Board of Education, and as a civil rights attorney for the city, state, and federal governments. She is politically active and a frequent community volunteer. The mother of three adult sons and the grandmother of seven, Ms. Simmons resides with her husband, Lesly Jean-Jacques, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community of Brooklyn, New York.
As a reporter who was the first Latina in many newsrooms, Maria Hinojosa dreamt of a space where she could create independent, multimedia journalism that explores and gives a critical voice to the diverse American experience. She made that dream a reality in 2010 when she created Futuro Media Group, an independent, nonprofit organization based in Harlem, NYC with the mission to create multimedia content for and about the new American mainstream in the service of empowering people to navigate the complexities of an increasingly diverse and connected world.
As the Anchor and Executive Producer of the Peabody Award-winning show Latino USA, distributed by NPR, as well as Co-Host of In The Thick, the Futuro Media’s new political podcast, Hinojosa has informed millions about the changing cultural and political landscape in America and abroad. She is also a new contributor to the long-running, award-winning news program CBS Sunday Morning and a frequent guest on MSNBC.
Hinojosa’s nearly 30-year career as an award-winning journalist includes reporting for PBS, CBS, WNBC, CNN, NPR, and anchoring the Emmy Award winning talk show Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One. She is the author of three books and has won dozens of awards, including: four Emmys, the John Chancellor Award, the Studs Terkel Community Media Award, two Robert F. Kennedy Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and the Ruben Salazar Lifetime Achievement Award. She has been honored multiple times by Mayor David Dinkins, officially proclaimed with her own day in October by Mayor De Blasio and been awarded by People En Espanol as one of the 25 most powerful women. Additionally, Hinojosa was the first Latina to anchor a PBS FRONTLINE report: Lost in Detention which aired in October 2011 and explored abuse at immigrant detention facilities, garnering attention from Capitol Hill as well as both the mainstream and Spanish-language media.
As a reporter for NPR, Hinojosa was among the first to report on youth violence in urban communities on a national scale. During her eight years as CNN’s urban affairs correspondent, Hinojosa often took viewers into communities rarely shown on television. At Futuro Media, Hinojosa continues to bring attention to experiences and points of view that are often overlooked or underreported in mainstream media, all while mentoring the next generation of diverse journalists to delve into authentic and nuanced stories that impact their communities. In 2018 she was a fellow at Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School and is a frequent speaker across the country. In 2019, she was named the inaugural Distinguished Journalist in Residence at her Alma Mater, Barnard College.
A Mexican immigrant herself, Maria HInojosa speaks not only truly from the heart but also from her own experiences. She has become a leader as one of the loudest voices telling the untold stories of those who need to be heard.
Free, Thursday, October 3, 2019 | 6:15 PM – 8:15 PM
Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, 120 E 125th St, New York, NY 10035, https://cccadi.org
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