Thursday, February 23, 2017

Rev. Al Sharpton to Speak at the New School


National civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton will discuss key issues impacting civil rights, economic and social justice and criminal justice reform at The New School on February 28 at 6:30 p.m. The event will be hosted by Maya Wiley, Senior Vice President, and Henry Cohen, Professor at The New School.

As an internationally renowned civil rights leader, activist, and founder of National Action Network (NAN), Rev. Al Sharpton has dedicated his life to the fight for justice and equality.  For decades, he has turned the power of dissent and protest into tangible legislation impacting the lives of ordinary people.  As former President Barack Obama once stated, Rev. Sharpton is a “voice for the voiceless” and a “champion for the downtrodden”. As head of NAN, which currently operates hundreds of chapters across the country including a Washington, D.C. bureau and headquarters in Harlem, NY, Rev. Sharpton has taken the teachings of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and applied them to a modern civil rights agenda.  He has been a tireless advocate for everything from police reform and accountability to protection of voting rights and education equality.  A 2016 Vanity Fair profile described him as “arguably the country’s most influential civil rights leader.” 

The event will be hosted by Maya Wiley, Senior Vice President and the Henry Cohen Professor of Urban Policy and Management at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy. Under her leadership, The New School and key constituencies are advancing the university’s social justice agenda both inside and outside of the university. Wiley’s role as Senior Vice President of Social Justice dovetails with her position as the Henry Cohen Professor of Urban Policy and Management. As a teacher, Wiley will provide a new generation of leaders with the educational and practical training to tackle pressing issues related to social justice. She will also work to initiate public policy discourses with outside partners such as governments, businesses, and nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. “They’re separate roles, but there’s a lot of interaction between them,” Wiley says. Wiley’s appointments mark the latest turn in a career defined by social advocacy. A civil rights attorney and policy advocate, she has litigated, lobbied the U.S. Congress, and developed programs to transform structural racism in the United States and in South Africa.

The New School’s Henry Cohen Lecture Series has been devoted to advancing social equity in America. This year, the series will examine how we can advance political, social and economic inclusion in the context of a Trump Presidency.  The series has a long tradition of bringing together the best minds to examine how policy efforts manifest over time as political and social environments change. The series is named after Henry Cohen, the founding dean of the Milano School, who served in that position from 1965 through 1983.

Doors open at 6 p.m. 

Source: Mercury 

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