Chasing Justice: A Homecoming with Marshan Allen

We travel to the Illinois Parole Board to stand in solidarity with a couple of my students seeking clemency or commutation or a pardon from Governor Pritzger, and to support our friend and colleague Marshan Allen as he asks to have his conviction erased so that he can practice law when he finishes law school. Since coming home after 24-years in prison, Marshan Allen earned his Bachelor's Degree from Northeastern Illinois University, got married, and launched a career as a national leader for criminal/legal reform. He’s currently the Vice President of Advocacy and External Partnerships at Represent Justice, a national advocacy organization, serves on the boards of Boards of Restore Justice and the Center for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, and is an active member of the Incarcerated Children’s Advocacy Network (ICAN). He’s a first year student at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Om Podcasten

“Under the Tree” is a new podcast that focuses on freedom—a complex, layered, dynamic, and often contradictory idea—and takes you on a journey each week to fundamentally reimagine how we can bring freedom and liberation to life in relation to schools and schooling, equality and justice, and learning to live together in peace. Our podcast opens a crawl-space, a fugitive field and firmament where we can both explore our wildest freedom dreams, and organize for a liberating insurgency. "Under the Tree" is a seminar, and it runs the gamut from current events to the arts, from history lessons to scientific inquiries, and from essential readings to frequent guest speakers. We’re in the midst of the largest social uprising in US history—and what better time to dive headfirst into the wreckage, figuring out as we go how to support the rebellion, name it, and work together to realize its most radical possibilities—and to reach its farthest horizons?