Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

Join me, Dan Berger and Bryan Stevenson (founder and director of Equal Justice Initiative) on Thursday, March 5th, for a conversation on race, the criminal justice system, mass incarceration and resistance as part of the Black Freedom Studies at the NYPL's Schomburg Center.

Thursday, March 5th, 6 to 8 pm
Schomburg Center
515 Malcolm X Blvd
The event is free and open to the public.
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/conversations-in-black-freedom-studies-race-...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrxLzjW2eoc&feature=youtu.be

The worlds we create in books, whether historical, contemporary or fantasy, inform our notions of ourselves and our possibilities. Yet fewer than 10% of the books published for children and young adults in recent years featured main characters of color. Fewer still were written by authors of color.

Join us for a panel discussion about race in children’s and young adult books. How are characters of color written about in children’s fiction today? Which books represent communities of color accurately, and which do not?

Missed seeing my panel about women in prison at the Left Forum? You can now watch it here!

Why Are Women In Prison?: The Politics of Risk

Saturday, May 31, 12 to 2 pm, Room 1.76

Click here for video

In discussions about prison reform and decarceration, how does the concept of "risk" influence who goes to prison and for how long?

Policing Gender: a dialogue at the Foundry Theatre

I have the honor to be speaking alongside Kai Lumumba Barrow and Andrea Ritchie (Streetwise and Safe) on WEDNESDAY, May 14th, as part of the Foundry Dialogues.

What's gender got to do with policing and prison? Did you know that the number of women in prison is increasing at nearly double the rate for men? What does this mean?

Join me, Savanna Stokely of Birthing Behind Bars, and Tamar Kraft-Stolar of the Women in Prison Project for a discussion of the issues around women’s reproductive health and reproductive rights inside prisons, and the reproductive rights issues that feed into the prison industrial complex.

The panelists will share personal stories and discuss their work experience, focusing on current local and national campaigns.

I'll be tabling issues of Tenacious: Art & Writings by Women in Prison at the NYC Feminist Zinefest. Come by and say hello! If you haven't picked up your copy of Tenacious (or of Resistance Behind Bars) yet, you can get one here.

I'll also be doing a short reading from Tenacious between short reading from 2:50 to 3 pm.

Saturday, March 1st, 1 to 6 pm

NYC Feminist Zinefest
Barnard College
3009 Broadway
James Room
(4th floor, Barnard Hall)

Free Marissa Alexander Fundraising Party
featuring live music from Daro Behroozi & friends, plus DJ Madame Turk
with special guests (including me!) TBA

Sunday, December 15, 4:30 to 8 PM
at Billie's Black Restaurant and Lounge

I appeared on Current TV's Viewpoint last night to talk more in depth about the sterilizations that happened in California women's prisons and the issues of reproductive justice (or injustice) happening in women's prisons across the nation.

You can watch a clip of that segment here: http://current.com/shows/viewpoint/videos/victoria-law-says-female-priso...

I don't have any summer public events planned for Resistance Behind Bars. It doesn't meant that I haven't been talking about issues facing people inside women's prisons though.

This past Saturday, I was on the Melissa Harris-Perry show to talk about the Pelican Bay hunger strikes, the issue of solitary confinement in general, and the sterilization of nearly 150 women in California prisons between 2006 and 2010.

Part 1 of a presentation I gave at the 3rd Annual Law & Disorder conference in Portland in 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JqrZBaafYXs
Part 2 of the presentation (which moves into present-day mass incarceration) is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGs9Jla8GLo&feature=relmfu

Prisoners and Formerly Incarcerated Persons v the USA