Speaking of catching up on sleepwhen it comes to managing the personal and the professional, what lessons do you have for balancing work and life? Sherrilyn Ifill reflects on the legacy of her cousin, political journalist Gwen Ifill, who died on November 14 following a groundbreaking career that included stints at The Washington Post, The New York Times, NBC, and PBS. Web350 Sherrilyn Ifill Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO All Sports Entertainment News Archival Browse 350 sherrilyn ifill stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. And like the children of so many immigrants, her life, her work, made this country better. Her sense of justice does not waver; it is her inheritance. At this particular moment in our country, Gwen Ifill represented the most American of success stories. We will need the example of Gwen in the coming days. Not because I have a contract, but because the idea of the book has been building in me for some time. Search instead in Creative? Ifill: Shes right. I love a good fight. That we would refresh every aspect of our organization and respond in real time to civil rights crises as they unfolded. Sherrilyn Ifill is the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the nation's premier civil rights law organization fighting for racial justice and equality. When so many of our nations schools are in such abysmal condition, when the economic prospects for millions of African American families are bleak, and when our housing segregation remains unabated across the country, the battle for equal rights endures, she says. The Books They'll Carry: Operation Veteran Admission. Sometimes that means working alongside celebrities like John Legend or politicians like Senator Cory Booker to raise awareness. That's what I feel Sherrilyn and I have done naturally over the years.. She comes to get results., One of the most important lessons she models for our staff is the importance of seeing the through line, says Nelson. WebSince becoming LDFs seventh President and Director-Counsel in 2013, Sherrilyn Ifill has advanced and strengthened LDFs legacy as the nations premier racial justice legal organization during one of the most fraught and volatile periods for civil rights of our time. Ad Choices. Education was a kind of secular religion. Sherrilyn Ifill, one of the nations leading civil rights lawyers, spoke on campus as the featured speaker at the re-launch of UCLAs Thurgood Marshall Lecture Series. Even when the courts failed, the people have asserted their unrelenting determination to be full citizens. There are exceptions that make it impossible to shut down: Some tragedy is happening, some police killing, somethings happening in Congress, or in a community somewhere that needs our help. By Meghan Roos On 2/1/22 at 5:00 PM EST. This organizational president whos built a leadership team of exceptional Black women is a youngest daughter, reared by self-sacrificing sisters. This is what its like to talk to Ifill: You leave with a reading list. But mostly, Im going to listen and see what those opportunities are and try to pick the one that is best suited to who I am at this moment. Its a connection to the roots of our democracy. Our job is to never believe that its dissipated. People count on us for a sober voice of reason and information, she asserts. So too does the health of American democracy itself. Is there anything you could have done better or differently during your time at the helm? Marta Cartabia, former Italian Minister of Justice, will be the keynote speaker at the ceremony for LLMs and other graduate degrees. This warmth, this genuine engagement became the hallmark of her career later, and she brought it into American homes each night, so that everyone thought they knew her. In 2015, Ifill delivered the commencement address at New York University. She didn't need to warm up. This public figure who harnesses mass media to shape narratives of racial struggle is the beloved cousin of the late Gwen Ifill, the first Black woman to host a nationally televised political news program. No problems, the neighbor, a man in his 30s, said. Personal life Ifill married Ivo Knobloch in 1988, and they have three daughters together. She is the former director of the childrens choir at her church, The Washington Post Just by showing us how one human being-one American-could become a trusted friend and confidante to millions of disparate Americans, Gwen encourages us not to give up on the project of creating an America that is diverse but united in shared values-in respect for ethics and professionalism and our common humanity. Rita Omokha is a freelance writer based in New York. Janai, how would you define Sherrilyns legacy at LDF? She identified the two most pressing issues of our time as voting rights and police violence against unarmed African Americans, noting that participating fully in the political process is central to democracy, and that you cant be a full citizen if the state can take your life away with impunity.. Our democracy cannot sustain this. Sherrilyn, as you bid farewell, did you accomplish all you set out to do? This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. Ifill, an NYU Law trustee, served as LDFs president and director-counsel from 2013 to 2022, providing a strong voice and leadership in support of racial justice and equity. What have been some of the challenges youve had to navigate over the years? Its a trifecta of assault on our democracy. As civil rights titan Sherrilyn Ifill passes the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund