Stepping it up: Creating Powerful Multiracial Alliances with Progressive Bloggers
At this critical time for our nation, the progressive blogosphere often neglects to discuss larger social justice issues, particularly those related to race and ethnicity. As a result, critical concerns like immigration enforcement and criminal justice are mostly covered by nativist and politically conservative bloggers who use a "personal responsibility” frame to dismiss any attempts at systemic change. This session will examine the importance of tackling this disparity and identify the role of progressive bloggers in shaping public policy around social justice issues. Given corporate media’s attention to issues of immigration enforcement and the revival of the comprehensive immigration reform debate in recent months, it is crucial that progressive bloggers are prepared to expand the public dialogue around these issues.
Will Coley is a latte-drinking, bike-riding, NY Times-reading, taco-loving, social justice do-gooder freak show originally from North Carolina now living in Los Angeles. He has been an advocate and organizer with immigrants and refugees in NC, NY/NJ and CA, as well as in Zimbabwe and Great Britain. Will has Bachelor of Arts from Wake Forest University, a master's in public administration from Columbia University and a postgraduate certificate in forced migration studies from the University of Oxford. Will received the Reebok Human Rights Award in 2001. Will currently assists community groups utilize social media in strategies for community-building and advocacy.
Cheryl Contee, Partner at Fission Strategy, specializes in helping non-profit organizations and foundations use social media for social good. She is also the co-founder of JackandJillPolitics.com writing as Jill Tubman on one of the top 10 black blogs online, She has over 13 years of award-winning interactive expertise and previously served as lead digital strategist for Fleishman-Hillard for the West Coast in San Francisco. Cheryl has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, San Francisco Magazine, BBC and CNN among other media appearances. She received her B.A. from Yale University and has an M.B.A. from Georgetown University.
Rinku Sen is the Executive Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) and Publisher of ColorLines magazine. She has written extensively about immigration, community organizing and women's lives for publications including The Huffington Post, Jack and Jill Politics, The San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes.com, AlterNet, and ColorLines. She has written two books: Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing (Jossey-Bass) and most recently, The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization (Berrett-Koehler), which won the Nautilus Book Award Silver Medal. Rinku was named one of 21 feminists to watch in the 21st century by Ms. Magazine.
Kyle was born in Guatemala of U.S. citizen parents. He spent is early life on a shrimp farm in rural Guatemala, and was educated at an international school in Guatemala City.
After being accepted into Harvard, he took time off to retrace the route of a Guatemalan migrant into the U.S. and almost lost his life in the process. The journey changed his life and he was reborn as a blogger and a migrant advocate.
Recently, Kyle has developed a particular focus organizing undocumented youth online and on the ground, and is currently a student at Harvard College.
Jacki Esposito is the policy coordinator at Detention Watch Network, a national coalition of advocates working toward the humane reform of the immigration detention and deportation system. Prior to joining DWN, Jacki served as a staff attorney in the Criminal Defense Division of the Legal Aid Society in New York City where she gained firsthand experience working with individuals facing mandatory detention and subsequent deportation as a result of their contact with the criminal justice system.
Today, Jacki lives in Washington, D.C. with her dog, Benny.
