By Steve Thorpe
Legal News
After a rally and march last week that drew more than 450 participants, the organization Youth Voice has another event planned for today they hope will draw attention to what they call the “School to Prison Pipeline.”
The group, along with the University of Detroit Mercy Law ACLU Chapter, the ACLU of Michigan Metro Detroit Branch and the National Lawyers Guild are hoping to address what they call a lack of options for urban youth that funnels students from school directly into the criminal justice system.
The University of Detroit Mercy School of Law will host the program today from 5 -7 p.m.
UDM Law student Macie Tuiasosopo is one of the organizers of the event and saw first hand how school policies like mandatory expulsions can put students on the wrong track.
“I grew up in Los Angeles and had experience with the Los Angeles school system and also other systems in the area,” she said. “I had four cousins I went to school with and I was the only one who ended up graduating. A couple of them ended up in prison.”
The panels at today’s event will include Professor Sarah J. Forman, Director of the Youth Justice Clinic at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law who will provide an overview of the School to Prison Pipeline; Kayla Mason, Lead Community Organizer at the Harriet Tubman Center, who will highlight, “The Need For Restorative Justice” issue; Professor Peter Hammer, Director of Damon Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State Law School, who will speak on race and education; and Rodd Monts, ACLU of Michigan Field Director, who will explain how to address the legal issues.
Most importantly, at the event Youth Voice students will explain what the School to Prison Pipeline means to them.
Youth Voice has 10 chapters based in southwest, north, northwest, Brightmoor/Cody Rouge, and east Detroit and is developing a new chapter in Ypsilanti. During weekly meetings, the youth select issues, learn organizing strategies, conduct research and build relationships with city officials like Mayor Dave Bing. They were also instrumental in a violence reduction program called Ceasefire, which secured $1.5 million from the Department of Justice.
Tuiasosopo’s involvement with Youth Voice began at a movie screening.
“I got involved with Youth Voice as part of my involvement with other progressive organizations at the law school like the ACLU and the Center for Social and Economic Justice,” she said. “We were all at a viewing of a movie about the prison system and Youth Voice was there. They talked about the school to prison pipeline, which was one of the issues I’ve handled at the ACLU. They invited me and a colleague to see what they are and what they’re doing.”
Tuiasosopo believes that the coming together of two organizations for the event will make for an especially strong program.
“It’s a collaboration of two different law schools,” she said. “UDM is primarily bringing the juvenile justice component and then Wayne State is bringing the racial and education components and then the Youth Justice kids are actually the potential victims. I think the collaboration of those different groups has made it something special.”
The program will be in Room 226 of the UDM Law downtown facility today from 5 -7 p.m. and a light dinner will be provided. The event is free and the public is welcome. For more information, contact Macie Tuiasosopo at 520-204-4519 or macietui@gmail.com.
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