leadership baton to Janai Nelson, she reflects on her legacy and ongoing, It was her father who ensured the arrival of those three papers. That she unashamedly loved her God and her church. As civil rights lawyers, our job is to be like the heroes in the old horror moviesable to see the werewolf no matter what form it has taken.. So we must point out when radical viewpoints are centered in ways that they shouldnt be because that gives a false perception of our potential. We can still find a way and use the tools at our disposal to push back. For Sherrilyn Ifill, its a superpower. Sherrilyn Ifill is a renowned layer in the United States of America. Each of them-and from time to time I had a chance to be part of this magical circle-was beloved by Gwen. Ifill: Its been the most astonishing and rewarding work collaboration Ive had in my lifeconnecting with someone who shares the same level of loyalty to the organization, love for our people, commitment to the work, commitment to excellence, and a willingness to do what it takes to get the job done. Its bittersweet, because I so love LDF. Amid renewed calls for racial justice, the legal powerhouse steps into the spotlight. I was powerfully influenced by Black women political leaders who had emerged on the scene, Barbara Jordan and Shirley Chisholm being the two most important. Veterans David Carrell '16 and Joshua Ridley '17 cofounded Operation Veteran Admission, a program to help veterans enroll in college. I want to encourage people to believe that we must do this work and that in fact it is noble work, she insists. In 1993, Ifill joined the faculty at University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore, teaching civil procedure and constitutional law for more than two decades. Its not about whether it has just meant that Black people have been subjected to police violence or inadequate education or housing discrimination; our very democracy I think as we have been able to see over the past five years is weakened by our failure to address and confront the role that race plays in our society. As an example, she references Russias purported 2016 election interference strategy largely centering around exploiting racial divisionsa known weakness for America. These are the times that try mens souls, she said as she compared recent civil rights struggles in Baltimore, Staten Island, Ferguson, and Charleston to those of the 1960s. Sherrilyn Ifill is one of the most brilliant and passionate civil rights leaders of our time. Ifill first came to the LDF as an assistant counsel in the area of voting rights in 1988. Shes transformed the way we think about legal strategy when it comes to race. She was alright. She has her aims, and she sees achieving them as a function of teamwork. Drawing the throughline between racial justice work and democracy, Ifill explains, Part of the reason why I want to write the book is to help people understand how deeply our ongoing engagement with and failure to reject the elements of white supremacy and systemic racism have so powerfully weakened our democracy. Its easy to think that the backlash we see in schools across the country is a shared view by a majority of the American public, but they arent. In 2021, Cartabia was made Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, the highest honor conferred by the nation for extraordinary leadership in civilian and military service. The couple has successfully kept the identity of the children from the public. While veteran leaders can become distracted or even threatened by younger, newer energy, Ifill seems more invested in LDFs sustainability and growth. That we giggled and laughed and gossiped. Weve said it before: The greatest threat to democracy from the media isnt disinformation, its the paywall. There was the Black Journal, Carl Rowan, and Gill Nobles. You have to be willing to give to the organization and still hold on to your humanity.

As the leader of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Sherrilyn Ifill is tasked with defending our most sacred freedoms. George Floyd. We can always count on Sherrilyn and the Legal Defense Fund to raise issues impacting Black communities, even in times and with people who want to be nonspecific, says Color of Changes Robinson. Ifill: I could have certainly done the thing that every leader hopes theyll be able to do: achieve work-life balance. She is the former director of the childrens choir at her church, The Washington Post reported. That was a key part of it, and we have certainly achieved that. Shes been a force of nature in the midst of what has arguably been a political and judicial firestorm for Black and Brown people in America in recent years. CinemaBlend. She holds multibillion-dollar corporations accountable, demanding that they serve the interests of the Black and Latino communities that have made them rich. Sherrilyn Ifill (@SIfill_) April 4, 2023. Judge Cartabia, a former fellow at NYU Law, is an Italian jurist and academic who served as the Italian Republics Minister of Justice under Prime Minister Mario Draghi from February 2021 to October 2022. I want to spend time doing that in writing this book. Copyright 2023 | The American Prospect, Inc. | All Rights Reserved, The Alt-Labor Chronicles: Americas Worker Centers, Remembering Gwen Ifill: Truth Teller and Exemplar of Civility. Ad Choices, History in the Making: Sherrilyn Ifill in Conversation With Janai Nelson. Im excited to think about how I will continue to build on doing the work of racial justice and democracy in this country. Its a rare skill.

