I am a political philosophy student, attorney, technologist, co-founder of Black Movement-Law Project, a legal support rapid response group that grew out of the uprisings in Ferguson, Baltimore, and elsewhere. I am currently a partner at O’Neill and Hassen LLP, a law practice focused on indigent criminal defense. Prior to this current work, I was the Mass Defense Coordinator at the National Lawyers Guild. I have also worked as a political campaign manager and strategist, union organizer, and community organizer.
I am particularly interested in exploring the the dynamic nature of institutions, political movements, and their interactions from the perspective of Complex Systems studies.
Some Quotes I Like
Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories.
― Amilcar Cabral
To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter.
— James Baldwin
Racism, in other words, is neither attitude nor bigotry nor prejudice. It is an act, and it is a repetition of the act of racism that makes race looks like a real entity.
— Barbara Fields
The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best – and therefore never scrutinize or question.
— Stephen Jay Gould
Clichés, stock phrases, adherence to conventional, standardized codes of expression and conduct have the socially recognized function of protecting us against reality
— Hannah Arendt
Knowingness is a state of soul which prevents shudders of awe. It makes one immune to romantic enthusiasm.
— Richard Rorty
Like physics, economics is more or less closed to the layman through being technical and counter-intuitive: unlike physics, however, it does not repay this loss by presenting reliable and agreed results, or indeed by being manifestly superior in its judgments to those of the layman.
— Ernest Gellner
Selected Media and Publications
- Interview with me on EFF’s How to Fix the Internet podcast
- Meet the EFA, Panel at HOPE 20, (video linked)
- The Left Should Direct the Impeachment Effort, Truthout.org
- Mueller Investigation Will Set a Precedent — Make It a Good One, Truthout.org
- Panel at The 35th Session of The Human Rights Council: Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association in The U.S., Geneva, CH (video linked)
- Encryption vs. Surveillance in the New Civil Rights Movement, Truthout.org
- Aaron Was a Criminal and So Are You, Commondreams.org