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Emily Baxter is the executive director and developer of WAAC. Prior to this, Emily served as the director of advocacy and public policy at the Council on Crime and Justice in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she worked on successful Ban the Box and expungement expansion efforts, and as an assistant public defender at the Regional Native Public Defense Corporation representing indigent members of the Leech Lake and White Earth Bands of Ojibwe charged with crimes in Minnesota State Court. She is a former Fellow at the University of Minnesota Law School’s Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice. She has served on the boards of the Minnesota Second Chance Coalition and the Minnesota Community Corrections Association. Emily began developing We Are All Criminals through an Archibald Bush Leadership Fellowship in 2012. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Emily travels across the country, meeting and collaborating with stakeholders and changemakers in criminal justice reform. After six years of living in Durham, working with the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and creating partnerships with the ACLU, Bragtown Community Association, and other organizations, collectives, and community groups, Emily is now back in Minneapolis.

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Christy Szitta, operations. Christy is an attorney with experience in criminal expungement law, commercial real estate transactions, landlord/tenant law, and trademark law. She previously worked at Volunteer Lawyers Network (VLN), a small nonprofit that matches volunteer attorneys with low-income clients. Christy served as a resource attorney, supporting VLN’s housing and criminal expungement programs by mentoring volunteer attorneys, developing resources for volunteers, and working directly with clients.

Prior to her time at VLN, Christy was an associate in the real estate group at Faegre & Benson LLP (now Faegre Baker Daniels). In addition to her pro bono legal work, she served as a board member and president of the Hennepin County Bar Foundation.  Christy has presented a number of Continuing Legal Education programs in criminal expungement, real estate, and landlord/tenant law.

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We Are All Criminals is a small organization with a team of dedicated volunteers, interns, and advisors across the United States, advocating for reason and mercy in our criminal and juvenile justice systems.

WAAC BOARD

Alicia Smith, Chair:

Alicia Smith is Yupik from Pitka’s Point Village in Alaska. Alicia is the American Indian Advisor for the Economic Opportunity and Nutrition Assistance Programs at the Minnesota Department of Human Services. As the American Indian Advisor, Alicia provides guidance on American Indian worldview to raise the profile of American Indians for better relationships, increased access to services, and equitable outcomes related to anti-poverty and nutrition programs.

Alicia has collaborated with WAAC on presentations where she shares an American Indian worldview on why federal Indian policies and laws have and continue to contribute to incarceration rates of American Indians.

Alicia has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota-Morris and a Master’s Degree in Tribal Administration and Governance from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. When not working, Alicia enjoys running, golfing, and spending time with family including acting with her mom. All of the work Alicia does is on behalf of the American Indian community so they can reach their full potential–intellectually, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Louise Waakaa’igan:

Louise K. Waakaa’igan, an Anishinaabekwe poet, is enrolled at Odaawaa Zaaga ‘iganiing (Lac Courte Orielles) Reservation in northern Wisconsin. Louise is the recipient of the 2017 PEN Poetry first place prize for her poem, “This Is Where.” She is the first-place winner of the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop Broadside competition in 2016 with her poem, “Within.”

Her first poetry collection, This Is Where, was published in 2020 and was chosen as the Central Minnesota Read in Poetry for 2021.

Fong Lee:

Fong Lee is a Saint-Paul-based artist and WAAC’s first Storytelling Fellow. Fong spent nearly 18 years inside Minnesota State prisons; he is a celebrated poet, with publications through the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop and Asian American Writers Workshop, a beloved painter, and a published photographer. Fong is a restorative justice practitioner and the community engagement and partnership coordinator with The Legal Revolution.

Fong and his family immigrated to the U.S. as Hmong refugees when Fong was a child, after his family was displaced from their home in Laos. His experience and expertise with incarceration and displacement enable him to make WAAC all the more dynamic, including strengthening the collaborations between inside and outside artistic partners.

