Anti-Racism Day

2026 Anti-Racism Day: A Century of Law, A Future of Justice

Date

Friday, March 13, 2026

Program

Welcome and Introduction

10 a.m. | Belson Moot Court Room

• Dean & Rose DiMartino and Karen Sue Smith Professor of Law Jelani Jefferson Exum
• Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Vernadette Horne

Keynote Address

10:20 a.m. | Belson Moot Court Room 

Danielle Conway, Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law, Penn State Dickinson Law 

Concurrent Sessions I

11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. 

Choose One:
Racism and the War on Migrant Children (Room 1-13)
This panel will examine the impact of systemic racism on the rapidly changing legal landscape for young people seeking refuge in the United States. A former immigration judge, joined by a social worker who works directly with migrant children, will discuss how our racialized immigration system strips children and their caregivers of legal protections, traumatizing children of color and their families and depriving them of the longstanding legal protections designed to protect them from harm. The panel will explore the dehumanizing impact of racialized immigration on children’s health, safety, education, and socialization, and will facilitate an understanding of the need for a more compassionate, race-neutral, and just national immigration policy.

Moderators:

• Professor Anna Arons
• Professor Jennifer Baum

Panelists:

• Hon. Olivia Cassin, Former New York Immigration Court judge
• Juliana Pinto McKeen, Social Worker, Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights — New York Child Advocate Program

Regulation of Queerness as a Tool for White Supremacy (Room 1-15)
This panel examines the complex intersections of whiteness, queer identity, and disability, exploring how race and ability shape the construction, regulation, and lived experience of LGBTQ identities. Panelists will discuss how whiteness and ableism have shaped their scholarship and professional experience.

Moderator: Professor Noa Ben-Asher 

Panelists:

• Professor Adrian Alvarez
• Professor Tyler Rose Clemons
• Professor Darren Rosenblum

The Campaign to Release Aging People from Prison (Room LL-01)
Join formerly incarcerated leaders of the Release Aging People from Prison Campaign (RAPP) for a showing of the documentary film "The Interview: The Dehumanizing Nature of the Parole Process" to be followed by a panel discussion. The Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP Campaign is a grassroots advocacy organization created and led by formerly incarcerated people, family members of people in prison, and advocates. It works to end mass incarceration and promote racial justice through the release of aging people in prison and those serving long sentences. It works to dismantle the racist policies of mass incarceration by expanding the use of parole, compassionate release, clemency, and other forms of release in New York State. By organizing community power to free incarcerated elders, the RAPP Campaign works to uproot a system of endless punishment that fuels mass incarceration and damages Black and other communities of color.

Moderator: Professor Martin LaFalce

Panelists: 

• Jose Saldana, Director, Release Aging People from Prison
• Stanley "Jamel" Bellamy, NYC Regional Community Organizer, Release Aging People from Prison
• Vanessa Santiago, Brooklyn/Queens Community Leader and Canvasser, Release Aging People from Prison
• Bobby Ehrenberg, Community Leader, Release Aging People from Prison

Lunch 

1 to 2 p.m. | Ground Floor Solarium

Concurrent Sessions II

2:15 to 3:30 p.m. 

Choose One:
Inherited Inequity: Racism’s Impact on Intergenerational Wealth and Property Transfers (Room 1-13)
This panel explores the deep and lasting connections between racism, property division laws, and the transfer of intergenerational wealth. It examines how historical and systemic racism have shaped who has access to property, housing and economic opportunity. This has increased the racial wealth gap, curtailed the transfer of intergenerational wealth, and destroyed neighborhoods.

Moderator: Professor Ann Goldweber

Panelists:

• Michael Corcoran, Director, Homeowner and Consumer Rights Project, Queens Legal Services
• K. Scott Kohanowski, General Counsel, Center for New York City Neighborhoods
• Elshaday Yeshtila Yilma '26, Student, St. John's University School of Law

Race and Voting in the United States: the Voting Rights Act, Gerrymandering and the U.S. Supreme Court (Room 1-15) 
This panel will discuss the intersection between race and voting in the United States in several contexts, including: the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and recent and potential futures limits on it by the Supreme Court; political and racial gerrymandering of voting districts and judicial treatment of both, and the proposed SAVE Act, potential Constitutional challenges if it is passed and its potential negative impacts on voting rights for women and racial minorities.

Panelists:

• Professor Mark Niles
• Grayce Niles, Associate Director for Policy and Research, Sandy Hook Promise

The New Color of Money: Is Crypto Breaking Barriers or Building Bubbles? (Room LL-01)
For generations, the "Color of Money" has dictated who has access to economic opportunity in the United States and who is excluded by the impacts of systemic racism. Today, digital assets like cryptocurrency are often promoted as ways to expand financial access. But it remains unclear whether these technologies will increase equity or create new forms of exclusion. This panel brings together experts from academia, public policy, and enforcement to examine the impact of cryptocurrency on Black communities. We will explore whether digital assets can help reduce long‑standing barriers to wealth creation or whether they expose vulnerable groups to new risks. The panelists will explore the concept of predatory inclusion, and the risks, rewards, and key regulatory challenges related to cryptocurrencies.

Moderator: Professor Christine Lazaro

Panelists: 

• Shantelee Christie, Assistant Attorney General, Office of the New York State Attorney General, Investor Protection Bureau
• Cantrell Dumas, Senior Researcher, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
• Lynnise Pantin, Pritzker Pucker Family Clinical Professor of Transactional Law; Vice Dean for Experiential Education, Columbia University School of Law

More Information

For more information about the 2026 Anti-Racism Day at St. John's Law, please contact Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Vernadette Horne at [email protected]