In May 2020, I was accepted into UIC John Marshall Law School. My goal was to further my studies at a Chicago school, which would be located where I intend to work. I am eternally grateful the JMLS admissions staff is allowing me to earn my JD starting in the fall of 2020, but my acceptance came with a catch...

I was offered absolutely no scholarship money upon my acceptance, nor was the institution able to offer me money once I reached out to ask for reconsideration. They informed me that they would have to see how I do after my first year there. As you all may know, attending law school is not cheap. This longterm debt often makes me feel anxious about my decision to go back to school to further my social justice / civil rights initiatives. However, I decided to accept that $49,000/year payment, (on top of my debt from graduate school), and start earning my JD with a focus in criminal law and government.

My goal is to someday work within legislature to dismiss ambiguous laws calling for the intended mass incarceration of Black people and other minorities. I believe that systematic racism rooted in systemic racism has caused the poverty rate and incarceration rate of Black people to increase, while also building a school to prison pipeline through redlining and underfunded social resources. My goal is to use my degree to help people who are demonized by implicit and explicit racism, to be set free of the mental chains they’ve been victim to. Recidivism rates will not decrease until we enforce social services with the interests of formerly incarcerated people in mind.

I WILL graduate from law school in 4 years, and your investment in my personal scholarship fund would change the way my entire first year is starting off. I do not do the work I do with prisons, reentry summits, community nonprofits and Innocence Project for money. I do this because #AllBlackLivesMatter.✊