Dr. Ebony Ruhland:

Dr. Ebony Ruhland is an associate professor at Rutgers School of Criminal Justice. Dr. Ruhland received her Ph.D. from the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on how criminal justice policies and practices impact individuals, families, and communities. Dr. Ruhland is currently working on research projects in four areas: 1) examining factors that lead to probation revocations, including the use probation conditions, specifically supervision fees; 2) exploring factors parole members consider to determine readiness for release; 3) identifying ways to bridge police and community relationships; and 4) examining the impacts of parental incarceration on children.

Through her research, Dr. Ruhland hopes to find ways to improve criminal justice and corrections policies to reduce mass incarceration, racial disparities, and collateral consequences while at the same time maintaining public safety.

Mirella Ceja-Orozco, Secretary:

Mirella serves as legal counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee. She is a former co-executive director of the Minnesota Freedom Fund, where she served as a fierce and dedicated advocate of immigrants’ rights. She has dedicated her legal career to helping people navigate the complicated world of immigration law after experiencing its complexities and witnessing its devastating impact on her own family.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mirella moved to the Twin Cities for law school and earned her law degree in 2012 from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law. While in law school, she studied abroad in Florence, Italy, with U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. She has bachelor’s degrees in political science and Native American studies from UC Davis, as well as paralegal certification from UC Berkeley.

She is a former staff attorney at the Ojala Barbour Law Firm in St. Paul. Currently, she is also an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School’s Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic, where she helps students protect and expand immigrants’ rights through lawsuits.

Mirella was selected as a 2022 and 2021 Super Lawyer Rising Star recipient and 2020 Mitchell Hamline Alumni Award recipient. She is the current chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Minnesota/Dakotas chapter. She was a Minnesota Freedom Fund board member from 2019-2021.

Raymond Dehn, Treasurer:

Bio forthcoming.

Christine Smith:

Equity director at Penumbra Theatre. Bio forthcoming.

 

PAST BOARD MEMBERS

Raj Sethuraju:

Dr. Raj Sethuraju is a recovering criminologist and survivor of sexual abuse. Dr. Raj has more than two decades of community-based activism as a researcher and educator. Inspired by the resilience of the youth and the men in our prison systems, he trains probation agents, community members, and justice personnel across the nation on implicit biases and raising consciousness utilizing restorative justice practices. In his latest work, Dr. Raj explores the depths of our justice system and creates a framework in which consciousness becomes the roots of our practices.

 

Sarah Davis:

Sarah is the Director of the Children and Families Division at the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. She is the former Executive Director of the Legal Rights Center, a nonprofit community law firm in Minneapolis. Sarah became Legal Rights Center’s sixth Executive Director in 2020 and is the first woman and member of the LGBTQIA+ community to serve in this role. She is a deeply experienced and innovative leader and advocate, driven by an unrelenting commitment to racial equity and community-led transformational change in our justice system

Sarah has worked as a criminal defense attorney with youth and adults facing justice system involvement since 2007, beginning her career as a public defender in Massachusetts and joining the Legal Rights Center in Minnesota in 2012. She is also a deeply experienced and committed restorative practitioner. Much of her work focuses on advancing community-driven systems change that is both transformational and sustainable.

Sara Jones, Secretary:

Sara Jones is the executive director of the Great North Innocence Project, fighting to free the innocent, shining light on injustices in our legal system, and working independently and in coalition with other organizations to pass laws and implement policies that minimize the chances of wrongful convictions and remedy injustices. Sara is an advocate with a breadth and depth of experience in nonprofit development and management, and public service in law. She formerly served as Strategic Giving Director for Breck School in Golden Valley, Minnesota. Sara received her law degree from the University of Minnesota, and her B.S. in Communication Studies from Northwestern University.

Sara’s involvement with the cause of justice began while growing up with her father, who served as Minnesota’s State Public Defender for nearly 25 years and taught criminal and constitutional law. They had ongoing conversations about justice, mercy, opportunity, and seeing the humanity in everyone. Sara’s life also involves a loved one with a criminal record, and she has been deeply affected by that as well.

“We Are All Criminals powerfully combines advocacy and artistry that chip away at the notion of ‘them’ and ‘us’ to reveal that WE are all human. I believe the work of improving our flawed and biased system of justice must be seen through that lens. We are missing out on vast amounts of human potential and capacity for good as a result of the horrendous inequities in our society and our criminal justice system. I want to help change that.”