Despite her many achievements, Ifill admits that shes fallen short of what she inscribed in the Hillcrest High School yearbook: first black female Supreme Court Justice.

Its a very exciting moment, Ifill says of the transition. Charles Sherrod once described racism as a shapeshifter. After graduating from NYU Law, she worked for the American Civil Liberties Union and served as assistant counsel at the Legal Defense Fund. >> Related: Justice Stephen Breyer retiring; Biden vows to nominate Black woman to Supreme Court. The second time we speak, the court is on both of our minds; weve just learned of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That was our space., A childhood spent intellectually sparring with her father honed Ifills early skills and ambitions as a litigator. The police officer thought the boy had a gun, though it was proven that he didnt. In 1993, she joined the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Law, where for the next 20 years she taught Civil Procedure and Constitutional Law, led civil rights seminars, and founded law clinics on environmental justice and the reentry of ex-offenders. It wasnt until I got to college and was exposed to law studentsand later going to law school and externing at LDFthat I realized that was my pathway. She began her career at the American Civil Liberties Union before becoming an assistant counsel in the Legal Defense and Educational Funds New York office, where she was responsible for litigating voting rights cases, according to her biography on LDFs website. She is the former director of the childrens choir at her church, The Washington Post reported. Nelson: She has left a legacy of transformation and fortification. Ifill, 58, will step down as president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in the spring of 2022, she told The Washington Post. Our conversation takes place over Zoom and spans three time zones, but when she looks up toward the ceiling, I know she is accessing the legendary, nearly photographic memory that has made her one of the preeminent civil rights lawyers of our time. Gwen only had one biological sister. This precise thinker, riveting speaker, and fierce champion of civil rights is the daughter of a brilliant and exacting father. To let our best selves guide us through these difficult times. They cannot be seen as necessary only in times of crisis, or when the trend makes them popular. We are unapologetically a racial justice organization. Attending NYU Law School was a perfect fit for Ifill. The senior attorneys in voting rights, Lani Guinier and Pamela Karlan, were departing to go into academia, but they continued to work with me on key LDF voting rights cases for two years in a supervisory and consultative role., My jaw drops when Ifill names Guinier and Karlan. Photographed by Rog & Bee Walker; styling by Kat Thomas; makeup by Adaisha Miriam; production by April Greer, location: Haven Street Ballroom.

Ifill married Ivo Knobloch in 1988, and they have three daughters together. And our Gwen-she of the shining eyes, and killer cheekbones and megawatt smile-she was the rich and unblemished fruit of that journey. Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, Prince Edward County, Virginia, chose to close its public schools. That we could count on her to get down to James Brown at parties at our homes. And it mattered to us that she was no diva. Ifill: First, probably a couple of nights sleep. Im of the belief that transitions are part of leadership, Ifill insists. The decision ensured that Black and Hispanic voters have the same protections when voting for state trial court judges that they have when voting for other offices, extending protections found in the Voting Rights Act. But when you hear people talk about how the murder of Emmett Till affected how they thought about themselves as Black people, and why we had to fight against Jim Crow in ways that perhaps we hadnt before 1955, we know none of it is in vain. She describes her father, a Harlem social worker who hailed from Panama, as a political junkie. He soaked up the evening news and scoured the New York Post, New York Daily News, and Long Island Pressmany of the same papers that cover the issues addressed by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF), where Ifill is president today. Litigating with the LDF means having incredible, powerful experiences, but also you dont have a minute to process what is happening, she says, explaining the move. That was the intervention I found most appealing because of the durable change organizations like LDF can have to uproot systemic racism. Institutionally, I knew what I wanted to create in the organization and the role that I wanted LDF to be in, in the democratic infrastructure of this country. Sherrilyn emphasizes the connection between the LDFs history and the multidimensional work we do today.. Ifill married Ivo Knobloch in 1988, and they have three daughters together. As you both were talking about hope, I flashed back to 2020: to Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. The former law professor is still very much a teacher. Part of what we need in this movementthat is a lifelong movement, if youve devoted yourself to