Sarah Houston ‘20
Guest Writer
As future lawyers of America, we are taught in Law School to take convoluted issues and make them clear, to put them in neat little boxes, and to embrace the linear. But at this year’s Shaping Justice Conference, panelists and speakers alike pushed us to embrace complexity in non-linear ways. When these social justice lawyers are trying to not only assist people who have been marginalized, but to transform the entire system within which this subjugation is created, the solutions are often found in very unlikely coalitions. Members of these unexpected partnerships spoke side-by-side at panels throughout the day, highlighting the multi-dimensional character of progressive lawyering in areas such as transgender rights, sex work, environmental change, and restorative justice. Many of the panelists’ clients face intersecting levels of oppression, from housing to immigration to healthcare, and it is within these areas that activists have found meaningful collaborative space.
Gustavo Angeles, Chris Espinosa, Miranda Cady Hallett, and Kimberly Fields speak as part of “The Intersec- tion of Immigrant Rights and Environmental Justice” panel.
The Advocacy for Transgender Rights panel gave us a look into what fighting for transgender rights looks like in community centers, on the streets, and in the courtroom. Joaquin Carcaño, the lead Plaintiff in Carcaño v. Cooper, spoke of his experience being thrown into the national spotlight as he worked with lawyers, minimum wage groups, and sexual assault prevention organizations to challenge HB 2, the North Carolina bill banning transgender individuals from using public restrooms consistent with their gender identity. Mia Yamamato, a community activist and criminal defense lawyer who grew up in a Japanese internment camp, explained how “coming out is the most revolutionary thing one can do” and emphasized how important it is for different progressive movements to put themselves on the line for each other when so many stand by as transgender men and women are routinely outed in public without any choice in the matter. Bary Hausrath, who runs a firm that specializes in LGBTQ+ representation in trust and estates, warned us to never discount someone as a potential ally based on the community they come from. He has found very meaningful support in rural communities outside his usual network. When asked by an audience member what allies can do to further transgenders rights, the answer was simple: “employ us, give us jobs.”
Chris Kavanaugh ’06 speaks in Caplin Pavilion after receiving the Shaping Justice Award for Extraordinary Achievement. Photo credit Michael Schmid ’21.
Restorative justice was the focus on the Dismantling Mass Incarceration through Restorative Justice panel. Many of us in the audience had no idea what restorative justice looked like in practice, but by the end were inspired by this paradigm-shifting response to the mass incarceration that currently defines the US’s criminal justice system. This practice brings together victims and perpetrators in order to heal harm instead of punish. The issue is that restorative justice is not generalizable. It is not, contrary to the beliefs of many, focused squarely on obtaining forgiveness from the victim. It looks different based on the parties involved, the incident that occurred, and what everyone agrees to beforehand. It is meant to rehabilitate the person who committed the crime by forcing them to confront what they did and mend relations with both the victim and the wider community. We were given the chance to hear from a Restorative Justice advocate, a professor of social work, a member of the NGO Restorative Justice Project, and a public defender who are all working in different ways to deter perpetrators while treating them as real people. One of the speakers warned against the tendency we have to take one person’s story as indicative of an entire group’s lived reality, instead challenging us to “hold things with complexity” and to embrace often changing, messy coalitions. Lawyers should continuously be asking “Who is in this community?” or “Who is being affected by this perpetrators actions?” in order to gain even more support for this movement away from mass incarceration.
Keynote speaker Reginald Dwayne Betts speaks about his life and career in Caplin Pavilion on Friday evening. Photo credit Kolleen Gladden ’21.
The keynote speaker, Reginald Dwayne Betts, had a difficult time getting to UVA for the conference. His plane was canceled, so he decided to take a car from D.C. to Charlottesville. It was during that car ride that he decided to completely change his planned speech for the event, instead using the cities and towns he passed as sign posts for us, explaining his winding journey from prison, to Yale Law School, to political appointment. Mr. Betts is first and foremost a poet. This was evident as he told us about his life as if we were on the curving road with him. It is so important for lawyers and students of the law to engage with those who bear the results of their actions, but too often there is a divide. Mr. Betts, who was still legally a minor when he was imprisoned for nine years, bridges this divide. He knows what it is like to be incarcerated, and can testify to the complete lack of training one is given in prison before they enter back into the real world. He knows what it’s like to study the law and immerse yourself in it, and to struggle to pass national changes through the Office of Juvenile Justice. And it is through his award-winning poetry that Mr. Betts transverses both sides to bring national attention to the devastating effects of mass incarceration. We as UVA students should take his words as inspiration to begin engaging more actively with those currently marginalized by the law. At the end of a day filled with lawyers and activists telling us to reach out and form non-linear networks, challenging us to expand our idea of what justice really means, Reginald Dwayne Betts was the perfect person to send us off on this journey.
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seh4dt@virginia.edu