Nadine Graves:

Nadine Graves is a Minnesota native and a graduate of Delaware State University, where she earned a BA in Sociology and Criminal Justice, and Mitchell Hamline School of Law, where she focused on public interest areas of law. In law school, Nadine was actively involved in the Black Law Students Association, Christian Legal Society, and Criminal Law Society. Throughout her educational career, she has demonstrated exemplary leadership skills: as student director of the Child Protection Clinic, she excelled in court hearings and fostered strong client relationships, earning high marks from judges. Nadine was an editor of the Journal of Public Policy and Practice and also found time for several community activities, including the Open Doors to Federal Courts program, where she educated urban students about Thurgood Marshall. Nadine is a former assistant public defender in Hennepin County, Minnesota and is currently the Director of Community Legal Services at the Legal Rights Center.

Nadine has a long history of working with and advocating for people in need. A significant amount of her experience is in human services working assisting underprivileged and underrepresented people of diverse social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds predominately in Minneapolis. Nadine works primarily with people struggling with barriers caused by criminal backgrounds and dependence upon public assistance; through individual advocacy, she helps people overcome those barriers and receive opportunities to self-sufficiency through education, employment, and training. 

Nadine’s advocacy isn’t limited to direct service. She is a voice for racial equity and meaningful justice reform at the Capitol, too. She has testified at Minnesota’s Second Chance Day on the Hill in support of Ban the Box, expungement reform, and voters’ rights restoration.

Check out her podcast: The Waiting Room with Nadine Graves. In The Waiting Room, Nadine provides a mic for the unheard, exposing the invisible impact of the US criminal legal system through the stories of those waiting for justice, waiting for freedom, and the professionals helping those in the wait.

Nadine is a mother of two boys and is actively involved in her local church.

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Ingrid Nuttall:

Ingrid Nuttall has worked at the University of Minnesota for nearly 20 years, currently in the Office of Information Technology. She is an active volunteer in higher ed and community organizations, including the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission, Amicus, and the Higher Education User Group. As the chair of WAAC’s Board of Directors, Ingrid seeks to bring together her passion for education and the arts with the goal of increasing conversations about how the legacy of a criminal record affects families, friends, and communities.

Of her participation with WAAC, Ingrid says: “Like many of you, I have been personally affected by incarceration. It has, in fact, been only recently that I have been able to feel comfortable even sharing those words with many friends, let alone with the internet. Someone I love has been incarcerated, and it continues to affect our lives to this day.

As I became more accepting of my own history, I started to look for opportunities to be engaged in a community where my experience might be productive, and I must say I had no idea where to begin. It was hard to get involved, it was hard to understand what difference I could make outside of policy or legal work. And then, I met Emily when we had an in-depth conversation in the women’s restroom in a church in Saint Paul. Of course, that is where I would find We Are All Criminals.”

Ingrid continues to volunteer with We Are All Criminals, focusing on the effects of incarceration on family members.

Richard McLemore II:

Richard McLemore II is the founder of 1 Day At A Time. 1DAAT (formerly McLemore Holdings) was created to fill a void in critical housing education not shared with the masses. Having experienced homelessness despite being gainfully employed, Richard understands the struggle to obtain and retain safe and affordable housing. Informed by his own history, 1DAAT’s foundation is holistic housing education.

Richard is the former Director of Employment & Housing at Ujamaa Place, an African American culturally-specific organization focused on young black men who have been involved with the criminal legal system. He is honored to be a part of such an innovative supportive team whose focus is bettering the world one mind at a time.

Richard has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Metropolitan State University, as well as an Associate in Applied Science degree in Micro-Computer Technology, from Century College. Prior to his current position, Richard was the Alternatives to Violence Project Program Coordinator with Friends for a Nonviolent World.

Richard is a firm believer in positive change, and “if you can think it – you can achieve it.