this workare those times where you have an opportunity to put together what you have learned and to try to map out where America is at this moment in relation to race, and how it connects with our past and the pathway forward. Since the LDFs inception, major strides in civil rights have taken place, but Ifill is restless and knows that theres much more to be accomplished. Her courageous moral leadership for racial justice has inspired me and millions of Americans from all walks of life, said Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation. That is a creative challenge in terms of the daring imagination you need to have, and then the intellectual wherewithal and capacity to translate that imagination into action. This WebSherrilyn Ifill served as the seventh President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) from 2013 to 2022, and currently serves as President and Director-Counsel Emeritus. Ifill married Ivo Knobloch in 1988, and they have three daughters together. To be able to hold those two ideas at the same time is required. As difficult as many of the moments weve faced as a nation, weve done this work joyfully, with a lot of energy and exhilaration, in sisterhood and synergy. Under the Trump administration, playing offense has not been simple; since the 2016 presidential election, Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate have rushed to tilt the courts in their favor. She is the former director of the childrens choir at her church, The Washington Post reported. Youve both worked together now for eight years. That there must be all kinds of tension. Olin shot Ifill in the back on July 26 at the 91st Avenue home Ifill shared with Olins daughter, according to police and a previous news report. Lets talk about the political climate this transition is happening in: Voting rights are in jeopardy. Eric Garner saying, I cant breathe. Sandra Bland. Olin is charged with murder and weapons possession charges, police said. She is the author of On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-First Century, which examines the lingering racial trauma resulting from the lynching of almost 5,000 African Americans between 1890 and 1960. At this particular moment in our country, Gwen Ifill represented the most American of success stories. We either strengthen the structures that ensure we are committed to the ideals in our Constitution, or we can descend into anarchy and authoritarianismthose are the choices before us. She showed us how to listen, how to disagree firmly, but respectfully. Thats what I feel Sherrilyn and I have done naturally over the years, and that gets overlooked. In 2012, I began hosting a national television show, and soon after, she was named to her current position with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (established as the Legal Defense Fund and known as the LDF). I Didnt Practice the Triple Hair-Washing Technique Until a Hairdresser Told Me This, Priyanka Chopra Paired a 65-Year-Old Upcycled Saree With Waist-Length Extensions. Along with getting some much deserved rest and savoring additional time with family, Ifill has begun writing a new book which she says was inspired by her herothe indominable voting rights activistFannie Lou Hamer and her infamous 1964 testimony at the Democratic National Convention where she detailed her barbaric treatment at the hands of local officials after trying to register to become a first-class citizen in Indianola, MS. LDF has that. Earlier you talked about being excited about your next chapter. For the first few years of this job, I worked 16 hours a day, six days a week, and I loved it. Ifill: Listen, listen, heres what I got: I think we all have done some recalibration since COVID. The lives, opportunities, rights, and dignity of Black people hang in the balance.

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WebSherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel Emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), has dedicated her life's work to fighting for racial justice and equality. The task is exhausting and often thankless. She also launched several offerings while at the school, including an environmental justice course where students represented rural communities in Maryland, and one of the first legal clinics in the nation dedicated to helping formerly incarcerated persons responsibly re-enter society. You have a fire in you that desires a vehicle for the change you want to see. ), For Nelson, its been the privilege of a lifetime working at LDF with Ifill. The children in our families were both raised watching every political convention (for both parties) and every presidential debate, and we always stayed up on election night with our parents until the winner was announced. Because it derived from her excellence, her hard work, her uncompromising standards. he attacked the judge, the judge's wife, and the judge's daughter. She is the former director of the childrens choir at her church, The Washington Post reported. I wanted that, so I followed that path.

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. My knowledge of Gwen when we were young, limited to our yearly Thanksgiving joint family gathering. Nelson: I agree.