Unpacking: The History of Racial Criminalization in the American Justice System

A virtual conversation to explore the history of and present day racial criminalization of Black people in the American criminal justice system and how we all have a role to play in radically revolutionizing the system.

Click Here to watch and read about our past Unpacking Series

Speakers:
Khalil Gibran Muhammad is the Ford Foundation Professor of History, Race and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, the Suzanne Young Murray Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, and Director of the Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project. He is the former Director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. He is the award-winning author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America (Harvard), and a contributor to a 2014 National Research Council study, The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences. He is currently co-chairing a National Academies of Sciences report on “Reducing Racial Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System.”
Khalil is a frequent reviewer and commentator in national print and broadcast media outlets, and has appeared in a number of feature-length documentaries, including the recently-released Amend: The Fight for America (2021), the Oscar-nominated 13th (2016) and Slavery by Another Name (2012). Khalil is an award-winning teacher at Harvard and has received numerous honors for his commitment to public engagement. He serves on several boards, including the Vera Institute of Justice, Cure Violence Global, and The Museum of Modern Art.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia is the Managing Director of Justice Initiatives at Chicago Beyond. She is the former warden of Cook County Jail in Chicago, Illinois – one of the largest single site jails in the country. Under her leadership, Cook County Jail implemented several bold strategies to promote wellness, including the Mental Health Transition Center a program that has helped hundreds of people who have been incarcerated to successfully reenter their families and communities. She is an experienced psychologist who is passionate about mental wellness, criminal justice reform, and supporting young people who have experienced trauma. Since joining Chicago Beyond in 2018, Dr. Tapia collaborated to launch programs focused on positive family engagement for families who are justice-involved, holistic healing supports within Chicago Public Schools, and peer-led healing supports for young people.