Archive for 'Desmond Meade'

In the latest edition of Ocean Drive, Brett Graff features Desmond Meade, who thanks to the Chapman Partnership has ascended to a position of leadership where he can fulfill his goal to help those less fortunate.

Desmond Meade is the current president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), and a third-year law student at Florida International University College of Law.

Chasing the Law

It’s noon on a Thursday afternoon in Miami, and Desmond Meade, a third-year law school student at Florida International University, is preparing for a presentation he’ll give at a convention criticizing the state’s push to privatize prisons. It may sound like Meade is taking a natural step for an overachieving law student, but nothing about his climb to this situation was particularly likely. Just about a decade ago, Meade was homeless, suffering from a chronic substance abuse problem, and contemplating suicide.

“If someone would have told me, ‘Desmond, don’t jump in front of those trains because you’re going to serve on boards and get into law school and meet the president of the United States,’ well, I wouldn’t have believed him,” says Meade, now 45.

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In the Miami Times, law student Desmond Meade is quoted on the State of Florida’s purging process and why he feels entire communities are being wiped out of existence with the purging of voting rolls.

In the article, Desmond Meade states: “When you focus on the rights of one person, you sometimes forget to look at the bigger picture,” he said. “Given the disproportionate number of Blacks in prison who are now ‘returning citizens’ [he refuses to use the term ex-felons which he says is a negative label], when we allow for these purging schemes, it’s inevitable that entire Black communities are losing their political voice. They are becoming a political non-factor. Commissioners still listen to ‘returning citizens’ because those jobs [city and county commission] are tied directly to the community. But when you look at folks like state representatives or state senators, even school systems and public parks, voters sway the decisions of the office holders. Why fund a park or help a school where most of the people cannot vote? They can’t keep you in office anyway. Those who live in such communities that can vote find themselves and their needs being ignored more and more.”

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MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry highlights FIU Law student Desmond Meade, who is now challenging felony disenfranchisement laws that deny those who had formerly been incarcerated the right to vote.

Desmond Meade is the current president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), and a 2nd-year law student at Florida International University College of Law.

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In the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), law student Desmond Meade addresses how he is “taking his message to Washington, D.C. where he will speak at a Congressional briefing about the Democracy Restoration Act. The DRA would give Desmond and others like him the chance to participate in the democratic process by restoring voting rights in federal elections to the approximately four million Americans who are no longer incarcerated, but are denied the right to vote because they once served criminal sentences.”

Desmond Meade is the current president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), and a 2nd-year law student at Florida International University College of Law.
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Ediberto Román, Professor of Law
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ediberto-roman/marco-rubio-immigration-speech_b_1237894.html

Desmond Meade, Law Student
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/desmond-meade