Keynote / Plenary Session: Unfinished Arcs: Ferguson and Beyond

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Session Type: AALS Programs

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: Marriott St. Louis Grand

Room: Majestic D

Floor: Second Floor, Conference Plaza

As we gather in St. Louis Missouri ten years after the Ferguson Uprising, the opening plenary of the 2024 Clinical Conference on Legal Education will explore the role of resistance and resilience in achieving change in the face of backlash and retrenchment. The session honors St. Louis’s rich history of people who have fought for change in the face of discrimination, injustice, and great personal risk—from Dred and Harriet Scott in 1846 to the community members who sparked the Ferguson Uprising after Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in 2014.

With the rollback of rights nationally and the spread of new restrictive laws and policies targeting vulnerable groups at the state and local level, moderator Brendan Roediger of St. Louis School of Law will explore these themes with advocates pushing for change on the front lines in Missouri. Panelists include Jamala Rogers, Organization for Black Struggle; Blake Strode, Executive Director, ArchCity Defenders, a holistic legal advocacy organization that combats the criminalization of poverty and state violence, especially in communities of color; and Shira Berkowitz Senior Director Public Policy and Advocacy from PROMO Missouri, an organization that confronts systemic inequities to liberate the full spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community from discrimination and oppression.

The panel will examine what lessons can be drawn from the Ferguson Uprising and other continued efforts to advance and protect the rights of marginalized communities in the face of backlash and retrenchment. It will consider the skills, strategies, and theories of change, particularly regarding social movements and the role of lawyers, that we must impart to our students.