It is natural, then that he also volunteers his time facilitating psycho-social workshops on mental and emotional healing to those incarcerated in State, Federal, and Juvenile Prisons, as well as county jails throughout the state of Minnesota, a Racial Justice Facilitator for the YWCA, and a circle group leader with juveniles incarcerated at the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center. Richard founded the Community Diversion Program – an extension of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative to help curve juvenile incarceration rates.

Jennifer Labovitz:

Jennifer Labovitz has over 30 years of experience in strategic planning, management, and fundraising for non-profits. Jennifer’s varied background stretches from construction work in the Florida Keys to fisheries in Alaska, and in Minnesota consulting for Honeywell, the Guthrie Theater and other non-profits. She is a past-president of the Minnesota Council on Crime and Justice in Minneapolis.

Rooted in helping organizations find their voice and secure funding, Jennifer has served on the boards of Theater de la Jeune Lune, Lake Country Montessori School, the Council on Crime and Justice, and the Foundation of the Cathedral of St. Mark’s.

“I was drawn to issues around criminal justice because almost everyone who goes into prison comes out; what kind of a person do we want at the end of their sentence and how do we best serve all of our communities? The innovative approach of We Are All Criminals invites people to summon empathy and become open to new ways of thinking about policy.”

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Jerome Graham:

Jerome Graham is a Minnesota native, raised in North Minneapolis. He graduated from Boston University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Business Marketing. Jerome has fifteen years of direct service experience working in the mental health and social services fields with underserved and vulnerable children, adults and families. He is currently working for the St Paul Public Schools as a youth mentor and circle group facilitator.

Of WAAC, Jerome says, “I love serving youth and mentoring because I didn’t have my dad in my life nor many positive adult role-models in my life growing up and I know in retrospect that I would have made some better choices had I received further guidance. There are too many negative influences that are capturing the youths attention, so it’s vital that the caring adults counter-engage them with positivity, information, and love.

I sought to be a part of WAAC, because Emily Baxter has such a big and beautiful heart and I totally support her mission and vision. In addition, I’m convinced that the criminal justice system is operating nefariously and the racial disparities make it quite evident. Change for the better is imminent and the catapult is nationwide unity on the ideas of equity and equality for all.”

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Barbara Nilles: 

Barbara Nilles holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from the College of Business and Public Administration at the University of North Dakota and attended the University of Minnesota majoring in accounting. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and her areas of specialization include not-for-profit organizations, financial planning and analysis, as well as small business and individual tax.

In her role as Chief Financial Officer with the Jewish Community Center of the Greater St. Paul Area, Barbara is responsible for the financial planning and management, budget development, and supervision of the accounting staff. There, she participates in long-term strategic planning efforts, agency-wide programs, and serves as a leader among the staff and volunteers.

Barbara is from North Dakota with more than 25 years of experience working with small, mid-size and large clients.

“WAAC,” she says, “provides common sense and reason to possibly long-held beliefs of what a criminal looks like. It brings the picture into focus.”

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Perry Moriearty:

Perry Moriearty is a professor of law at the University of Minnesota, with expertise in clinical legal education and juvenile justice. She teaches criminal law, race and the law, and co-directs the Child Advocacy and Juvenile Justice Clinic. Before joining the University of Minnesota, Perry taught at the University of Denver and the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Suffolk University Law School in Boston.

Over the last several years, Perry has led her child advocacy and juvenile justice clinic in work related to Miller v. Alabama, in which the US Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole were unconstitutional for juvenile defendants. Perry has also offered critical examinations of the 1990s preoccupation with so-called “juvenile superpredators” and the corresponding increase in racial disparities in juvenile confinement.

Perry received a B.A. with honors in English and American Literature from Brown University and a J.D. from New York University. She spent five years as an associate with Ropes & Gray in Boston, specializing in civil litigation, labor and employment, and white-collar criminal defense matters, and a year with the Juvenile Defense Network, a project of the juvenile division of the public defender’s office focused on training juvenile defenders throughout Massachusetts.

Perry serves on the boards of the McKnight Foundation and the Clinical Legal Education Association. She has worked closely with legal services and grassroots organizations assisting underserved juvenile populations throughout her career and has been actively involved in the passage of several pieces of legislation.