The Drug War against Black America

This event is free and open to the public — register today — bring a friend. We will have registration at the door.

Radley Balko is an American journalist, author, blogger, and speaker who writes about criminal justice, the drug war, and civil liberties for The Washington Post. He was previously a senior writer and investigative reporter at the Huffington Post. He is the author of Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces, and his work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Mississippi Supreme Court. Radley also writes about the music and culture of Nashville, Tennessee, where he lives. A graduate of Indiana University, Radley has also been a senior editor at Reason magazine, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute, and an opinion columnist for FoxNews.com.

Neill Franklin is the executive director of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) whose mission is to speak out about the failures of our exiting drug policies. Over his 33-year law-enforcement career, Neill watched hardworking and dedicated fellow cops die in the line of fire enforcing policies that don’t do any good. After 23 years with the Maryland State Police, including as an undercover narc and as the head trainer for drug enforcement, Neill was recruited by the Baltimore Police Department to reorganize its education and training division. In 2010 he began his work with LEAP.

Kassandra Frederique is the New York policy manager at the Drug Policy Alliance. She works to build powerful coalitions in communities devastated by drug misuse and the war on drugs. Kassandra currently manages the Fairness and Equity campaign, which is working throughout New York State to end racially biased marijuana arrests and policing practices, as well as to create policy solutions to ameliorate the collateral consequences of criminal justice involvement. Prior to DPA, she served as a social worker in the South Bronx and organized workers in Chicago and New Orleans. Kassandra earned her master’s degree in social work at Columbia University and a B.S. in industrial labor relations at Cornell University.

Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. Jacob was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. In 1987, Jacob left the practice of law to become director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. He established FFF in 1989 and continues to advance freedom and free markets through his daily blog, articles, ebooks, speeches, and Internet and talk-radio shows. He has been on Fox News’ Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and was a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s show Freedom Watch.

Aaron Rodriguez is a Philosophy and Religious Studies assistant professor and pre-law advisor at Morgan State University. He came to Morgan State University in Fall 2014 from the University of Oregon and is developing the Public Philosophy program at Morgan State, which seeks to bring the work academic philosophers are doing to bear on the needs and concerns of the community of which they are a part, and likewise to have those needs and concerns significantly influence philosophers’ teaching and scholarship. Aaron is a proud native of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Seema Sadanandan is the Criminal Justice Director at ACLU of the Nation’s Capital. She joined the ACLU-NCA in 2013 and oversees non-litigation advocacy efforts in defending civil rights and liberties in the District. Seema leads the organization’s efforts in combatting discrimination and addressing other issues that have a disproportionate impact on communities of color, such as the enforcement of the District’s marijuana laws and the need for decriminalization. Prior to joining the ACLU, Seema was a documentary filmmaker and campaign strategist for social movements in the United States and abroad. She is a graduate of American University’s Washington College of Law and Tulane University.

Joseph Scalia is the driving force behind the Great Baltimore Bounce Back. Joe was born and raised in Baltimore. He graduated from the University of Maryland College Park with a B.S. in Economics and from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1991.  He practices law and holds a Maryland real estate license and operates a real estate consulting firm in Baltimore. Joe lived and practiced law in Las Vegas during its spectacular growth. Joe watched a city with none of Baltimore’s huge resources, literally build itself from nothing. In returning to Baltimore, Joe sees the City’s potential in a new light. Joe set about reminding people of all the great things the City has to offer and has started a campaign to apply the Las Vegas’ growth strategies to Baltimore.

Directions and parking information from the Morgan State University website:
https://www.morgan.edu/about/visit_morgan/directionsparking.html

If you have any questions about the program, please contact Alicia Cannon at acannon@fff.org or Bart Frazier at bfrazier@fff.org or call 703-934-6101. Register today.