Meet Our Panel:
Moderator: Keith L.T. Wright is the current Leader of the New York County Democrats, a position he has held since 2009. From 1992 through 2016, he served as a Member of the New York State Assembly. Wright served Co-Chair of the New York State Democratic Committee from 2012-2014. Keith has been a staunch advocate for meaningful criminal justice reform for decades. Having endured unabashed discrimination by the police and many in power, he became committed to creating a more just landscape for his own sons and the greater community. We are all New Yorkers and we all deserve access to a system that prides itself on seeking justice and providing fairness under the law.
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Iesha Sekou is the Founder and CEO of Street Corner Resources Inc., a not for profit 501(c)(3), founded in 2007 and operating in Harlem, USA. Its mission is to help young people by providing greater access to education, training opportunities, real employment and other resources which help improve their lives.
Iesha’s responsibilities with Street Corner Resources include managing the Cure Violence Anti-Gun Violence program. Street Corner Resources is one of 18 Cure Violence sites throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Congressman Charles Rangel proclaimed her a visionary whose work has made a significant impact on the Harlem community. Iesha has spent countless hours at rallies and press conferences denouncing violence. You can also find her facilitating panels around the city, working to raise awareness of the ills of urban youth violence.
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Charles Johnson Esq. is a 2019 NAACP Nextgen graduate and member of the Mid-Manhattan NAACP Branch in New York where he serves Vice Chair of its Criminal Justice Committee. Charles is an HBCU graduate of Fort Valley State University with a Bachelors of Art degree in Political Science, Magna Cum Laude. Charles currently serves as Vice Chairman and acting CEO of Protective Capital Structures Corporation (PCSO), a public company in the financial sector. Additionally, Charles serves as a Board Member to Community Board 10 in Central Harlem where serves as member of its Economic Development Committee and as Chair for its Public Safety Committee. Charles is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
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Jerika Richardson is Senior Advisor & Secretary to the Board for the nation’s largest independent police oversight agency, the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board. She focuses on strategy and public education and engagement, serving as liaison for the Board and Deputy Executive Director for the Agency. Previously, Ms. Richardson served as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Counsel to the Mayor of New York City and Special Advisor to the Mayor for media relations, criminal justice, and public safety planning. Before serving in City Hall, Ms. Richardson was the Senior Spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York and a Field Producer & Off-Air Reporter for ABC News. Ms. Richardson remains civically engaged by serving on Manhattan’s Community Board 10 and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Advisory Committee on Cultural Engagement, providing media and policy guidance to political campaigns, and fundraising for progressive candidates. Ms. Richardson was named a New York City 40 Under 40 Rising Star by City & State Magazine.
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Djali Cepeda-Brown is the Founder and Curator of Nuevayorkinos, a digital archive dedicated to documenting and preserving the New York City Latinx experience. Djali Alessandra Brown-Cepeda is a second-generation Dominican-American from Inwood, Manhattan. She has been featured in publications including Dazed Digital, The New York Times, and Remezcla. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at El Museo del Barrio (New York, NY, 2019) and the MACLA (San José, CA, 2019). She has also spoken at institutions including Harvard University, Barnard College, and The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute. A graduate of Eugene Lang College at the New School University, Brown-Cepeda works in film and television production at Mass Appeal Media; most recently, she produced the Cannes-winning short film Railroad Ties (Ancestry x Sundance, 2018) and The Wilderness Method.(Jeep x BBCA, 2020).
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Chi Ossé is a 22 year old New York City based creative and activist. Chi is the co-founder of Warriors in the Garden, a collective of activists dedicated to peaceful protest for legislative change. The group founded after the first week of protests following the murder of George Floyd. Ever since, the collective has been determined to protect their community from police brutality and all forms of systemic oppression. Chi and the Warriors in the Garden are dedicated to creating and activating the educational, social, and economic sectors in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all people of color in New York City.
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