Please join the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy (CSRD) for "Reimagining Public Safety: Justice, Equity, and Anti-Racism."
CSRD Director Peniel Joseph, the Barbara Jordan Chair of Ethics and Political Values will moderate the conversation with Sukyi McMahon, the strategic director and board chair of the Austin Justice Coalition, and Kellee Coleman of the city of Austin Equity Office.
Sukyi McMahon provides strategic planning and direction for AJC, and leadership for the criminal justice policy team. Inspired by an activist father, she began her work as a human rights activist with Refuse & Resist! in 1999, and continues to transform safety and justice in her community and beyond. McMahon also works for Columbia University Justice Lab as the manager of the Square One Project's Roundtable on the Future of Justice Policy. Previously the policy coordinator at Just Liberty, a bipartisan 501c(4) organization dedicated to criminal justice reform in Texas, she draws from decades of experience as a writer, editor and entrepreneur. McMahon has owned and operated two local businesses, Forte Resume Service and Fifth Dimension Books, and has taught literature and writing courses at Texas State University-San Marcos and Texas A&M University-Central Texas. She has a B.A. in literature from Texas Tech University and an M.A. in literature from Texas State University.
Kellee Coleman has 18+ years of social justice organizing experience integrating media and education as strategies for social change. In 2008, she co-founded Vibrant Woman/Mama Sana prenatal clinic, a project of Mamas of Color Rising that provides prenatal care, fitness and nutrition services, birth companions, and midwifery services to lower income Black and Latina folks in Austin. In 2013, Coleman facilitated the Austin Public Health Department's community health workers training focused on health equity issues impacting Black women in Austin, Texas. She is a member of Incite! Women and Trans* People of Color Against Violence, and she has consulted with numerous organizations on equity and reproductive issues including the U.S. Midwifery Education, Regulation, & Association, MANA, A National Latina Organization, UT Austin LBJ School, and the Austin Women's Community Center. Coleman has three children and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from St. Edwards University.