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Maya Wiley: Activist, Author, Academic

Maya Wiley:  Activist, Author, Academic

 

 

Introduction to Maya Wiley.   1:36min.  Interview:  Raymond Elman.  Post-Production:  Lee Skye.  Music: Carmen Cicero Recorded at the Miami Book Fair:  11/24/2024.

 

MAYA WILEY is the author of “Remember You Are A Wiley.”  She is a nationally known civil rights attorney and activist who has dedicated her life to the fights for justice, equality, and fairness.

Wiley is currently the President & CEO of The Leadership Council on Civil and Human Rights

Wiley’s father was a leader in the civil rights and economic justice movements, and she has been a leader inside and outside government. Serving as the first Black woman counsel to the mayor of New York City, she helped deliver on civil and immigrant rights. During her tenure, the city also saw an expansion of minority/women-owned business enterprises contracts.

Following her time at City Hall, Wiley moved to academia as a faculty member and senior vice president for social justice at the New School University.  As a Henry Cohen professor of public and urban policy at the New School, Wiley founded the Digital Equity Laboratory on universal and inclusive broadband. She also served as a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.

While there, she chaired the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). Wiley’s tenure at the CCRB was marked by increased case closure rates, increased transparency, and an intense focus on public outreach. In 2021, Wiley was a candidate for New York City mayor.

Early in her career, Wiley worked at the ACLU and the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., where she focused on multiple racial justice issues. She also worked in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Following the September 11 attacks, Wiley co-founded the nonprofit Center for Social Inclusion, an organization that focused on transforming structural racism into fair opportunity at the intersection of race and poverty as it relates to education, the digital divide, land use planning, the green economy, and more. Wiley was also a senior advisor on race and poverty at the Open Society Foundations.

Wiley earned her B.A. from Dartmouth College and her J.D. from Columbia Law School. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner, Harlan, and their two daughters and cats.

—  https://civilrights.org/about/our-staff/maya-wiley/

 

The videos below are organized by Success Factor, and run between 30 seconds and 7  minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

 

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:   5:25 min. 

Where did you grow up, and what was your first awareness of art of any discipline?

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED:     6:26 min.

How did your mother’s White Southern Baptist family react to your mother marrying your father?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:    3:17 min.

What was your motivation for writing a memoir, and why now?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:    1:11 min.

How does it feel to have someone allow you to talk as long as you want, and not have someone say, “And now we are going to go to a quick commercial”?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:    1:05 min.

My wife and I were very involved with Deval Patrick’s campaign for the governorship of Massachusetts, and I served on his advisory board for eight years. Do you know Governor Patrick?

 

COMMUNITY VALUES:    4:38 min.

Your TV colleague, Eddie Glaude Jr., has expressed his disappointment in middle of the road Black politicians. During his Miami Book Fair segment, TV broadcaster Don Lemon said that Democrats should not attack their natural allies. Your thoughts?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:    3:48 min.

One of the great ironies for me is that Donald Trump opened my eyes to how much Black history I don’t know when he tried to have a rally in Tulsa on the anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre.