For Black History Month the Institute for Policy Studies’ Criminalization of Race and Poverty project hosts Muhammad Ibn Bashir, Esq. for a fast paced, interactive people’s practicum on how to defend Black people in a criminal justice setting. Attorney Bashir will explore and explain Criminal Justice within the context of history, politics, social indoctrination and prevailing pathologies by the use of historic, contemporary and personal anecdotes, case law, legislative intent and actual cases.

Participants will be guided through a deconstruction of interconnections between law and political motivation; history and perception that will address the reality and myths associated with representing and defending black people in the criminal justice system.

Join us and leave understanding the intersections between systemic racism, cross examination of police narratives, jury selection, perception versus reality of black defendants, and strategic use of plea bargaining. Learn about a much neglected educational perspective on how to defend Black America in and out of the courtroom, for those genuinely interested in Criminal Justice reform or fighting for the defense of Black America. Come, legal professionals, social justice advocates and organizers, and the general public alike.

Please RSVP http://ips-dc.org/rawlawdefense

MUHAMMAD IBN BASHIR, ESQ. is a retired Criminal Trial Lawyer with thirty (30) years of criminal trial experiences to match fifty (50) plus years of social activism. He has represented criminal defendants in not less than 12 states, including the District, Maryland and Virginia, in Federal, State and Local courts and was co-counsel in the infamous World Trade Bombing trial in New York in 1993. He is the author of RAW LAW: An Urban Guide to Criminal Justice (Simon & Schuster, 2010) an acclaimed expose on the criminal justice system and APRIL 4th: Lessons on Living and Dying (IM Publishing, 2018) a tribute to the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. He also authored the “RAW LAW” column for Don Diva Magazine, (2010-2018) and can be heard on Facebook (under Raw Law), WBGRNetwork.com and RadioonFire.com where his lectures and commentary on criminal justice, social, political and historic events and issues are archived and featured.