By A’Niya Robinson, Outgoing Loyola NLG President, and Scott Mottola, Incoming Loyola New Orleans NLG President
One of the most important parts of lawyering is reflecting—seeing what you did well and seeking new opportunities for improvement. In these times, when injustice attempts to shake our core, it’s sometimes difficult to take a moment to reflect, check-in, and, in some cases, celebrate.
The immediate past Executive Board of the Loyola New Orleans NLG Chapter entered law school a few months before the 2016 election. Of course, the challenges wrought by this administration expose a broader continuity of oppression that has been felt by so many for far too long. For many of our members, the reason we came to law school was to change the inequity we unfortunately already knew. After November, our passion transformed into urgency. When we settled into our board positions, we all had ideas about the critical issues threatening our beloved New Orleans, our state’s incarceration epidemic, our country, and our world.
Students brush up their movement lawyering skills at the Movement Lawyering Teach-In (Photo: Tabitha Mustafa)
Keeping in touch with our mission of education and justice, we focused on intentionality and community. In addition to creating a job board for public interest law students and continuing our mentorship program, we were able to send five members to the 2017 NLG #Law4thePeople Convention, co-host two potlucks to establish ties with other public interest law students, facilitate safe conversation spaces for law students of color, and partner with pre-law students from local HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities).
On the local and state level, we co-sponsored a panel on the housing issues faced by New Orleans’ queer community and facilitated a conversation about our state’s criminal justice reforms. On the first anniversary of the 2016 election, we hosted professors, community organizers, formerly incarcerated individuals, and the named plaintiffs of VOTE v. Louisiana, a case currently at the state Supreme Court that may restore voting rights to more than 70,000 formerly incarcerated individuals. We also were honored to host Mr. Albert Woodfox, one of the Angola Three who spent more than 42 years in solitary confinement.
Finally, we assisted with a CLE focused on providing effective representation to Arab and Muslim-Americans, hosted Palestinian lawyers as they taught us movement lawyering skills; and co-sponsored a panel to explore intersectional gender equity. For our work, the National NLG Office invited our chapter to participate in a webinar and share organizing strategies.
As we move forward, the challenges will appear. On some days, it will seem as if they multiplied, hitting from every angle. When this happens, we will reflect on our past work. While we will acknowledge the intensity of injustice, we will also celebrate the bravery in our response.
The ironically beautiful thing about the struggle is that there is always an opportunity for learning, sharing, growing, and action. May we never forget to lean on each other, allowing the spirit of justice to invigorate and ignite us forward. ■
Featured Image: Building community at the start of the year with a potluck. (Photo: Bill Quigley)