Law

Conversation on Race Now (C.O.R.N.) invites community members in a listening session to the voices of Parents from our community, in facilitated dialogue
addressing their experiences in relationship to race/racism in their lives. (with audience participation).
Facilitated by: Kiah Ellis, Undergraduate student, pursuing a history/philosophy degree at UVM, Avid, competitive snowboarder, participating
member of " Voices of Youth Restorative Circle"
Keynote Guest Speaker: Robert L. Walsh, noted author, graduate of Colgate and MA from UVM, Bob retired from the USMC as Lt. Colonel,
served as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives, adjunct faculty at UVM, and taught Africa American Studies at South Burlington H.S. His life experience in these areas has afforded him a wide range of experience as related to racism in our state, country and throughout the military world. His stories as a real life witness express the true nature of what it was like, what we see today and what the vision for our future may hold as we explore undoing racism in our community.  More information: vhm84@hotmail.com

 

Judge Ben Joseph hosts a conversation with Marc Metayer, SIU Grants Program Manager with Vermont Department of State's Attorneys,  John Treadwell, Assistant Vermont Attorney General, and Kristine Bickford, Executive Director of the Chittenden Special Investigative Unit (CUSI), on the special investigative units in Vermont and the importance of the recently signed federal legislation 'Violence Against Women Act' (VAWA).

King Downing engages the Champlain College audience in charting a historical progressin leading to the incarceration numbers in our prisons and status of the justice system in America.  King Downing, the founding director of the Human Rights-Racial Justice Center, brings a profound understanding of the intersection of race, class and criminal (in)justice in America honed during his forty years of work as an activist, community organizer, policy advocate and civil-rights attorney. Throughout his career he has fought for the rights and lives of those impacted by criminal justice on many issues including mass incarceration, the school to prison pipeline, and the Campaign to End the New Jim Crow. Most recently, he directed the Healing Justice Program of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) where he worked on issues related to mass incarceration, including solitary confinement, prisoner advocacy and conflict resolution. The program goals included striving to increase reliance on transformative, healing forms of justice rather than punitive practices that damage body or spirit, as well as to end racial injustice in all justice practices. Downing also worked to build up the AFSC Alternatives to Violence Project, teaching at-risk youth alternative forms of conflict resolution and setting up dialogues and creative projects between men and women who have committed and suffered violent crimes.
Before joining the AFSC, Downing served eight years as national coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union's Campaign Against Racial Profiling, with a focus on policing and incarceration. One primary focus area was the then emerging awareness of the school-to-prison pipeline. While with the ACLU, Downing worked with the organization’s affiliates and partners to identify and end racial disparities in policing on the federal and local levels. In this work, he was helping to support and coordinate their various efforts, whether crafting legislation, setting up Know Your Rights Workshops and trainings, conducting media outreach, offering public education projects on police and incarceration practices, and engaging in community organizing.

Co-Sponsored by the Institute for Global Engagement and the Office of Diversity & Inclusion
 

Bill Ward, Director of Burlington Code Enforcement, speaks with staff on the challenges and successes of their job.