2022 Colloquium: Resisting Settler Colonialism

Para leer más sobre el Coloquio Resistir el Colonialismo de Asentamiento en español, ¡haga clic aquí!Light beige text on a dark green background. Small text on the top left corner reads “NYU Review of Law & Social Change.” Below, in large all-capital letters, text reads “RESISTING Settler COLONIALISM.” Below this text, right-aligned all-capital text, each separated by a line break, reads, “What is Settler Colonialism?” “Landlessness, Displacement & Migration,” “Reclaiming Decolonial Sovereignty,” and “Resisting Settler Colonialism in Occupied Lenapehoking.” Beneath, larger left-aligned text reads, “bitly.com/RLSC2022,” and smaller text below reads, “9th - 10th February 2022 ON ZOOM.” A light beige border surrounds this image, and on each of the four sides there is text that reads “Resisting Settler Colonialism 2022 Colloquium,” with a triangle following the text.

The 2022 Review of Law and Social Change Colloquium, Resisting Settler Colonialism, brought together organizers, legal practitioners and activist scholars to unpack the status of the United States as a settler colonial society and explore the ways in which settler colonialism manifests itself in its laws, policies and practices. This Colloquium put many different facets of settler colonialism in conversation with one another; panels covered topics including Indigenous land defense, gentrification, migrant and refugee defense, Palestinian liberation and cross-movement solidarity. 

Please find an overview of the four panels below. You can find our brochure with more information about our moderators and panelists here in English and Spanish [forthcoming], and a Take Action resource here in English and Spanish.

This event was planned in collaboration with BALSA, the Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law, CoLR, DALSA, Immigrant Rights Project, LSJP, NLG, OUTLaw, SALSA, SRP and WoCC, and with the support of more than 20 co-sponsoring student organizations. Thank you to all of our supporters!

Day 1 Recording:

Please find a transcript of this recording here: 2022-Colloquium_Day-1-Transcript.

Day 2 Recording:

Please find a transcript of this recording here: 2022-Colloquium_Day-2-Transcript.

Panel OverviewsLight beige text on a dark green background. Centered at the top, in large all-capital letters, text reads “FEATURED PANELS.” Smaller left-aligned text below, each separated by a line break, reads, “Feb 9,” “What is Settler Colonialism?” and “Landlessness, Displacement & Migration.” Below, right-aligned text, each separated by a line break, reads, “Feb 10,” “Reclaiming Decolonial Sovereignty,” & “Resisting Settler Colonialism in Occupied Lenapehoking.” On the bottom left corner, larger left-aligned text reads, “bitly.com/RLSC2022.” A light beige border surrounds this image, and on each of the four sides there is text reading, “Resisting Settler Colonialism 2022 Colloquium,” with a triangle following the text.

Day 1  – February, 9th 2022

Panel 1 | 4:30 – 6:00 PM EST 

What is Settler Colonialism? – Panelists discussed the theoretical concept and history of settler colonialism generally, and the ways in which U.S. law and culture maintains settler colonialism.

Moderator: Natsu Taylor Saito – Regents Professor and Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law 

Panelists: 

  • Avigail Aviles – Community Organizer, Undocu Mami Mutual Aid & Queens Neighborhoods United
  • Noura Erakat – Associate Professor, Rutgers University, New Brunswick
  • Erika Pinheiro – Legal & Policy Director, Al Otro Lado
  • Regan de loggans – Organizer, Indigenous Kinship Collective

 

Panel 2 | 6:30 – 8:00 PM EST 

Landlessness, Displacement & Migration – This panel addressed the ways in which settler colonialism manifests as displacement, landlessness, surveillance, and exploitation of migrants. Panelists addressed intersections of migration with sex work criminalization, abolitionist organizing, disability justice, and racial justice.

Moderator: Azadeh Shahshahani – Legal & Advocacy Director, Project South 

Panelists:

  • Morning Star Gali – Project Director, Restoring Justice for Indigenous Peoples 
  • Haddy Gassama – Director of Policy & Advocacy, UndocuBlack Network 
  • Yves Tong Nguyen – Organizer, Red Canary Song 
  • Katherine Perez – Director, Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy, and Innovation

 

Day 2 – February, 10th 2022

Panel 3 | 4:30 – 6:00 PM EST 

Reclaiming Decolonial Sovereignty – Panelists discussed current fights for Indigenous sovereignty over lands with a large population of settlers and U.S. based advocacy in defense of Indigenous people and against other sites of settler colonial oppression. Topics included resistance efforts by the peoples indigenous to what is currently known as the United States, including Hawai’i, decolonial organizing in Puerto Rico, intersections with anti-gentrification organizing, and Palestinian solidarity efforts.

Moderator: Nadia Ben-Youssef – Advocacy Director, Center for Constitutional Rights 

Panelists

  • Corrina Gould – Tribal Spokesperson of Confederated Villages of Lisjan, Director of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust
  • Jamaica Osorio – Assistant Professor of Indigenous and Native Hawaiian Politics, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 
  • Radhika Sainath – Senior Staff Attorney, Palestine Legal
  • Boris Santos – Treasurer, East New York Community Land Trust
  • Marie Cruz Soto – Clinical Associate Professor, NYU Gallatin School

 

Panel 4 | 6:30 – 8:00 PM EST 

Resisting Settler Colonialism in Occupied Lenapehoking (NYC) –  Resistance to settler colonialism isn’t a distant concept.  This panel heard from organizers and attorneys in the Lenapehoking territory engaged in resisting settler colonialism in all of its forms, and gave them an opportunity to discuss their work and how people can become engaged.

Moderator: Jason Williamson, Director – NYU Center on Race, Inequality & the Law

Panelists

  • Samantha Bernardine and Tricia Olayinka Ben-Davies – Organizers, The Flatbush African Burial Ground Coalition 
  • John Jamil Kallas – Student, Writer & Organizer, Within Our Lifetime 
  • Vanessa Thill – Organizer, Art Against Displacement 
  • Crystal Hans and Amin Husain – Organizers, Decolonize This Place

 

This event would not have been possible without our partners and our 20+ co-sponsors:

Partners:

Black Allied Law Student Association (BALSA)

Center on Race, Inequality, & the Law

Coalition on Law and Representation (CoLR)

NYU National Lawyers’ Guild

Suspension Representation Project (SRP)

Women of Color Collective (WoCC)

Law Students for Justice in Palestine

Disability Allied Law Students Association (DALSA)

South Asian Law Students Association (SALSA)

OUTLaw

NYU Law Immigrant Rights Project

 

Co-Sponsors:

Defender Collective

Domestic Violence Advocacy Project (DVAP)

Education Law and Policy Society

Environmental Law Society (ELS)

Ending the Prison Industrial Complex (EPIC)

If/When/How

Law Students for Economic Justice (LawSEJ)

Mental Health Law and Justice Association (MHLJA)

Public Interset Law Student Association (PILSA)

Research, Education and Advocacy to Combat Homelessness (REACH)

Student Advocates for Empowerment Through Harm Reduction (SAFER)

Anti-Trafficking Advocacy Coalition (ATAC)

I-PREP (Interview Preparation for Emerging Professionals)

Identity Documents Project (IDP)

International Law Society (ILS)

International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)

Japanese Law Society

Law Students of Catan

Resisting, Injustice & Standing for Equality (RISE) Indivisible