In 2014, President Barack Obama announced My Brother’s Keeper, a desperately needed initiative to create educational and economic opportunities for black and brown boys and men. In addition to My Brother’s Keeper, there has been a new and emerging recognition that mass incarceration must come to an end, along with the school-to-prison pipeline that relegates…

On this Juneteenth, I am thinking of those who are not yet free. Most of them are girls. Born in America. Every year in this country, between 100,000 and 300,000 children—most of whom are astonishingly between the ages of 11 to 14 years old— are sold for sex by pimp-captors, according to government statistics. Suspend disbelief…

For some reason, people don’t see a career as a human rights lawyer being compatible with giving birth to and raising humans. When I was pregnant with my third child, a colleague asked me if it was a planned pregnancy. Another colleague, affiliated with a women’s rights organization, warned against releasing a report from my…

At the heart of  all the fun and festivity that  draws families and communities  together this time of year is the somber  celebration of a sacred birth.  Beyond its obvious religious significance, the story of Christmas is, in so many ways, a celebration of the inherent sacredness of birth. Anyone – Christian and non-Christian alike —…

The murder of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, whose body was recently found abandoned in a wooded area of North Carolina, is yet another gruesome reminder of the pervasive violence against girls. Shaniya’s mother, Antoinette Davis, is charged with trafficking her daughter and child abuse involving prostitution. Shaniya’s story is a heartbreaking one. And it—finally—highlights the issue…